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| Hey Byron, great site! I visit every
so often to check out the new stuff. Great bunch of people! I wanted
to send some pics of my '55, as well as some pics of my good friend's
that he is rebuilding. I'll start with my orange '55 that is out of
Ohio. Here is the story I put together from info gathered form the
previous owner. The story begins back in the early 70s in Canton, Ohio. Inspired by movies like Two-Lane Blacktop and American Graffiti, two brothers and their best friend (the wrench) set out to build their version of a wicked 55 Chevy. While still in high school, these buddies spend the next 3 years from 73-76 building this car. The paint is as it was shot back in 73. A 69 Nova 12 bolt rear with 4.56 Zoom gears was installed early on as they kept breaking the stock rear end launching the car in the driveway. By 1975-1976, they started getting the key elements together. A beefed up Turbo 400 trans was put together and after a visit to Black Bart at BUDCO H.P Parts in Canton, a Banana 3000 stall converter was installed. On April 2, 1975 the L-88 427 crate motor was purchased at Marhofer Chevrolet in Stow, Ohio for a mere $819.52. The brothers went on a shopping spree and started to collect all the necessary speed equipment such as Sun gauges, JR big tube headers, and more. There are many receipts from a local parts store you may have heard of; Summit Auto Center. Back then, they had two locations in Akron, Ohio...........long before they exploded on the mail-order scene. By late 76 the car was getting closer to being finished. Then after they graduated high school, one of the brothers got married, and the car was parked for a few years. In 1980, one of the brothers was going through a divorce and needed to sell the car. The best friend (the wrench) worked out a deal so he could get the car and finish it. By 83 he had taken the body off the frame a gone through the underside, detailing and replacing everything. It was now in good working order and driven sparingly (under 2000 miles) over the next 19 years. In the fall of 2001, I found an ad for a 55 Chevy for sale. All the ad said was 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air, 427, AT. After talking with the owner, I knew this was the car I wanted. It was an old school survivor, that needed alot of detailing. Over the past year and a half, I have made subtle changes to make the car into what it is today. The paint is untouched, runs and all from 1973. I reworked the wheel wells and added a vintage set of American 200S mags I restored to 1969 specs. The vintage decals were added along the way to give it that nostalgia gasser look. This spring, the engine was put on steroids. The beast now puts out close to 675 HP with solid roller cam & fully ported vintage aluminum heads to go along with the stout 12.5:1 compression. I have yet to run it down the strip yet, but it sees quite a bit of cruising. This is one killer street car that flat gets with it. It lives on strictly 110 octane race gas, and at a clip of 4 mpg, I make the trips short and sweet! My friend, Bill Fowler rescued an old gasser '55 near the old Lions Drag strip in Long Beach, CA where it had been sitting since it last raced there in '72. Man I don't know where to start, but here are some pics of the
X-Lions drag car that my friend Bill picked up last Spring. He chased
this car for almost a year and a half before the guy would sell. It
was originally purchased form a young guy in LA after the car and it's
big block had been stolen....twice!! This was around '66-'67. It has a
Blair's Speed Shop straight axle, Tony Nancy interior, and all the
goodies from the day. Don Nunes, the owner raced at Lions, Irwindale,
San Fernando, Bakersfield, and all over. The timeslips he showed us
showed the quickest time to be an 11.92 at Lions. Don told us he won
many trophies in many classes. D/G, E/G, F/G, etc., he would change
carbs or whatever depending on how many cars were in class that
weekend. He last raced the car in '72 at the Last Race at Lions. The
car was then parked for over 30 years out in a yard at a house he
owned. It sat under trees and had so much crap piled on it, it was
hard to tell what it was. It took a full day to drag it out of the
hole it was in. It was rusty, and full of rats. We got the 301 SBC,
Hilborn unit, 4-speeds, and some other stuff with the car. The car has
alot of vintage stuff including all the original decals on the side
glass, Olds/Pontiac rear, manual line lock (this was a lever you
pulled to hold down the brake pedal while your feet were on the gas
and clutch.). The car was a shade of dark metallic green without any
sponsors or lettering on the body. Big radiused wheel wells also. We
are looking for pictures of this car so if you have any we would
really appreciate anyone who could copy, scan them for our archives. |
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