I didn't discover Project X until the early 70's and became a fan. I do prefer the 60's version of and always will. A mentor passed down a huger magazine collection from those days and I had most of the issues showing the mods along the way. Mags pretty much fell apart in the ensuing decades. Should have photo copied them way back then. I know it was always meant to be a test bed for new ideas and innovations. Sadly, it was strayed so far from the light that I am saddened. Old fashioned, yes I am. I look forward to your build and will live vicariously through it. lol
Here is the starting point for the build. I was looking all over for a good body to start with and , of course, all I could find were hardtops! I found a good car in Arizona, but really didn't want to go that far. Just by chance, last summer I was talking to a friend about an unrelated subject and he mentioned he was through with his 57 210 sedan. He had owned it for 40 years and hadn't touched it in the last 7 years and was growing tired of storing it. He didn't have a price in mind at the time so I forgot about it. Well , I recalled our conversation this week and I called him up to see just what he had in mind. I assumed it would be expensive because he had poured a ton of money into it. It's not a pretty car by any standards, but has a ton of good stuff in it. I asked "Did you ever come up with a price for your car?" He said "Yes, thirty thousand for everything". Disappointed I asked "Can I just buy the body?" Him"Nope, I'm not going to separate it out, you have to take it all". Me "What comes with it?" "Everything I have related to the car" He says. Now that's interesting. A quick inventory in my brain suggests that might not be too bad of a deal after all. I went over to his place and looked the body over, Man, it's pretty darn good. It came from southern Utah and had very little rust. Quite straight. A little damage to the right rear quarter in front of the bumper and a different front fender. The trunk, floors, body mounts, everything is solid. A little hole at the bottom of the front fenders but that's about all. It's a sweetheart. What comes with it? Blown 454 in the car with a 4 speed Lenco, yes, Lenco planetary transmission with a Dual disc clutch. . 8 3/4 Mopar rear axle with 35 spline axles with a rare aluminum 4.56 gear 3rd member and a spool, and another spare alum 4.11 geared 3rd member. And the icing on the cake, a 555 cubic inch Scott Schafiroff race engine on the engine stand never installed! It cost him nearly $20,0000 in 2010. Extra fenders, hoods, doors, trim, bumpers, 2 back seats ect. With any luck I can liquidate all the stuff I'm not gonna use and get the body down to $5,000 ish? Oh, forgot the new fiberglass front end and trunk lid. Anyway, check out the pictures. I'm pretty stoked.
It went downhill when they pulled the 292, very early in the series. Being a poor college student back then , I could relate to the low budget 292 version.
That's some serious stuff included with that deal ! I've also wanted to do a Project X clone for awhile and find myself searching for a 2 Dr post even though I'm out of room, I like the Hollywood Knights version myself and have an extra sbc 6-71 setup. I was on the fence for this one at $20k here in the classifieds as a roller and flip flopped over it until someone else bought it. I figured for another 10 you could build a good boost capabile sbc and an M22 trans, all in at 30 but not an accurate clone and no real room for it, so that was the hurdle I couldn't jump.
Looks like a nice starting point. Sometimes the best deals are buying the whole collection and selling back most of it, I've done a lot of that. This'll be fun to follow. Not the version that I personally would have picked, but still excited to see it come together. If I ever paint my own '57 210, I want to make it red, like the one from the 1989 "Catch Me If You Can" movie (before the car wash scene).
The first 2 truck loads of spare parts showed up. Some good stuff including a new rack and pinion setup and pretty headers. Lots of trim, bumpers and heater stuff.
Scored a correct steering wheel today. This thing is mint! Lucked out on finding the 5 hole wood wheel the X car used. 3 & 4 hole are everywhere.
Well I went to see REX and his latest project.Wouldnt ya know it.I walked out of there with a smile and a bit light in the pocket book.(Note to self stay out of REXs place).I was ahh struck at the sight of this car.I had seen it at car show 10 plus years only saw it once but remembered it well. I can remember blown big block tri fives especially if they are local to me.I wondered where this car was now I know.Plus I know a little of the history of the car.I love the way it is. Blown big block chevy in a tri five YES PLEASE.I thought to myself that would be cool in my car.Rex agreed. Sooooo!I had to pull trigger. It will soon find a home in my car. Thank you Rex.
More deliveries today. So much stuff! Repro parts, more headers, and a complete aluminum interior panel kit. Extra instrument clusters, tires, and two more aluminum Mopar 8 3/4 3rd members! A full set of 2 door interior window trim. More 35 spline axles and tail lights to spare. I believe there are 3 more deliveries yet to come before it's all here.
yeah i'm subbed too! my intro to project x was from my hand me down copy of the january '73 popular hot rodding. by then it was about having performance in an epa/gas crunch world but the car was still pure certainly in comparison to what it is now. they were testing accel's new yellow jacket plugs, cragar distributor, etc... in the later lt-1 350 and doing low 13s.
The M/T wheels on it bring a fair amount of money these days The last two ( 3 really) things they did to that OG Project X are criminal
Probably the last truckload showed up. Fiberglass front end and trunk lid, extra doors, radiator supports, hoods, bumpers, rear seats, rear springs, steel front fenders, more headers, gas tank, window frames, and more. Now to sort through this stuff and put it away before the next storm, and sell off a bunch of it to help pay for the body.
I'm looking for some of these Eelco gauges and base option heater controls. Anyone out there have any?
As mentioned earlier, I sold the engine to a friend for his 56. We removed the front end and pulled the engine and trans out. What a pain! The trans is so long and with the deep pan it just hung up on everything. But we got it out and loaded it into the back of his truck and I began gutting the body. Took a sawsall to the "Jungle Jim" rollcage and made some room to move. The more I work on it the more I can see what a good old car this is. With the sale of the engine I'm now down to $24,000 for the car. Now to sell off more stuff. If I play my cards right I might get it down to less than $5000 in the end.
Until you said it above, I never actually got the Jungle Jim/jungle gym play on words. Looks like you've got a ton of stuff there, I do believe you can get the price way down if you play your cards right selling off the extras. Might take a while and some effort, but would be worth it. Both of those back seat bases are 4 door specific parts if you weren't aware.
It looks like I just sold the Lenco transmission for $5000. I'm down to $19,000 for the car now. Yesterday I pulled the fuel cell out of the trunk and removed the electric fuel pump and battery box. Then I cut the rollbar outriggers off the frame and ground it down.
@Utahvette here are your gauges in the classifieds. cheap too https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-eelco-gauges.1303160/
I applaud your efforts to match all the details. this is the difference between a clone and a tribute car... this is going to be wonderful to see
I am so happy to get the engine and misc. other parts for my car from Rex.Like he said it was a bit of work to pull it with that trans.This motor will be my first blower motor,should be a whole lot different than my 327.Glad you sold the trans to someone other than me ha ha!.Everytime i go to his shop i buy something else.
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