Hi,

Welcome to my "Fotki" pictures page. This old 55 Chevy has been a labor of love. I bought the car nearly 20 years ago and much blood, sweat and tears have gone into the build. The car is not nearly perfect, but I can say it was mostly done by me. I built brackets and installed a 8.5 inch 4.88 gear rear and Muncie 4 speed and new springs. The short block was assembled by a local shop, but the rest of the engine work was all done in my garage. I learned to weld putting in new quarters, rockers, floors, fender pieces, splashpans and filling the holes in the inner fenders and firewall. I did the finish body work but had a shop do the final straightening and shoot the car. I then brought the car home and hand sanded, buffed and polished the car myself (13 trips around the body with elbow grease and sandpaper or compound). The dash metal was sprayed with white lacquer from spray cans and hand buffed. I installed my own headliner and seat covers and built the door panels and rear deck cover. I did have a local upholstery shop help with the french seams on the arm rests. Good investment. The carpet was hand cut and glued onto a backing before installation. I converted the car from auto to clutch with a hand built hydraulic actuated clutch pedal built to resemble stock inside of the car. I rebuilt all of the front suspension and brakes and installed the air ride system and also built a custom stereo with amps/subs, etc. Most of the stainless is original and has been hand hammered back in shape, sanded and buffed. It has been a long time coming, but the car was finally "finished" for the Goodguys show in Indy in June 2004. There are still a lot of mistakes and things I want to improve/correct but I am happy that I stuck with it when I was covered in undercoating and weld burns and just plain sick of playing with cars. It has been a challenge to stick to a theme. For me, I wanted a retro 60's flavor thus the white spoke steering wheel, white hurst shift knob, tuck and roll, torque thrusts, rumpy cam, crossram, corvette valve covers, 4.88 rear gears and loud exhaust. It is funny though, only about 5% of real car guys really get that! A lot of people say, "you should have put in a tweed interior, or how about a billet steering wheel, or why did you powdercoat the alum Lockar gas pedal black" Cause it doesn't fit the theme, that's why. My only concession to modern day was the stance (airride) and 17 inch wheels. In the end, it was worth it!!! Now, get back out in the garage and spend a few hours on your own HOT ROD!!!