Whatever happened to Gary Kollofski's 55 Chevy?

Sure wish Kollofski would get back into the hot rod world?
If he built cars like that back then,what would he create now?
One of my hot rod heroes!

 

Actually, I knew that FLY's were not streetable, soooo I made my own. I used MONOQUE wheel halves, the flaw in the plan was that I was unaware that the halves could be purchased in different thicknesses. They sold me the thin drag racing stuff ! OOPS ! I just talked to BRAD FANSHAW from BONSPEED at GG COL. He is a fan as well. I'm going to send him my (1) and only front for him to digitize. Maybe he will start making them !

 

superfriend mark spoke to about that very issue in columbus! i wasn't sure if i should relay the story, so i'm glad you jumped in.

let's hope brad steps up, there's money to be made.

you need to visit st louis sometime, you've got a big fan base here. it'd be just like the time davy jones showed up on the brady bunch and marcia got him to sing at the school dance ...

 

Hi Again Got this on good source that Kollofski's 1936 Willys Coupe will be at the Goodguys Nationals Aug 22-23-24 Pleasanton, California.
Bobs36hotrod said this.

 

...What a small world at times. I ripped that article out of the `77 magazine, in the 80`s, and still have it in a folder of tri 5 stuff. That was one of the `55s that got me hooked on them...Thumbs up...

 

Boy this is a neat thread! First, welcome Gary!! Like several guys here have said, I too got hooked on 55's because of your car back when I was like 7 or 8 years old and saw it in Hot Rod- thank you!! It so happens I'm going with a buddy to look at a 55 project (for him) tomorrow, we were talkin and he asked me about the best "look" for a 55- I Immediately said "Gary Kollofski's car- look it up" and now I go online tonite and Damn- there it is!! and Mr K too!! Threads like this make this place worthwhile. Thanks all. So cool.
Pete

 

And you would be.............Marcia?!

 

ow, my nose!

 

I spoke to Gary some time back. Heck of a nice guy. And yes, I was mesmerized by that black 55 back in the day as well...

The way I found him back then was via a boat I found for sale. When I saw the name and phone number (Minnesota), I just KNEW it had to be the same guy. Here are a couple of pics of what he was fooling with after getting out of cars for awhile.

Still plenty of horsepower here!

 

small world, look who just appeared http://www.trifive.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30793

 

looks like most of those guys have no idea what kind of rock star they're dealing with!

 

If it dosen't rain Gary Kollofski's Killer 1936 Willys Coupe will be at the NSRA Sacramento Car Show OCTOBER 2-3-4 09
bobs36hotrod said this.

 

My dad worked at Wayzata High School with Gary Kollofski, so I had a 20x30 picture of his '55 above my bed since I was 2 years old. I heard the guy that bought it took it to some shows, got mad when EVERYONE recognized it, and chopped the top by 3", and totally ruined the look of the car. I heard he might be planning to rebuild, however...

 

Hey Gary, George Dombeck here, I was one of the "Chosen few" to hang out in Garys garage. Helped prep the willys for a show too. Very cool car. It was fun to see it come together. Jim Kampmann and I even bought Garys leftovers from his speed shop , mostly gaskets and wheel locks. Hey gary still have the "present" Gray gave you for the Willys? Thanks for letting us dorks polish the willys, every damm piece of polished aluminum underneath the car. g

 

There is a set of Motor Wheel Flys on Mpls. Craigslist right now.

 

My friend just sold a set of new in the box Flys a few weeks ago on ebay

 

How much? the MPLS. set is $700 just for the rears.

 

I would love to have a set of 14" rears for the 55 I'm in the process of building now, but I'm planning on using 13" Willwood brakes in the front and rear and the old 15" diameter wheels won't clear the new disc's. Here is s picture of the new chassis and the adapter for the 4L80E transmission to the BPM 730ci motor that will be in the 55 soon..

 

Never one for a subtle engine, huh gary? So, no "BIG JOLONY" sprint car rears this time? You still at the Wayzata house? george

 

PSI blowers! someone wasn't F'in around when they wanted some serious power.

i'm 35 and that '55 is one of the most bad assed and influential cars of my life. very cool to see both the car and it's builder are still around.

Dave

 

Welcome Gary. Looking forward to updates on that 55!

 

I believe that he got $1750 for them.

 

Never mind what happened to Garys 55 Chev. The Grearest car Ever is Garys 1936 All Steel Willys Coupe This car still cruezes the streets daily. Not bad for 1979 build.
Bobs36 hotrod said this
OK, now you can see my new posts. You can also go to my profile and see my new pictures of Kollofski's Killer 1936 Willys Steel Coupe which is my car. Had car since 1981. This is just to clear up some of the comments that were made by other HAMB members.
1. Car went sideways and I broke 2 of the motor-flys. Too much horsepower.
2. Replaced the motor-flys with Hildibrands Wheels keeping with the drag style pro-street era of the car. Also at time no motor-flys were available or for sale.
3. When I replaced the motor-flys with the Hildibrands I changed from 12 inch wheels to 14 inch to give a better drag style look.
4. Comment was also made about the rear stance being too high, reason why I put air suspension so I could control any height I wanted and better control of traction.
5. Other than that other changes were made that you can't see.
Will post further information as time goes on. Waiting to hear your comments.
bobs36hotrod said that.

 

TAZHOG---- Recent pics pleeeeeeeaaaassssseeee!!!

 

Bump!!!

 

Well guys, I've waited almost a year to post this and unfortunately it isn't the post I wanted to do. After this thread started I contacted GARY and told him he HAD to buy his old frame from JEFF and restore his car. GARY had already gone in a different direction so I asked if he minded if I did it. He gave me his blessing and I contacted JEFF. It seems the frame was in CALIFORNIA, JEFF is in N.C. and I'm in OHIO, not the best scenario but I was game. After e-mailing back and forth for the better part of this year JEFF just sent me a note telling me the frame has been cut up, vandalized and all of the components stolen. I had a perfect body, a clutch turbo, flys and JEFF SMITH was going to reproduce the motor. There was even talk of relocating the original blower setup ! After this devastating news I feel the baddest '55 of all time is just a memory. I was willing to do the car if I had the frame, without it it would just be a clone. That being said, maybe you CALI guys can be on the lookout for a chrome early PONTIAC rear, a dropped MAS round tube axle with chrome leaf springs and wildwood brakes , JEFF said they cut the whole clip, so the front end may be in one piece. KOLLOFSKI '55 R.I.P.
​

 

That is sad news. If anybody was going to do it right it would have been you Scott.
That was one iconic car. Even a clone would get the juices flowing again...

 

Hey Scott,

Sorry to hear that news, however, a total clone would be completely fine by me!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

That suck's, I guess it was never meant to be. I met Gary in June (BTT50's weekend)and he was a true gentleman, even sold me a set of Flys for my 55.

 

No offense Gary, but I liked your '55 much better Scott. Although a redo of Gary's car would be badd ass.