Projects 55 Chevy, early 60's gasser style..

So, just like that we happened to stumble over a empty -55 Chev body. It has been pretty butchered. Guess someone in the Clearlake area thought they'd build a pro street or something years back. They cut it up, stripped it and left it for dead. A year ago i visited Conder Customs in Santa Rosa, and the car was sitting in a storage shed. Tim , the owner of Conder Customs was gonna build it, but couldn't find the time. We bought the empty body. Got some spare parts, a fiberglass front end, gutted doors and trunklid, a -57 Olds rear axle, some bucket seats and a -57 Chev frame...
On the way home, the car was already built in my head, and important phone calls was made....

 

Started by trading the 57 frame for a 56 frame..got the chassies blasted and painted at Dennis Bodyshop in Hollister, and now the fun could begin...
The plan is to build the 55 in a let's say 1961-3 style. With that i mean no straight axle and no mags. I really love axle cars and blackwall tires, but personally i enjoy it a bit lower. So, we are definitely not trying to copy anything down to a tee, merely just getting inspiration from this era.
A car that i always dug, was Roth's ol -55. It has in my opinion a killer stance. We'll be trying to have a similar stance on this one. The build will be simple. Use of standard components, and build it as a full grown model car. There is so much bolt on products out there that will make this project being built both faster and cheaper.
We also choose 1961-3, for the fact that they still at that point ran WW tires and chromed rims. Looks so much better.

 

Great start! The Roth '55 is a goodlooking ccar, love the wheelwells on it.

 

keep the goal of light weight in mind all during the build, and you won't have to buy a whole lot of parts....same thing I'm doing with my Chevy II build.

Should be fun

 

For sure..The doors and trunklid are already gutted, and will stay that way. Side plexi windows, minimal interior etc..I'm on it

 

Everything on the chassies is brand new. Wanna make safety and driveability a priority. Discbrakes because of safety, and the fact they won't be very visible.
The Olds axle has a spool and 5.13 gears. Came out of a 60's Corvette axle car from back in the day.
Leafsprings with reversed ends, 3" lowering blocks and traction bars. Simplicity

 

very nice keep send n up date pics

 

cool..............

 

I like it too. Ironically, just had the same conversation with a buddy who picked up a 57 project. He's already restored a couple, so we talked about doing an early 60s hot rod style much like what you are doing. We are starting in the spring, and will be watching your progress. Looks great so far.

 

Roth's car was the inspiration for my '56 as well. It was a bitchin' car!

 

I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

 

If you are running lowering blocks spring wrap may be an issue with the added torque.

 

Awesome "subscribed"

 

X 10.
Your going to want to toss the lowering blocks, get your springs altered for the ride height you want.

I'm SO glad to see a car being built without a straight axle, so refreshing.

 

Most likely i will have the springs altered once the car is complete and then get rid of the blocks. Right now i just wanna get the right stance - ride height of the car. I was hoping the traction bars would make it possible to ride with the blocks there, but not sure....

 

The chassies is rolling and awaiting the engine and trans. I'd love to be running a wild, injected smallblock, with a stick , but time and money makes me go another route.
Bought a 350 ci from a buddy that came out of a street race Nova. Not sure what's inside the engine, but apperantly it ran good and sounded even better. The price was right, so i'll just open it up to check it out. If it all looks good, i'll paint it, and use it. The transmission will have to be a TH350. Same reason..it fits my budget. My neighbor is rebuilding it right now. Shiftkit of course, and a 12" converter with a 1800 rpm stalll. The car will also work as a daily driver this summer, so can not really get too wild about the drivetrain...yet

 

Cool keep updates coming.

 

Perfect! Smart build making it a daily driver, that way you can really enjoy it.

What tires did you use on the front and rear?

 

Running Firestone 5.60-15" in the front, and 10x15x29.5" slicks back.
Gonna start looking into a good solution of hinges for the flipfront soon..

Ideas and pictures highly appreciated!

 

Talk to Quain Stott on here, he can tell you how to mount the front end.

 

May want to rethink the 1800 converter if the "street race" 350 has much of a cam in it. You'll find it may pull too much at idle when stopped at lights.

 

Yes i hear you..well i guess i'll sort that out once i start driving it. Being the fact i really don't know what the engine is all about yet. Good thought for sure..

 

Austin speed shop is building Roadfarmer's 55 with a flip front that clears the doors. He hasn't posted too many detail pics of the hinge, but it does show the framework he built for the front end.

 

Looks like a great build! What front springs did you use?
Jay

 

Using stock ones as i didn't want it to ride too high. But, when the car is all complete, i may have to alter the suspension for the right height

 

On the front tilt....you may want it to move forward prior to tilting, so you don't need two people to pull out on the fenders while opening it. If the pivot point isn't forward enough the rear fender drops will scrape the body, so sliding or pivoting forward is needed for a one man operation.
I made mine with a simple link that pivots to move the frontend forward 5", and then can be tilted without clearance issues. The link rests on the frame stop at either end of the travel. I didn't use a heim at the attachment point, but if you want some adjustment it would make that easier if you had one at the pivot point. Mine is stock steel, so lots more bracing than you'll need for glass.

 

Engine is now painted and installed, together with the transmission, and new front, side and rear engine and transmounts.
Will put the body on shortly, so i can start doing the tubs, trunk floor and minor rust repairs.

Was hoping to get a hold of a chromed roll cage, but not sure if anyone makes them?

 

The body is on. Next step will be to radius the wheel wells. Spontaniously i feel it's sitting way too high. I have a 3" loweringblock in the rear, and 2" lowering leafsprings but..May have to get some other even lower leafsprings made, unless anyone makes them.
The car will need to be sitting lower in the back then front, but i may also cut the coils up front.
Guess i'll see what the height is as soon as all the sheet metal is installed...

 

Don't get impatient, after the cars weight has been on those new springs for about 90 days, it will drop quite a bit. My Chevy II Wagon dropped close to 2" during the rebuilding of the car.

Your body is bare right now, at it's lightest. After you install all of the glass, interior, seats, roll bar, a full tank of gas, etc ..... it will come down even more.

So, as you calculate for the new wheel opening, make sure to make it bigger.

What I do is call up 4 of my buddies, all 225#+ and have 2 stand in the trunk and 2 in the back seat area, then re-measure from the wheel lip to the ground. Then, have the 2 in the trunk jump up and down while you watch the tape measure. Now you have a good idea where you should end up.


I'd like to see more guys like you do there cars in this manner.... I applaud you !

 

Here are a few pictures of wheel opening designs and styles just to confuse you