Here’s the project my father began in 1971. It began as a simple custom - nosed, shaved, decked, Frenched and tunneled headlights, and tunneled International pickup taillights. And by ‘75 it was sort of a Hot Rod/Street Rod mash up. My dad swapped in a 371 Olds - and then added 6 Strombergs with SP Tops *Which he claimed were off the local “Big Wheel” dragster of the late 50s - I was too young to know anything about the car he was referring to, but sure sounded impressive, lol - no idea if true, but that’s the legend” And then, he decided to fabricate a rather large pro-street hood scoop that had been featured in a how-to article in one of his magazines-that I still have somewhere in my stack of stuff. Raised the rear end up high, welded up some traction bars, and threw on pie crust cheater slicks. As a 7 year old, I thought it was so cool - just like one of my Hot Wheels cars…. Then it sat parked until 1991… after a childhood of pestering he finally agreed to drive it on the street. Still mostly a project car covered in red-oxide primer. And yes, Port-O-Walls - forgot about those! I did all the work to get it drivable and had a blast driving around, but it was still my dads car and I was now in my early 20s and had my own projects that ultimately took precedent. And by 1994 the Merc went back into the garage for a very long slumber…. To be continued.
Alrighty, vehicle, check, build plan, check, engine,pending, transmission, pending, front end, pending, rear axle, pending, interior, pending, paint, it’ll buff out., hehe, exhaust, pending,mufflers, pending, badges? You don’ need no stinking badges.
The Jalopy Journal
