Hi, new guy from <ST1<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com</st1:State>Maryland</ST1l here, I would like to share pictures of my 55 Chevy project I just started on. About 6 months ago I bought a white 55 Chevy with no motor that had been sitting for 25 years or so. I really like it and gave the guy 900.00 for it. In 1963 it was turned into a race car and its home track was the now closed Aquasco Speedway in <st1:State w:st="on"><ST1Maryland</ST1</st1:State>. The guy I got it from told it ran a 265 small block and ran the 12:00s. It has a narrowed Dana rear and was setup by Jegs in<ST1</ST1 back in the day. At least that is what the guy told me. The front fenders and hood are separate fiberglass pieces. <O</O The body is rusted very bad everywhere. The killer is that the roof is rusted through on the back rain gutters and has come loose from the back window making the unusable to me. I am sure somebody could fix it but I wasnt going to try. Keep in mind that I am trying to do this project all by myself and I am not a body guy at all. I did think about making it a convertible but just want to make it like it was in its hey day. So I started looking for a body to go on the nice frame the white car has. Found out 2 door bodies bring a lot more money than I have. But then I saw a HAMB er (Pir8darryl) on You Tube showing how he made a 4 door into a 2 door. After watching that You Tube video I was very motivated and by coincidence I ran into this old guy that had a 55 4 door for sale sitting in a tobacco barn 4 miles from my house. It has a 235 6 cyl with 52,000 miles on it and I paid him 450.00 for it and it had a title. And it was not as rusty as my white car. Besides the obvious the new body will need floors and tubbing <O</O Any positive feedback is appreciated. Thanks for reading this, Mark
Go for it, just take your time and measure everything at least twice to be sure of your cuts and welds. Watch the video over during the build so you keep it fresh in your memory.Good luck and keep posting during the project
Thanks for the adivice Rich, yeah i will definitly measure twice before making any cuts. This is my first major project and dont want to screw it up, lol I will post more pictures as the job progresses.
I could not cut the white car up,I wish I had it I would fix the roof skin on it and save it......................It reminds me of my first car,A faded white 55 just like it........... I know pictures can be decieving , but I just couldnt do it I say go ahead with the conversion but dont waist the white car to do it,there are a lot worse cars out there you could cut the door pillars out of,if thats what you have in mind.
If you can weld those quarters on that car from the 2 door you can fix the roof. That car isn't that bad, it would make me sick to see that car cut up. If look around you can find a set of doors for a 2door. just move the post back, bolt the doors on and cut the rear doors for the quarters. You dont need another car to convert that 4dr. You can still save that post you cut out with a sawzall by drilling the spot welds and welding it back together.
This is the stuff that I love. I'm doing a similar deal with my '60 Fury, you can see my tech piece here http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78120&highlight= I'm also planning a 2 door conversion on my '57 Chevy but I'm going to use the whole roof from my 2 door donor car. I've talked to a couple people who've done it and it sounds like using the whole roof makes it easier, although you don't have that option with your rusty 2 door roof. I look forward to seeing progress pictures as you get deeper into it.
Mark....neat car. My dad spent a lot of time at Aquasco from '60 - '66. I'll see if he has any photos of that car (he may, cause he has tons of slides from that era). -Lee www.atomicpinup.com Atomic Radio
Thanks Lee! it would be cool to have a photo of my 55 racing at Aquasco. The old guy I got the car from told me any photos he had are long gone after he left his wife and moved out years ago. Also very cool site you have. I grew up in Virginia outside of DC also. Mark
This gives a little more info than the video. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=228873&highlight=door+to+conversion
The a pillar in the 2-door looks rusted through and I'll bet both bodies will need floors. Another idea you might consider is seperating the cowl at the seam across the front of the floor of the 4-door, and then skin the roof off of the b & c pillars as you go. With this method you keep the history of the race car and don't have to try to weld up across the quarter panels trying to splice em together. Either way ya got a lot of welding ahead of you. Good luck and keep the progress pics coming.
Im the guy that posted the 4 to 2 door manual (linked above). Pir8dyrrl or whoever made that youtube video simply stole my material and pictures and passed it off as his original work. Granted, material posted on this site is public domain media, but i mean c'mon, give credit where credit is due! Also, anyone curious about doing a 2-door conversion on an even tighter budget (basically free), i will soon be converting my recently acquired 56 4-door using an extra set of 4-door front doors from my 55 project. Stay tuned.
Oh please...this stuff isn't rocket science. It's just metal...you measure cut and weld...hell it hardly even takes bondo to do this type of conversion. Not saying anyone can do it but why shouldn't a person give it a shot?? If ya get in too deep its just a couple of old cars that were pretty bad to start with so ne real loss.....when it does work out you have a bitching old 2 dr car. Sounds pretty good to me.
Amen to brewsir! im not a body man and i even posted the manual on how to do the conversion! It really is simple and easy to do.... if youve got a welder and a cut-off wheel/grinder youre good to go.
Its just old cars even if he not sucessful or he dont do to great of a job. Think of all the learning and experience that he will gain. My opinion is that will out weigh the value of two rusty old cars,Even if they are 55 chevys. OldWolf
any of you guys who went to NHRA reunion and watched the "O Cal Gasser" black 55 chevy..well that 2 door WAS a 4 door at one time.. My buddy in Florida built that car..Rather than switch the doors,he added a section in to make them the width of a 2 door... Car turned out real nice and runs hard.. Nothing is impossible. The difficult jobs just take a little longer. 1939fiat (Rick)
i was at the good guys show in 03, and there was a guy there in charlotte that was doing those convertions. he had 1 on display ,and he did a hell of a job. he had only 1 side converted and open inside so you could se how he did it. and i think at that time he was doing them for around a grand! just roughed in not finished of course, but it looked good! go for it!
Cut 'em up. I had a '56 Caddy convert I built from a 4 door hardtop, and none other than Gene Winfield came up to me one time at a car show, asked who did the paint. I told him that I had done the candy paint, and top chop. He then told me he thought I had some big ones to cut up a high dollar car like a '56 Caddy rag top, and I told him it was originally a 4 door hardtop I paid 250 bucks for. He shook my hand, introduced himself, and said he'd have never guessed it. Cut those cars up and build what you want. Don't let somebody here tell you not to cut up an old Chevvy, this board is ALL ABOUT cutting up old cars! Brian
Hey,I own a full time Rod & Kustom/Restoration shop and we all started somewhere.I also made a lot of mistakes,fact is I ruined some stuff.As I always say,if you at least try you can learn from your mistakes and anyway the only thing that seperates the work is the amount of time it took to correct it.SO GO FOR IT,ALL YOU CAN DO IS SCREW UP.
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