Another 55 Straight Axle Chevy Gasser build.

I saw the shots tonight of your '55.
BITCHIN !
Nice job on that one, you really know your stuff.

 

CooooooooooL..................Rich

 

Here is a pic of the 33.
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The 392 looked pretty damn good in that '33. Why was that project so bad that it made you want to quit. I mean we can all see you've got the skills to do whatever you want. Just curious what it was? Now that my '55 is almost done, the willy's are looking very intriging. wonder if SHAKEY PUDDIN has been working on his. Dan

 

Hey Dan. To make a long story short, the body that was supposed to be ready in a couple months took over three years.I had a 426 hemi ready to go for it, but got tired of waiting and put together a 69 Hemi Road Runner(clone). When I sent a friend to Canada to pick the body up, he came back with out the doors(took 4 months to get the doors back!), ordered a set of spindle mount Halibrands for the mustang II front spindles, which came a year later as 12 spokes(not what I wanted),returned them for the spindle mounts which came a year later(turned out they were for early Ford spindles), so still no front wheels for the car. The 16 inch ET III's for the rear finally arrived and the BF Goodrich tires I wanted to run were discontinued
( finally found the set you see on the car on eBay for 1 1/2 times the price). So now with the rear wheels and tires mounted, I was ready to order the Strange Dana 60 in the rear, but the center housing was too wide for the 4 bars to fit inside the chassis, and that was the last straw. I put a 9 inch Ford in it , took the 392 out of it and sold the car and ordered a Factory Five Cobra kit that I started and finished in 7 months. Much less aggravation, and after 6 years of building the Willys(mostly in my head) I lost interest and my next choice was my " first car",a 55 Chevy, done up just as I had always wanted.
(And this is the short version ) ).
Picking the blower up Monday night. Hopefully this will be the last of the problems for a little while.....

 

Very cool '55!!!! The stance is killer!

 

love the gas price fluctuation.....oh love the car!!......

 

Hey Baron,That car is looking great.I really like that HEMI in there.The Cragars give it that true early 70's look.Here's a couple of pics of my project.Just a little small block,4-speed,and 4:56 gears.No paint,just the red oxide primer.Good job on the car!......

 

Nothing wrong with a high reving SB Chevy,4spd with 56's. I would have been driving mine months ago had I decide to go that route. The only reason I went with the 727 instead of a Muncie was no room for the third pedal in the 33 Willys. (I'd much rather have a 4 spd in the 55. One may wind up in there yet).
Your 55 looks great in Red Oxide.Sits just right. Keep up the good work.
Baron

 

Picked up the blower last night. Put it on earlier tonight (out in the driveway...lot colder then when I removed it). So far ,so good . Took a 15 minute ride and all appears to be ok. Now I can dial the carbs in, adjust the timing, get the front end aligned,etc.

 

man that thing looks good!!! love the stance!! got tooo get mine up some more in yhe front!! gas on brother!!!

 

That is a solid Car

you can really tell when someone knows their stuff

Good build

 

Very nice!!

 

Here it is at NE Dragway a week ago parked next to the car that inspired me to build mine,Steve T's 1956 Rat Patrol

 

these gotta be the two meanest M-F'n cars on the north shore!!!! Eeeevilll!!!!

 

i love this 55!!!

 

baron.i have a chevy i want to make a gasser out of.on the rear did you have to cut the axle or is it stock lenght.are the leaf springs in the stock location & how many leaf springs are you using..any changes in the wheel wells.also how much of the fenders did you cut off and how did you measure for your cut.thanks.

 

Baron,
We have known steve for many years and love to watch his car go down the track. My husband and i are on the look out for a 55. The two of them side by side is a very cool picture. Yours looks great.
Gasser Girl

 

The rear end is a 9 inch Ford that is actually 1inch wider then the stockk 55 rear. I wanted the tires to just stick out beyond the quarter panels. This will also depend on the offset of the rear wheel/tire combination you plan to run.The rear leaf springs are in the stock location. The inner wheel wells are untouched. I set the car at the ride height I wanted and drew a radius from the center of the wheel so that the arc's of the tire are concentric with the fender openings. Hope this helps.
Baron

 

Thanks. Steve and I have been friends for the past 30 years. When he got his car together 10 years ago(looking like the Two lane Blacktop car), I knew I had to build one for my self. 8 years later, I finally found a decent body/chassis to start with , and it is finally finished( if there is such a state for these cars to be). Just sent the Magneto out for some work. I should be pretty good to go once I get it back. Maybe catch up with you guys at one of the local meets.
Baron

 

I would love to see them two bad boy's go down the track......

 

Finally got the 55 running like it should. Sent the magneto to Frenchie Grimes Race Systems. After him taking a good look at it,he came up with the problem. Seems that when Vertex built it, they built it for reverse rotation. Someone at Vertex screwed up as it was ordered for this motor.This caused a couple problems. The mechanical advance could not/would not work in this rotation. This in turn caused the motor to run hot, never mind lacking power. I had 28 degrees initial advance and 28 total. Now I have 12 in the mag(24 at the crank) and with 12 degrees intial, gives me 36 total. Perfect
The second problem was I had a couple cylinders dropping out at various rpms. This too, was caused by the wrong rotation. So, now maybe I can put some miles( and time) on this motor and get it broke in. Can't say enough good things about Frenchie Grimes Racing. He found the problem very quickly,gave the mag a through going over, recharged the magnets, polished it up,checked the pts,condenser cap and rotor( all OK, but he could have easily replaced all those parts and charged me for them!) and sent it right back to me. Nice to deal with an honest,knowledgeable person. And good to have this car running like I thought it should.

 

First visit to the sign painters today. More to come.

 

RAWR! I like it!

 

lookin real good....

 

Yeah, it looks great!!!

To me, it looks best without the tank out front.

 

looks sick!!! i think u should put barrons auto on the doors on an arc!! that thing has such an intimidating presence!!

 

Thanks guys. Not sure if it's name will go on the doors or the rear quarter panels. I'll give it some more thought and decide in the next week. Have Baron's ,Gloucester, MA on the lower rear quarters. Here is a shot of the rear.

 

Glad to see you went with sending it(the mag) to French. I've recommended alot of folks from the Hamb to him. I have a biased opinion since he is family but I have never seen someone who truly "knows" there stuff like that man.

 

Not trying to steal a thread but heres my latest handmade skratchboard of two 55' gassers. I love these things, no matter how many I see they are still badass. I did this one for the Road Rockets Show last week and sold quite a few prints.