Just wanted to start a build thread for my little truck. I don't know if it would really be classified as a Street Roadster or Modified Roadster by the NHRA, but the basic idea is a street legal, show-and-go early '60s drag style RPU with fenders, plenty of chrome, and interior. The heaviest influence is Dean Lowe's truck circa 1965: Some other influences:
Some of you may remember my old sedan "The Grinch." It was really a great hot rod. Fast and noisy, kinda wild looking, and - dare I say it - reliable! I had this crazy idea of finding a RPU body and putting it on that chassis. So I found some parts of one out in the CA desert and brought it home in 2021. My dad talked me out of that idea. The Grinch was just too nice and enjoyable to tear apart. Plus, it had a few things weren't 'period correct' - like a tunnel ram, 700R4, and 8.8 rear with coil overs. So now I'm rethinking the plan. Let's just build what I was wanting all along! First step was to make the RPU legal. The Texas DPS says that in order to be inspected for a title, a "truck" has to include a frame with a VIN, an engine block, four wheels, and a bed. Fortunately, that's exactly the list of parts I had on hand that day. Now that the state and I agree that it's a truck, let's clean it up. You guys remember my dad, right? Yep, he's helping me out with this thing too! I bought Brookville doors, tailgate, fenders, and a top kit. I'm sure there will be more. So far only the doors have shown up, so this is what I have sitting in the corner, for now.
Tangent time. The tailgate that came with this body had a few layers of paint, and very faint evidence of some square-edged lettering. I kept looking at it but couldn't quite make out what it said. So I grabbed a light and a pencil and went over each line to trace out the letters. LA VERNE AGABOND I can't find evidence of a V or an S, but I'm pretty confident that spells out La Verne Vagabonds, which was a car club just outside of Pomona in the 40s and 50s. In fact, Memo Ortega was a member at one time. That's pretty neat, this old body might have some SoCal hot rod history! It is completely stock so I don't expect it was anything special. But if you have any stories or club paraphernalia to share, I'd like to see it.
I've been gathering parts for a while now. A buddy had a chrome moly WAC axle made for a project that went nowhere. I bought that from him. It has no drop, so maybe this truck will sit a little nose-high. I'm okay with it. Another friend had a '57 big Olds rear set up for ladder bars and a spring-behind setup in a Ford. Perfect. Except that it's an open diff with 3.23 gears and incomplete drum brakes. I'll get around to fixing all that later. I ordered a set of chromed front and rear springs from Posies. They look great! Maybe I should have taken a picture of them. Squint, they kinda look like this. I'm having a new frame built by Cory with RJay's Speed Shop in Missouri. It needs to be strong so I'm leaving the serious chassis work to a professional. My axles and springs went to him for a few months. Stay tuned for that...
Transmissioning will be by Tremec TKO with a hydraulic clutch and QT scattershield. I have the Ansen-style hanging pedals somewhere. It will use one of those GM hydraulic brake and clutch masters on the firewall. I've got a shifter for the front-most position, but again, I'm bad about getting pictures of stuff. You'll just have to trust me. I have a local Tremec expert going through this one and adding a few upgrades.
So I'm sure you're asking yourself, "What engine is he putting in that thing?! Please don't put a small block Chevy in there!" Hang tight, I'm getting to it. A friend of mine sent me a picture of a supercharged, two-port Hilborn injected Hemi that could be purchased. Yeah! I was a little letdown when I got there. It's a stock '57 Desoto 341 with a gutted blower case over the original intake and carburetor, and some sheet metal work to disguise it all. That is a very real Hilborn injector on top, though. Aaargh! Someone was having some fun in the '70s, but this engine wasn't going to be useful for me. But the visit wasn't a complete loss. Tucked away in another corner of the shop was this injected big Chrysler. And this time, it was very real. I bought it and took it home. It's an Enderle-injected 354 with very heavily worked o-ringed 331 heads, lightened stroker crank, aluminum rods, domed Arias pistons, and some wild billet aluminum main caps. Someone had snagged the lifters and push rods but it was otherwise pretty complete. Being dumb, it took me a minute to realize the filled block meant this was never going to live on the street. I've still got it but this thing really belongs in a drag car. Back to the drawing board!
Even knowing you guys would hate it, I started looking at big-cube small block Chevys. They just "fit" in early Fords better than Hemis do, and the cost thing is always a consideration. I kept flirting with building one from scratch, but even an SBC project gets pricey if you're using good parts. Last week I found a blown and E85 injected small block on FB Marketplace, and it was local to me. So I drove over and struck a deal. It was a project started by two brothers, but both of them passed before it was ever put in anything. I still don't know all the details, but it's a 4-bolt main 355 with Crane valvetrain and a 6-71 GMC. Everything is fresh and clean inside. It even came with a run cart. After an hour of looking it over and adding fluids, we decided to see if it would start. And start it did. And that's how I ended up with a boring ol' SBC for my truck. I've got some work to do to make it look like something from the early '60s but that should be fun. I already have a tall four-port Hilborn set up for EFI that may end up on top. As you can probably tell, I'm still plotting and scheming this project in real time, so some decisions will get made as we get there. Thanks for looking.
Wow! Dat blower belt wine tho… SBC haters can just close there eyes and pretend it’s something else when it blows their doors off… Really looking forward to seeing this one come together!
