Distortion

When there’s distortion, something isn’t quite right. The dictionary attributes this to pulling or twisting, but I think there’s more to it.

Don’t believe me? Take a glimpse at this 1959 El Camino that I ran across on the H.A.M.B. a few years back. At some point, some brave soul thought this particular example of Chevrolet’s new-style hauler would be better suited for the quarter mile.

Was there pulling? Perhaps. Twisting? I’d have to take a glance at the bracing on the frame to get an accurate assessment of that one (sic).

By the looks of things, the builder took the shell of the ’59 and massaged it to fit an altered chassis. The Davis & Ingram team tried a similar approach when they converted their immaculately-detailed Fiat to the hard charging “Colt .45�? Mustang.

Judging by the wrinkle-wall slicks, I’d peg the image at about 1966. The original photo was very small and low quality, which leads me to believe that this was taken from an old classified ad.

Was it ever completed? Probably not. Although I’m a pretty optimistic guy, I have a feeling that this machine — when finished — would have likely had a hard time passing tech even at a wildcat dragstrip.

Either way, this heavily-altered Chevy sits well with me. It’s homebrewed. It’s creative. And it’s right up my alley. But hey, maybe I’m just a little distorted.

-Joey Ukrop