Okay, so it's been a couple of months since I drove my '35 Chevy home from Orlando, Florida to Portland, Oregon. For those of you that missed the epic road trip saga, here's a link to the original story: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=696444 I knew from the get go that the Chevy was mechanically sound, but it had some cosmetic issues, there were some items that I wanted to change (just personal preference type stuff), and that there were some items that were just left unfinished. Since my Uncle was going to hang out with me in Portland for a while, I figured that I would take advantage of the extra pair of hands, and get some stuff done. My original vision for the car was as a '50s era, traditional hot rod. I ran into concept problems, because I just couldn't see anyone building a Chevy sedan into a hotrod during that era. I always think of Ford roadsters and coupes for that style of build. I decided to instead build it as an early '60s hotrod, since I really like that transitional time period between the first generation hotrods and the later '60s hotrods. Follow along as we put some HOT back into this hotrod.
The first area that I knew needed attention was the interior, specifically the dash board area. I had some ideas in my head about what I wanted to do in there, and I had 3800 miles of staring at it to refine those ideas. The first picture is where we started. Not a pretty sight. The first project was I wanted to lose the clunky tilt steering column and Vega steering wheel. While I was at it, I wanted to convert it from a column shift to a floor shift. Since we would be working inside my small garage, the first thing to come off was the doors, followed by the entire steering column and dash board area being gutted. Too late to go back now... The last picture shows the steering column and Moon steering wheel mocked in place. Now we're making progress. The Moon wheel was the first piece that I bought for the car, and I used that as my inspiration piece for the rest of the work that we did.
While we had the dashboard panel out of the car, I decided that it was time to give it a coat of paint, since NOTHING else on the car had red oxide primer on it. A side note on the dash panel. This is a '35 Standard, but the dash had been swapped for a '34 Master dash. It fits in the car the same way, but it moves the gauges from the cneter of the dash to the left side, and adds a glove box to the right side. When the dash was changed, there was never a glove BOX put behind the door, so I built one for it. I used the most plentiful building material in my garage...license plates. I think it turned out good. You can see the column final mounted in the next picture, with the column drop made out of an aluminum connecting rod given to me by one of my club brothers. The next picture shows the wheel installed for the last time (it must have been on and off 100 times while we were getting this done). The last couple show the dash and gauges reinstalled.
Nice job on the dash remodel, it looks great now. The color change is also a big plus . ................Jack
It always amazes me how changing one thing in a hotrod leads to many more changes. In this case, it all worked out better than anticipated. When the tilt-column was originally installed in the car, it apparently had some issues with not really fitting in the "proper" location. The column was offset about 6 inches to the left of center, and the bottom of the column had to be placed way too low, in order for the shift linkage to clear. When we changed out the column, we went with just a basic steering column, non-tilt and no column shift. We were pleasantly surprised that we were able to reposition the steering column in a more "correct" location. Without everything getting in the way, we were able to center up the steering wheel with the gauges, and we were able to move the bottom of the column up higher and out of the way. Installing the floor shifter was a non-event. It couldn't have been easier, once I ordered the right part. I had ordered a Gennie shifter with a mid-mount location, but I discovered that I needed the rear mount in order for the shifter to not be up under the dash. So-Cal Speedshop here in Portland was great about letting me swap out the shifter mount with no problems.
While we were getting the column and shifter buttoned up, I decided that now would be a good time to reposition the brake pedal. The brake pedal always seemed like it was too high compared to the gas pedal, making transitioning from the gas to the brake awkward. So we cut, bent and welded the brake pedal (several times) until it cleared the new column location and was more on the same plane as the gas pedal. One more note on the shifter install. The neutral safety switch that Genie Shifter provided with the shifter was JUNK. It would keep shorting out the ignition module in the HEI distributor every time we tried to start the car. Of course, it took us two days, three ignition modules, and a coil to figure out what was happening.