The engine was a bit of a mystery. It had been built years ago by the father and uncle of the man I got it from, and they were no longer around to ask what was in it. I had a pair of good AFR 227s and a hydraulic roller cam I was thinking I'd put on it, so I pulled it apart and went through it. Here's what I found: 355ci GM block, 4-bolt mains, forged crankshaft a pair of wildly ported 441 heads, 2.02/1.60 - with relieved cylinder bores forged SpeedPro pistons, unmarked H-beam rods steel gear drive, looks like Summers Bros but no markings Edelbrock B10 blower manifold opened up to match the heads head studs, main studs, copper head gaskets Comp Cams F-290-2 solid flat tappet .536/.554, 252*/260*, 3800-7600 RPM, "Good mid range HP, rough idle, performance usage, 4000-4400 cruise RPM, good w/manifold nitrous system, 11.5 to 12.5 compression ratio advised. Good w/ Roots supercharger, 18 lbs. maximum boost w/8.0 maximum compression ratio advised." I found a stamping on the pan rail that says "DE 11 25 86," and the guy I got it from confirmed the mid '80s is about the right time he remembered it going together. Since all this stuff was set up to work together, I decided to just put it back like it was, except with some Fel Pro head gaskets so the cooling system will actually seal. I had to ditch that '80s vibe though, so I '60s'd it up a little. I polished some Cal Custom finned covers and breathers for it, a new oil pan, and my dad worked his magic to paint it up. Voila. I thought it was great that they had given this thing a name, so I recreated it on the new chrome timing cover. There's still a long way to go. The blower is out for polishing right now, and I'll be cutting down the pulleys to a more appropriate 2" width. I've got some weird ideas I'll be testing out on the EFI to keep it looking as original as possible, but that's not a discussion I'll share here. The thermostat housing may or may not end up where it's shown. That and lots of other stuff is all still "TBD."
Well, I thought I was giving my guy the Tremec TKO to rebuild, but apparently I was just... giving my guy the Tremec TKO. Since he and my transmission had vanished, it was time to get something else. The local Tremec distributor is here in Fort Worth, so I gave them a shitload of money. In return they handed over a shiny new TKX with a mid shift conversion and the shallow .81 OD, which I hope will keep that big cam from loping and chugging on the highway. A Summit SFI bellhousing and RAM HD clutch and billet steel flywheel came home too. The chrome Hurst shifter was a Christmas gift (thanks Dad!) and that cool chrome console I found at a swap meet is from a '62 Olds Jetfire, apparently. I also got a 31-spline Olds 9.3 center section with 4.10 gears and limited slip. You'd think I would have taken a picture of it, but apparently not. Sorry. I had an order for a full set of fenders at Brookville for two years, but apparently they can't make - or get? - steel '28/29 front fenders. I found a pair of fiberglass ones. I kinda hate them, so if someone has a really nice pair of Brookville or Henry front fenders in DFW that they need to get rid of, please let me know. In the meantime, Dad has been working his magic on the body panels as I scrounge them up. While at the Gathering at the Roc last year, I saw this '32 Ford with JUST the right color - a reddish orange with a little gold glow around all those round edges. Apparently it was a VW color. So I got some and we sprayed a test panel. Perfect.
There was a rumor that my Model A frame was going to be at LSRU so I went down there to see. Yep, there it was. Killer! This one was made for me by Cory at RJays Speed Shop. It's a little different than most. He used my '57 Olds rear axle and WAC front axle. I wanted the front axle to sit ahead of the spring to move the wheels forward in the fenders. Always liked that look. Plus the straight tube axle going wheel to wheel with the hairpins is going to look great. I think this thing is going to be a bitchin little drag truck. I'm so excited. Oh yeah, I found some cool wheels too. Anyway, that's where it's at. Much more to come.
20 years ago, I gave a guy a 700R4 to rebuild. I recovered most of it with the assistance of a local deputy. Fun times! Your project looks great.
Your build is stunning. I can tell whoever built that SBC knew exactly what they were doing. I hope you can get your trans back from that low-life that took it. I like the forward placement look on the front tires in the fenders too. Did that on mine. I used extra long torsion bar links on mine for a really soft smooth ride.
That was my thought as well! Love your racer. I finally had a little time to mock up the big parts and see how the drivetrain fits in the truck. The engine is set back a good bit, that last shot gives an idea where it will land inside the cowl. I'm just glad my short legs are finally an advantage!
That’s my plan, too! I have an idea for some cool headers for this thing. I just love when a hot rod has distinctive pipes.
Dean Lowe’s roadster pickup was a Street Legal Roadster vs the Modified Roadster as you posted of Tony Nancy’s Red Modified or Altered Roadster. Hello, As far as NHRA rules, a set back of 10% was allowed for all street legal Coupes/Sedans and it applied to the Street Roadster Classes, too. Our 1940 Willys Coupe had a 10% set back in the build. We had a 292 SBC motor with one of the first 671 supercharger kits made by the Isky-Gilmer-Edlebrock group and it had not come out to the general public for a month or so later. We had a 10 % set back and that made a new firewall, a required move into the cab. It did make us move the bucket seats back as far as we could go inside. But, we were street legal as per the rules. Even with a 10% set back in the motor placement, it was still classified as a street legal coupe. We accidently left off a front bumper one Saturday and got classified as an Altered Coupe. We thought about running as is, but we lived about a mile away, so I went home to get the bumper to get re-classified as a street legal Gas Coupe. Jnaki Those Altered Coupes were allowed a 25% set back to be labeled “Altered.” That required a set back so far as seating is concerned. Very few Willys Coupes were in the Altered Class as there is hardly any room to move the seat back. A 25 percent set back is quite a distance. Your set up is outstanding. It will be a good runner for your street driving and competition if you chose to do it at historic events or nostalgia drag racing shows. Note: The Street Roadster class, the Gas Coupe class and even the Altered Classes were all shoved out, in favor of drag racing being funny car, Fuel Dragsters and some bikes. Those classes eventually were labeled exhibition and even then, doomed as they were. Now, drag racing is down to million dollar builds and teams. YRMV
The Jalopy Journal
