History FOUND- Nick Arias Jr.'s '37 Chevy Coupe

Wow what an amazing story! Devine intervention at its finest!

 

Great thing happening here. Glad it came back home.
They say history sooner or later repeats itself.
I say get it back together and repeat history.
Bring it back to Bonneville and make some record passes.
Then bring it to the strip and see if it still runs the numbers.

 

You would destroy the cars history if you attempted to bring it up to current B.N.I. safety standards.

 

Got that. But sure would be fun to just see it run the mile like old times.
Maybe Grandpa ridin shotgun.

 

No modern upgrades will ever happen, however I do plan on reassembling the car in its current state, getting it running and taking it back to Bonneville!

 

Watched the video on this last night. Just awesome in every respect. Amazing all the pieces that fell together along with the parts and documentation. Can't wait for updates!

 

Will the cigarette lighter in your El Camino go back in this car?

For anyone who has not seen the first video-

 

Hey Justin, maybe when you bring it back to Bonneville, everybodys mind will slip back in time and 50's rules will apply.
Kinda like recreating Gpa's pose.
A time slip in the same wheels he was driving.
Even if it was 30MPH would be repeating history.
Have fun reliving those days with the rebuild.

 

You know what's funny? This car was actually missing the cigarette lighter when I got it! I'll put it back in the Coupe. The cigarette lighter, as well as some rocker arms, that burnt piston and some other misc. stuff were in a pile of parts that hung around the shop after all these years. I didn't specify exactly in the video, but that piston came out of a Jimmy that ran in this car. Its inability to stand up to the abuse of nitro led him and Toros to create forging dies for 2618 alloy pistons after they founded Venolia together.

 

Great story! Thanks for sharing it.

 

Just watched the video the other day on YouTube and it left me wanting more. Now I found this thread which is just icing on the cake.

Love the history, how the stars aligned and now your saving a piece of family history. Cant wait to see the progress and hear it run!

 

I hope you will keep up on this thread during the repair of this piece of history. I use the term repair because it only seems like you need to fix a few things to get it back into the shape that it was run in. The car is in amazingly fine shape.

 

The video popped up on my YouTube feed last night. Good story.

I wish you luck getting it back to its former glory!

 

Just finished these GMC 302 pistons at Arias with our custom 8" Carrillo rods for a Bonneville customer. Too pretty not to share!

 

Needs more cowbell. He he.

 

Justin, your video just showed up on my tv screen this morning, you and your buds did an outstanding coverage of the car's history and film footage of it's long time storage removal. Very enjoyable watching, I don't know if this Chevy/GMC addiction is a genetic one, but in my case dad brought a new 1936 Chevy coupe and when I arrived been hooked ever since... Was a early teenager reading about Bonneville results in HOT ROD mags, still remember many of those names you mentioned in the video. Looking forward to more coverage on grandpa's car.
Video site posting; LOST FOR 50+YEARS
BONNEVILE RACE CAR !!!!! so other Chevy/GMC guys can enjoy. thanks, dyno Dave

 

Nearing completion of the Comet bath, just gotta do the firewall, jambs and the remainder of the roof. Doesn't seem like the same car I just picked up a month ago! I'll be thrashing to have it at the Lyon Air Museum for Hot Rods on the Tarmac this weekend. It's all part of the Santa Ana Drags exhibit they're having, and I was kindly invited to go and bring the car. It'll be a busy week!

 

This is one of the best "find" stories I think I have every heard and read about... simply amazing and fun to follow!
Sam

 

Still needs more cowbell. He he.

 

Wow, it's cleaned up really nice.

 

Was just sent these photos from my dad.

 

Very cool story!

 

More gold from my dad. Bonneville 1954, running B & C/Coupe. Note the engine missing from the car- must have been swapping between the Jimmy & Wayne Chev. That's my grandpa on the right crouching down in the double exposure photo.

 

Rad. What a great story. Please keep us updated!

 

Very cool that you found your grandpa’s race car! I have a Jimmy powered Bonneville car that has a Howard/Arias head and was fortunate enough to actually talk to your grandfather about Jimmy’s a couple times at our annual RodRiders banquet’s. Check out my thread here on the HAMB, I got hooked up by my buddy Typo41 and was able to buy a 37/38 Chevy that had sat in a garage since the 70’s too! Like your car there are huge gaps in its story, if only they could talk and tell us what they’ve done!

 

One guy trying to get the truck ready, one guy trying to get the racecar ready, and one guy trying to get the trailer ready.

Somethings never change!

 

Awesomeness.

 

Any pictures from the show at the air museum?

 

The gift keeps on giving... discovered these beautiful shots on the Petersen Archives website. First year out, Speedweek '54. Record set in B/Coupe @ 144.46 mph, 2nd place speed was 131.57 mph. These guys did not mess around! As you can see, there has been many changes to the car since this iteration, mostly the hole in the trunk and a few other things.

 

Thanks for the update! I'm glad the car is back in the family. Great thread! Great pic's.I'm glad Petersen Publishing Company archived all there pic's. I found 22 pic's of my Merc on there. I tried to buy copies without the watermark. They wanted like 80 bucks a piece for them.I think they would be 10x10 inches. Way out of my budget 22 pic's at 80 bucks each.