Now, to do something about the (cough, cough) billet dash insert. This insert was installed by the previous owner, and originally held one of the prototype sets of Dakota Digital gauges. They didn't work quite right, and were replaced with the Classic Instruments that are still in the car. However, the insert panel still had t obe dealt with. Originally, I wanted to have the ball-milled grooves machined out of the panel and try my hand at machine-turning the insert. After staring at the dash for a solid week, I decided that might be a bit too much for the car. Especially since I would want to do the glove box door to match. WAY too over the top. So I went with an idea that I had been kicking around, one that I had wanted to try on an earlier project, but didn't get around to it. I ordered a sheet of the material that they manufacture guitar pick-guards out of. I laid it on top of the insert, and used it as a guide for my router and cut it to shape. I also used the router to cut out the holes for the gauges. Made a tremendous mess, but it looks awesome. The billet insert is still there, but now it's covered up. The best part is that the new overlay is only held in place with double stick tape, and the instrument bezels, so I can change it in the future if I so desire.
Next on the list was dealing with the door panels. The existing door panels were made out of chip board and duct tape. They were a temporary fix that had stayed around for way too long (like 15 years too long). I plan on putting a real interior in the car some day, but I needed to do something to make the interior more liveable. I didn't want to spend a lot of time or money on my own temporary fix. So I sourced a sheet of 1/16th inch black ABS plastic and went to town. I used the original door panels as patterns and cut out the new panels. I found that a cheap pair of big scissors from Harbor Freight (they were a freebie item) would cut the material and left a nice edge. I had enough material left over to construct some kick panels as well, since the Chevy never had any. $20 worth of material, and two days of cutting. What a difference.
Along the way, we made some smaller improvements as well. We added two swan neck sideview mirrors to the outside. The car only had one of the little "peep" mirrors attached to the driver's side door top, and it was practically useless. Also, one of the tail light lenses was badly cracked, so now was the perfect time to add the blue dot lenses. In the interst of child safety, I decided to install seat belts in the car. My wife's brother had purchased some first-class airline seats at an auction. When I saw the belts on the seats, I grabbed a couple of pairs. Next time you fly, look closely at the seatbelts. Nice thick webbing, and nice chrome lift buckles. They attach to the seats with spring clips, so they were easy to remove and install. They are too short for the front seats, but work perfectly in the back. I don't intend to do any racing with passengers in the back, so I think they'll do the trick to keep kids from bouncing around too much.
The last big project was also the scariest one for me. I wanted to relocate the license plate from it's current perch atop the driver's side tail light. I never liked the way the plate looked just hanging out in the breeze, and I still have a scar on my forehead from bending over and catching the corner of the plate. I wanted to french it into the rear panel of the car. However, this would entail cutting a large hole in the back of the car, and then trying to fill it back in. I'm sure that to some of you this is no big deal, but the idea of cutting big holes in my new car was terrifying! Still, no better way to conquer your fears than to jump in with both feet. As you can see, the end result was well worth a few moments of sheer terror. At the same time, we removed the license plate brackets from both taillights, and filled the gaps left in the taillight stands, as well as filled in the hole in the tailight bucket for the license plate light. The Chevy originally only had one taillight on the driver's side, and an extra driver's side tailight was added on the passenger fender, hence the bracket over there as well.
There were several "non-negotiable" changes that I wanted to make to the car. One of those was the addition of louvers to the hood. I had louvered the hood on my last car, but sold the car before I got to enjoy the view going down the road. I asked around the Pacific Northwest social group here on the HAMB for a reference on a shop to do the work. The response was pretty unanimous. Everyone said to get in touch with Bryan at the Miss-B-Haven Speed Shop. I'm glad I did. He picked up the hood at my house, turned it around in 2 days, and delivered it back to my house! I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out. It's hard not to love the view over those louvers. The was only one down-side to the whole experience. I like the look of a hot rod with no hood on it. Unfortunately, I realized the '35 would look HORRIBLE without a hood! Oh well, best to keep a (louvered) lid on it.
