1931 Chevy 5 window coupe build

[Flyingtiger77]

Well I made the trip with the family yesterday and picked up my new project. As the title says it is a 1931 Chevy 5 window coupe. It is a mostly complete car and the guy I bought it from said he owned it for about 5 years and never did anything to it besides spraying some primer on the body. Before that it was stored on a Indian reservation outside of Ramona,Ca.
Here is a few pics of it. I stopped to get gas not even a mile from where I picked it up and while pumping I look across the street and there sits a 31' Sedan. Pretty cool, so I snapped a couple of pics. More photos to follow (work today).
The plans are to build a highboy with a perimeter frame, torsion bar suspension, Schroeder side steer, mild 283 sbc, t5, Etc. Here is a photoshop pic which is modified from hookerhotrods 31'/32'. The paint will be more of a matte with some subtle flake. Should be starting the frame within in a month or so. Get your tickets now!

[29bowtie]

Nice score and what a great photo op with the sedan! Myself and others from the "Termites and Bowties" social group, will be anxiously awaiting more pics.

[TFoch]

Love to see these old Chevys coming back to life! What are your plans with the wood? Do you plan to replace with steel or give the termites more food to feast on? Keep us up to date on your build and good luck!

[Midwest Rodder]

Very nice project and looks like a real good start. Congrats!

[Flyingtiger77]

Originally Posted by TFoch

Love to see these old Chevys coming back to life! What are your plans with the wood? Do you plan to replace with steel or give the termites more food to feast on? Keep us up to date on your build and good luck!

The wood is actually in pretty good shape. However, I will be replacing it all with steel.

[TFoch]

Originally Posted by Flyingtiger77

The wood is actually in pretty good shape. However, I will be replacing it all with steel.

Wood is good for patterns! Have fun with it!

[chopper526]

Good luck, looks nice!

[Flyingtiger77]

Well after getting home from work I was able to pull the coupe out and dig through it and take inventory. It was chalked full of parts in the cab and I did not pull everything out when I originally purchased it. After looking through everything, the only thing I can see that is missing is the exterior door handles and the wiper motor. I'm sure there is more that I will discover when I start the build. However, I am very pleased with how complete it is and the over all shape of it. I took a bunch a pics while I had it out. Here they are!

[Flyingtiger77]

More...

[Flyingtiger77]

The last of them. Oh and before some of you chime in. The plan is to build two of them. One as a highboy and the other a full fendered which will appear mostly stock. Building the hot rod on 32' Ford frame rails and the second will use this stock chassis. It is definitely in too good of shape to let it go to waste

[themoose]

Looks like a very solid car.That's rare for an old Chevy,they tended to fall apart after the wood rotted away .Enjoy your project and keep us posted.....(Lots of pictures please!)

[skoh73]

Nice score!

[Ghost28]

Originally Posted by Flyingtiger77

The last of them. Oh and before some of you chime in. The plan is to build two of them.

You have two of them? I like your thinking on the builds. Myself I tend to go for fenders, but I like the fenderless hot rod design you showed. I have a knack for finding the early gm, or chevys or maybe they find me. I have two that I am working on. and two more in line. glutton for punishment maybe. Have fun with yours.

[PBRmeASAP]

alright another chevy owner...welcome to the club.
Keep us posted as the progress goes....

[Flyingtiger77]

Originally Posted by Ghost28

You have two of them? I like your thinking on the builds. Myself I tend to go for fenders, but I like the fenderless hot rod design you showed. I have a knack for finding the early gm, or chevys or maybe they find me. I have two that I am working on. and two more in line. glutton for punishment maybe. Have fun with yours.

Not as of yet. But I am saving the chassis for the fendered build. I know where another body is and I have my eyes on it. I just have most of the stuff to build the rod and am going to do that one first.

[Flyingtiger77]

Well checked the dreaded task of visiting DMV and taking care of the title and registration. Three offices and crashed computer system at the Davis (2nd) office later and I have the paperwork in hand! Also have some year of make plates assigned to it.
The first lady I dealt with was a b@#ch. Quite literally a DMV Nazi. I don't see how these people don't understand the issues with 80 year old vehicles. "No ma'am there is no title. The previous owner never registered it and it has been sitting for 50-60 years as stated in the bill of sale". I need all that on this special DMV paperwork. Gouging my eyes out and envisioning squeezing the life from her skinny neck. Second DMV, wait in line and the computer system goes down. Lady says were not taking anymore customers. I ask her if she can call a neighboring DMV to see if they are having the same issues. "Sorry sir we cannot do that". WTF.....OK can I have their number so I can call. "Sorry we are not aloud to give out branch phone numbers. FML. The third and final DMV lady was a pleasure to deal with and no issues. Gotta love it. Atleast I am done!

[striper]

It's your car, and a nice one too, but I think I'd have to build a hot 6 for that.

Sounds like your DMV employs on the same basis as our VicRoads. I found a good office and I'll never go to another one again.

Good luck with your build(s)

Pete

[Flyingtiger77]

Originally Posted by striper

It's your car, and a nice one too, but I think I'd have to build a hot 6 for that.

Sounds like your DMV employs on the same basis as our VicRoads. I found a good office and I'll never go to another one again.

Good luck with your build(s)

Pete

I would love to build a hot six for it. However, with the cost of gas and the fact that I intend to make it a daily driver. I can't justify putting a six with less MPG, less power, and in general just worse efficiency. I have a mild 283 which will go in the rod in front of a T5 tranny. I plan on building a 2 door coach on the chassis and will put a mild 250 in that. I really want to build a six but after a lot of thought it just isn't right for the coupe. So my inline fix will have to wait until the next build.

[mikeallcars]

Nice .

[Flyingtiger77]

Alright so here is a little update. Today I got off of work and started tinkering with the coupe. So one thing leads to another and I'm in elbow deep. I ended up taking a good inventory of everything and it appears I am only missing one door window crank, exterior door handles, and the deck lid handle. After the inventory I started investigating how the body was attached and the next thing you know I got it off and up on my frame stand. So while it was up there I mocked it up and threw some tires in front of it to get a feeling for it. I also put the 32' Chevy grill I acquired on it. The blue tape represents the chop. It is 6" in the back and 6 1/2" in the front. I think I might chop it to 4" and 41/2" and see what it looks like. Always easier to take more off then to try to put it back. Should have my frame in a few weeks and be ready to start really building!