Hot Rods 1938 Chevy Coupe I Just Bought Bell Auto Parts Connection

I found this:

Naugahyde Co. vinyl pattern named "Contemporary". Customers were offered a choice of 16 colors (bottom 4 are metallics)
Also known as Boomerang design.

 

Wow! Chrisp...that sample sheet is truly incredible. Any indication of when it's from? Where did you find that image?

Bob...ive decided to take an easier road with the car. I bought a hot rod 303 motor that was in a boat years ago. Same casting number as the mockup motor in the car. The hot rod engine came with neat gingerbread..Moon valve covers, some kind of solid lift cam, Isky adjustable valve train, Edelbrock OL 396 intake with 97s and aluminum spark Arrestor scoops and a Mallory distributor. Between this engine..the one in the car, and a stock core I picked up too...should be enough to build a cool motor. I'll try to use the hot rod shortblock I just bought with the ported heads that are in the car now. I'll try to use as many original to the car parts as possible.

 

The pic is from Flickr, I'm looking for 50's style naugahyde for my upholstery, that's how I found it. It seems it's heavy duty use and from the 50's. I read a description somewhere from what I remember it's stain resistant, pee resistant and other stuff resistant. Quality stuff.

 

I'm here to tell 'ya , it was tuff ****! My Grandparent's had bar stool's and benches covered in that exact material, in the Persimmon color, in their ba*****t bar room, for 60 years!!! After year's of party's and holiday's, that stuff was STILL like brand new when we cleaned out the house after their p***ing. I hope you can find some!!!
P.S. The bench's and bar stool's came from a Pizza joint, so one can only guess as to how old they were when my Grandparent's got them...

 

Is this the same car?


your car


antenna above trunk lid, very similar or the same taillights, license plate same place

 

Russ...looks very similar! Taillights are '40 Chevy..just like mine. Can also see a white headliner like mine has. Can anyone make out the license plate? My car is from Illinois..so that'll be a defining factor. Also looks to have a '37 hood...


In looking at both more closely...taillights are off my car has them mounted lower I think...and my antenna is inboard more than the period pic...

 

I used photoshop and adjusted the brightness/darkness and the contrast and I could see numbers on the license plate but I can't see the state.

I wish I had more info about the picture to help you. I downloaded it on Mar 28 2020 from FB..

 

Can't rear the state name which seems longer than Illinois, license plate 2 82380 with a roundy symbol between the 2 and the rest of the number.
And you're right the antenna seems to be more to the right on your car.

 

Congrats Black...that's beyond cool...what you're doing with it...wicked cool...that older pic is incredibly close...yes the antennas out but the tailights are nearly identically located...I suspect thats where the originals were mounted...weren't they on protruding stems...checked that, both those sets are relocated...quite a bit...so darn close...the body guy must have been handed the same Rodding and Restyling...

@gearheadruss good eye...



...those lights are not even close to the oem location...that must have been a popular custom add-on to see two so close...

 

Different locations

 

That's one of the coolest interiors I've ever seen.
Did you get some more original parts from the car as you mentioned back in June?

 

that's been noted Stumpy...but the custom tailights are real, real close...but I can't imagine repositioning the antenna...

 

Thanks! The interior is awesome..so much detail. Unfortunately I haven't gotten any other parts that were from it... but I'm on the lookout. I did score a single headlight...they are 1937 Chevy only..

 

Maybe the plate shown is a New Mexico license plate...

 

Maybe the plate shown is a New Mexico license plate...

I would say so. If you look close, you can make out the Zia symbol. The "2" indicates Bernalillo County, Albuquerque, NM

 

sherlock!!

 

I like 37-38 Chev coupes that is a great find.

 

Great find!.

 

A '37 or a '38 Chevy coupe was a bucket list car for me. I've had a couple others..but they weren't the "right" car. I'm hoping to see pics of this car online somewhere. Perhaps pictures of late 50s Illinois area shows or drags. The rear antenna might have been a '70s add on as it's a more modern power deal. But the '40 taillights and rear nerf bar should make it identifiable. I'm slowly collecting parts for it as I find them..but have a couple cars been around longer I've been threatening to fix, that I need to get to first. The '38/'37 is fulfilling garage art at the moment.

 

Haven't been able to do much with the Chevy due to a medical deal im going through at the moment..but was able to score a 1961 flatbottom boat that had the most *****in Olds motor in it. Plan is to return my car to 1960 to 64 style..and slam this bad *** Olds in it.

 

Wow, someone did a nice late model style installation. Usually they had Nicson, Glenwood or Debbold cast mounts. How big is the Olds? What hull is it?
It’s a shame to cannibalize a nice old ski boat for the engine but I totally understand, I have one with a Hemi in it waiting for me to make up my mind. lol. It’s not as nice as yours though….

 

Bob...its a Campbell boat. I think the motor is pretty early as the extended bell part of the motor doesn't have any vents. The guy that built the motor/boat was a machinist I'm told. I have a good core Olds motor to put in its place and it'll have all the marine stuff you see. It really won't be much different to the casual buyer. It's just hard to find all this period speed equipment...and to get it all in one swoop, on a built engine..is a no brainer.

 

Nice score on the Olds engine!

 

Campbell is a good boat. Lots of nice parts and workmanship on it. Looks like the heads have a single digit on the center exhaust port, an 8 maybe? Also a single bolt distributor hold down, ‘49 had two bolts. @Paul might be able to shed some light on what year it is.
I would have pulled the Hemi out of my boat a long time ago but like yours, the parts and workmanship made me stop and reconsider parting it out. The PO owned a machine shop in Torrance, Ca and spared no expense. I’m looking for someone to paint the boat, if I find someone I’ll put it back in the water.

 

Bob...neat boat. They used bathroom angle stops on your heads like they did on mine..the heads are #10. Check out the DuCoil distributor and twin finned coils.

 

You know I love those DuCoil distributors, and those coils are cool. Is the finned body integral or just a slip over cover/heatsink? I like the clever breather adapter too. Not sure about that pointy thing in the center of the damper though, lol.
After getting mine running, I redid all of the fuel and cooling lines on mine. I replaced the toilet valves with stainless quarter-turn ball valves. I really need to start mine up but it’s been too damn hot to go out back and mess with it until today.

 

Are we gonna get in trouble for talking about boats?

 

Hey Bob...I'm talking about my new Olds motor and you're talking about your hemi..

 

That was a good score. I grew up with hot rod boats like that, ours had a 389 Pontiac in it. You don’t see enough of the old ones these days. There was an event up here recently that drew a lot of boats but they were mostly late model “muscle boats”, runner bottom with blown big block Chevys and fancy paint or mini day cruisers. There’s another vintage boat event next month but it’s the same weekend as the Eagle Field Drags. Tough call.
Check out the graphics on the dash on mine….. On the back, the same guy character is being towed on skis by a ******* blonde mermaid. Says a lot about the PO, he was a serious partier.

 

Up to the top for fresh eyes..