The last "non-negotiable" change in store was to get rid of the horrible aluminum wheels and black wall tires. The 1980's had called, and they wanted their wheels back! In keeping with the early '60s theme, I decided to go with steel wheels and spider caps with no trim rings. I also wanted white walls, but was torn between skinny white walls and wider white walls. I finally decided to go with the wide whites, and I think I made the right decision. The skinny white walls would have been overpowered by the full fenders, and would not have looked as good. I dialed up Coker Tire and used my alliance discount to get a full set of BF Goodrich Silvertown Radials (yeah, radials...it's a driver). I also used the alliance discount for the wheels. I called up Jimmy at Rally America and ordered up some steel wheels with custom offsets. There was a little drama in getting my wheels right. Three of them were PERFECT. The fourth wheel took 3 tries to get right, but Jimmy was a stand-up guy and made it happen. I ordered the chrome spiders at the same time, and it turns out they were on back order from China, so they took a little longer to arrive than I anticipated, but they were worth the wait. I think they just scream '60s hotrod!
So, future plans call for some body work (need to work out a few bumps and bruises), a coat of paint, a real interior and some other odds and ends. For now, I'm having a blast driving it. I can't believe the difference a few well thought out changes can make in a car. It is more comfortable, more fun to drive, and it looks so much better. Stay tuned for more updates in the future.
It had one at one time. A combination of Arizona sun and Florida salt air killed it. It's on the to-do list.
Several HAMB'rs have busted my chops about the crushed velour upholstery in the car. Let me explain...the Chevy was built by the previous owner (before my Uncle bought it) as a straight-up street rod in the late '70s/early '80s. As such, it had all the period goodies. It had the dark metallic paint, crushed velour interior, digital gauges, a/c, cruise, tilt column, power windows, aluminum wheels with spinners, conversion van window cranks, etc. The whole ball of wax. Check out the pictures of the car in all of it's glory. In the years in between then and now, the roof got filled in, the fenders had some work done on them, the extra taillight was added, and the running boards were replaced. All those primer spots started to grow together, until the car was more primer than paint, so my Uncle decided to primer the whole car. Most of the interior wood has been replaced with steel, so most of the upholstery went by the wayside as well. So, that's how the car evolved into the way it looked when I got it. A little bit street rod, a little bit hotrod, and a little bit r@t r*d. Now it's on the road to recovery. Thanks for the comments.
*UPDATES*UPDATES*UPDATES* Been a while since I posted any updates on the '35, so I thought I would show what I have been up to lately. Did some work on the front fenders, since the driver's side was still a little out of shape from my tire blowout adventure, and the passenger side was rubbing ever so slightly on the tire. Then I decided to get adventurous. I have had an idea for scallops on the side of the car, and figured that I needed to see if it looked as good on the car as it did on paper. Out came the masking tape and the spray paint. I figured that if I hated it, I could always sand them off and primer over them. I think they look bitchen' and really wake the car up. The last change was to do something about the boring gas pedal. I used a "Ludwig" drum pedal from the '20s, and attached it over the existing pedal. Again, it was something I had been wanting to do for a long time. Enjoy the pictures.
Small Update.... I decided that I REALLY liked the looks of the scallops that I put on the car. Figured that they would probably be there for a while before I get real paint on the car, and if they were going to stay, they really needed to get finished properly. So I hooked up with fellow HAMBer Monk (hotrodmonk55), and had him lay down down some appropriate stripes on the scallops and a few on the glovebox. SUPER happy with the results. Tell me what you think. I'm a big boy...I can take it.
Good looking 35 I have one also. Good move on the plate change. I hinged mine and put the filler behind it. Also 1/2 frenched the tailights.
Bonzo - The changes you made to the back really change up the look of the car. I just prefer mine with most of the fiddly bits in place. Like the idea of moving the gas filler...where were you when I needed you? Fordman - Thanks. You've seen it in person, just without the pinstripes. REally makes the scallops pop!
Okay, not really making much real progress on the car. Been having too much fun driving it lately. Had Monk come over to the house tonite to put a new tattoo on the door. I've been threatening to do this for a long time, and finally pulled the trigger. How much trouble do you think this is gonna cause?
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