About
About this project and why it took the direction it took. A friend of mine had this car for years and then sold it. I contacted the person he sold the car to and it was just sitting. I purchased the car without even taking it for a test spin. I loaded the car on tow dolly and towed the car three hours home. Once at home I proceeded to disassemble the car and then I towed it to the media blaster where it was blasted inside and out. Once back home I got the real picture of all the hidden damage. I felt as though I purchased the wrong car. Oh well, too late now. I then purchased a Chris Alston’s front end which I wanted to have mated to a chassis so that I would have a full chassis car. I took the car to Rouse Racing for the work. Randy Timmering cut out the sheet metal, made the chassis and did all the initial work. The car then came to a stand still so a friend of mine AW referred me to a friend of his Tom Wurzer. Tom owns a body shop and said he would get the body work done and I wouldn’t get burned. Tom performed some of the initial body work and then had a friend of his do the interior sheet metal. Six months later I got the car back, After looking over the car I became very frustrated. The interior sheet metal had been welded to the quarter panels which caused them to warp. The bottom of the car was totally rusted and all the seams were filled with way too much seam sealer. I stared at the car for about six months before realizing how disappointed I was with the work that I had paid for.
I then cut out all the interior sheet metal and the rear quarters panels. I purchased NOS quarters…three to get two…and then installed them with the help from one of the body repair instructors from the college. Once these were installed I started taking measurements on the chassis. Nothing seamed to triangulate correctly so I took the car to the line up shop for their input. What I learned was the chassis wasn’t square and the rear rails over the rear end were at different heights. Talk about being upset, such an understatement. I then scrapped the chassis.
I contacted Art Morrison and had two new rear rails and the center pieces bent (See chassis picture). I made the rear cross member with the exhaust cutouts and welded everything together. I contacted Scotts Hot Rods to make me a front clip. Scotts made the front clip five times before they finally refunded my money. The clips that Scott’s made either weren’t square (four of the five times) or made out of the wrong steel (2 by 3 verses 2 by 4). I once again contacted Art Morrison’s to come to the rescue. While I waited for the Art Morrison clip I had nothing to do on the car so I radiused all the welds on the chassis. Kind of anal but I was bored and needed something to work on. Once I got the chassis all welded together I moved on to the interior sheet metal. I made templates out of wood for the metal shop so that they could bend the 14 gauge steel to my likings for the firewall and the rear end hump. I made bucks out of wood that I used to make the wheel tubs.
Once the interior sheet metal was all replaced I made a rotisserie and turned the car on its side so that I could finish the bottom. Once the bottom of the car was flat I painted it with PPG tri-coat Mid Night Sapphire Blue and flamed it just for kicks. Since the car is now taking on a life of its own I decided to weld on the front fenders so that car would have a one piece body. Welding the front fenders on the car created a unique set of challenges. I had to redesign the entire engine compartment sheet metal, down tubes and radiator core support so that everything appeared as though it was meant to be this way from the factory. Somewhere along the way probably at SEMA one year I saw some billet hood hinges for a Camaro that I just had to have. So I found a way to incorporate them into the car as well.
The hood on the car is or was a Goodmark reproduction cowl hood for a Nova. Since I don’t care for motors sticking out of the hood I had to take apart the hood and enlarge the air box. I didn’t care for the looks of all the holes in the cowl induction venting so I cut them out and made a billet insert. I kept thinking to myself that if Chevrolet had originally put a cowl hood on a Nova would they have left it with a Camaro peak or would they have put in a Nova peak. You guessed it, it would have had a Nova peak so I had tools made to change the peak from a Camaro peak to a Nova peak. I then flamed the underside of the hood so that it matched the bottom of the car.
Wow, I guess I wrote a lot – Somewhere along the line I chopped the top, shaved the door handles, replaced the front cowl where the wipers and cowl vent were and replaced the trunk section so that it was smoothed. All the work has been performed in my garage. The car has been in three body shops since I scrapped everything. The first shop I spent a lot of money and listened to his complaining and then he decided he was tired of doing body work and went to work in another shop. The second shop was Chris Hares Wild Hare Customs. Here I prepaid for the work I wanted done, Chris hardly worked on the car and then realized that it was getting close to SEMA and he bailed. Still haven’t received the money back. The last shop Fat Wallet Customs is where I should have taken the car to begin with because they are just excited to do the work.
History of this Vehicle
Plans for this Vehicle
Sponsors & Special Thanks
Many Thanks To The Following Participating Sponsors:
Morrison Motorsports of Australia – Intake manifold
Premier Auto Upholstery – Interior
American Autowire – Wiring System & Fuse Box
Rushforth Wheels – Wheels
Accel DFI Engine Management System
Stewart Warner – Gauges
Muth Mirrors – Mirrors
Vintage Air – Heating, Cooling and A/C
Fat Wallet Customs – Labor associated with the final body and paint work
Jason Rushforth Designs – Renderings
Michelin Tires – Tires
PPG Paint – Paint
Odyssey Batteries – Batteries
AmFor Electronics – Alternator and Charging System
King Pin Car Audio – Stereo Acquisition and Trailer
Flaming River – Steering Wheel, Column and Components
QA1 Coil Overs and Springs
Ricks Hot Rod Shop – Gas Tank
Electric Life – Solenoids & Power Windows
Gentex Corporation – Rear View Mirror With Home Link
Moser Engineering – Rear End Third Member
Power-Gate – Battery Transfer Units
Spinneybeck – Interior Leather
Spintech – Stainless Exhaust and Mufflers
STB Coating – Powder Coating
Pure Power – Oil Filter
McLeod – Flywheel, Clutch and Throwout Bearing
Aeromotive – Fuel Pump, Fuel Filter and Fuel Regulator
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