A buddie of mine bought this 1937 Olds 4 door sedan today. Car is complete, all orginal, 62,000 miles, last PA inspection 1961, does not run, motor is locked up. Body is just as solid as it looks, just surface rust. The doors close as if it was new. What would you do with it? http://public.fotki.com/wcsr/ http://www.wcstreetrodders.com/
you had to have an idea of what you wanted to do with the car before you bought it. clean it up,subframe,sbc,s-10 rear,the body and interior to your taste. don't be led to to what others want,be your own hotrod man!!!
with that ass end there isn't much to do, get it running/driving, maybe skirts, lower it and paint it a nice glossy black
X2...would be a cool almost stock cruiser for the family etc. gloss black all the way! Nice grill btw. maybe like old school lowrider bomba style, but with wide whites and stock rims.
that's a nice looking car. see if the motor can be made to run without much $$$. if ther motor is junk then put in a V8 keep the body stock either way. I think it would look cool all bombed out with accessories if a person were inclined to put some work and dollars in it.
That's what I'd do with it too. Teardrop skirts, a Fulton visor, fog lights, every availible factory accessory, clean paint and trim, all on 16" artilleries with wide whites. Lowered a bit more in back than in front. Go to Chevybombs.com and start reading. This car would look stupid with fat tires in back and a big engine, it's not that kind of car.
No! That's a neat old car, sure it's different, but I don't think it's ugly. With the right tires/wheels/stance, it would make a nice driver...you might even get folks wanting to hire you for weddings and such. As a family man, I think it's perfect. I would just make it safe/reliable and drive it!
Clean it up, paint it, get it running, then swap it to a restorer for a coupe and use the coupe for the hot rod.
Doesn't look like a bad car, but personally, I'd leave it in the barn and let someone else fool with it. edit: I kind of like the front end though. How about chop off the back and make a pickup out of it?
Replace the engine and transmission with a modern six, say 250, with 3 carbs and headers, a 200-4R OD auto or T5. Rebuild the original brakes, use a dual master cylinder, and RIDE.
I think that it would look good as kind of a 'gangster' style ride. Not 'gangsta' like Eazy-E either. You know, BIG traditional engine, stock exterior, fat whitewalls, lowered just a little in the back, a super plush traditionally styled interior and some shiny black paint. I can practically see some old gangster standing on the running board, hanging onto the open window frame with his tommy gun in hand and a big stogie clenched between his teeth. COOL! Scott
I like the 'gangster' look idea. Or maybe like a bootlegger's car with a big engine. It certainly needs to keep it's stock look. About the only thing I would customize on the body would be the tail lights. They look kind of like and afterthought and almost out of place. Maybe something about 3/4 back on the rear fenders would look nice (about where the filler neck is.) There aren't too many colors I'd paint it either. Black, dark blue or dark green. If you swap to a modern engine, I'd probably do a Chrysler 4.0 I6. Nice and reliable and plenty of low end torque to get it moving in a hurry and still able to cruise down the highway at modern day speeds with ease. Oh, it needs to shoot flames out from under the rear bumper
I apologize in advance, but that's the ugliest F'ing grille in the World! What to do? Replace that with another GM make, lay in the trunk as part of a mailslot chop over S-10 yadda yadda...BING!
Get the original engine up and running first - it might just run as smooth an quiet as the day it was new! It would be a shame to trash the original drivetrain "just because"! Plus, if you got it running and THEN decided to swap to a V-8 or whatever, you know you have a good-running original engine with tranny to sell to an Olds restorer. It's not all that hard or difficult to get to the point where you know it'll run or not. Get it running, then decide. Granted, a four-door Olds isn't everyone's idea of a hot rod, but YOU have to make the decision where to go with it.
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