Well guys... its motorama time again which means that i'm thrashing to get anther car ready. last year at this time i was killing myself to get my 52 chevy (now lovingly owned by G***ers Garage) ready and we finished it a 5:59 pm on load in day. this year wont be as dramatic (i hope). after much deliberation, i decided to sell the chevy to the guy who sold it to Rick. i took this 54 as part of the deal. its a pretty solid car. REAL straight, just needs updating. it came with a small block ford and C4 with the original rear end. it was a 6 cylinder/manual car so the rear end gearing is pretty rough for highway driving. i think i have a good 8" rear to swap in. so i got the car home and drove it for a couple of months until the rod bearings went out. bummer. thankfully, a HAMBer from the Panel Beaters CC had a motor sitting up at Happy Hoppy's place in Highland Park. the price was right and i like hanging out in David's yard so i picked it up. brought it home and unwrapped it and thankfully the previous owner took very good care of the car it came out of. it was a '92 something or other. probably a thunderbird or mustang. the motor is VERY clean, no sludge or signs of overheating. i was planning to just swap it out and go, but as i was pulling the intake, a bolt broke off in the head. so off it came and went out for laser surgery. so now the motor got a complete gasket set, pumps, paint and pretty stuff. Hollw Point and his grandson Collin came by to help i'm keeping the 2 barrel. its good on gas and i'm not trying to drag race it. so here we are, the tuesday before motorama and we're banging away at it. i'm really hoping to get it in and fired by tonite so i can clean it up and be ready with time to spare. i figgered while i had the hood off, i might as well send it and the deck lid for a little nose and deck job. thanks to my buddy sergio at Carillo's garage for turning it around on the quick. sometimes is cheaper to pay someone to do it. not really sure how far i'm going to go on this one. i really wanted to do a watson inspired kustom with frenched everything and all that, but after seeing 50Fraud's shoebox up close i really fell in love with the MILD treatment. i think the door handles are doomed, but i'm not sure i want to go any farther than that. since i got this thing all i can see is gloss black with a gold flake roof with gold and black cloth and vinyl interior. hmmmm....
The Jalopy Journal
