Hi All, its been a while since I have posted anything but I have been lurking around and keeping up with the happenings. I did a search and did not come up with anything about the car but an ass load of "Projects" in the works LOL!! As you see by the threads title I need some info on this car. Photos, issue numbers that the car was in, anything that will help me recreate the car from when it was in Hollywood Knights. To me this was the best rendition of the car and the one when I first saw and fell in love with the car. I just bought a two door post car that came from Colorado and is as rust free solid car as you can find. Its a mostly complete low mileage 6 cyl, 3 speed, turquoise sedan. I will not know until I get into it if I will have to put any patch panels in, but I will find out after I get it disassembled and soda blasted. In the meantime it is sitting at my farm in middle TN waiting for me to start on it. I really need the dirty details of the car, you know the small little things or quirks that it had or was done to it around that time. What motor, tranny, rear end, was it a coil over set up or leaf spring? Any interior shot I can get, what aftermarket gauges did it have in it. I can tell from what few photos I can find on the net and the movie that the rear wheel openings looks like they were bigger that factory. I would love to know the paint formula so I could hit the nail on the head. Did Tony Nancy have anything to do with the car in real life other than standing in the speed shop when they gave duke his newly finished Ford? Any information would be really be appreciated.
JimA is a huge fan of project X. I think I remember that he has the original frame, or some parts from the car. Maybe he can help with some specs. Last time I looked he was banned from the site? How about some pics!
This car was not only a movie star, but it started as a "test" car for one of the magazines in the 60's and the 70's. Everything from suspension modifications to engines and transmissions. It's had a huge past life. Somebody should re create it. Good luck with your version.
Try searching Hollywood Knights. Larry T http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=419979&highlight=hollywood+knights
Thanks for the link Larry I will check it out. I wonder if he wants to sell the frame or what else he has from the car. I hate that GM fucked the car up royally thats why I am going to build a tribute/replica of the car. And before I get flamed here I know it has always been the test bed for all the new parts and trends but I still think GM should be shot! I saw through another link on the link the original car that they started with. The car looks eerily like mine but I can not tell the color of it though.
I don't believe anyone here is gonna flame you for saying GM fucked that car up. They did. They could have done that to a car with no history.
I agree,GM should be shot.If they wanted to try something new,they should have gotten their own car to test.Project X was in perfect form in Hollywood Knights.Newbomb Turk rules.FALFA
I need to get all of the specs and parts gathered first then I want to have the car finished by next spring/early summer so I can enjoy it. The wife has given the ok to open the checkbook on this one and it will be the last car I will build. After this one I am sticking to restoring antique tractors LOL........
You restore old tractors? Cool. I might be messing around with an old Allison-Chalmers pretty soon. It's out on my Girlfriends farm, right behind a 68 Ford Ranch Wagon. I'd like to get it running for the Family.
I saw project X in person about 8 years ago it was already redone in a contemporary version. no blower just another yellow 57. I wouldnt of even noticed the car but someone pointed it out to me. It did at the time have chrome project x emblems on it. In my opinion it was ruined before G.m. got their paws on it. Good luck with your version and keep us posted on the build. I have always loved this car.
Heres a few things a followed along with when I started on my 283 I put into the 55 wagon. The spec sheet was posted by another hamber on request. Pretty cool stuff! This was the version I liked. For some reason photos on here dont resize the way I want them to so they're kinda huge. sorry.
I dont know why photos of it are so hard to find but they are I was hoping that some folks on here would have some and information on the build. I also need to know if it had the Project X trim on the car at the time and what it looked like. I will also have to reproduce that to make it correct. I know technically it is an OT build but it was an icon that needs to be remembered.
Yeah its something different for me to do I love my hot rods and all but I am ready to slow down a little now since I own a farm. I have a 1951 JD AR I am fixing to start on. It runs and drives great but its a rust bucket and needs new tires so I am going to restore it. Thanks for the specs on the car during that build! I imagine that a lot of that was still in the car when it was in Hollywood Knights. I wish I had the build specs for the blower motor so I can start buying parts for it and have it already built while its cold out.
Inside shots. From an older 70s article it had a gear driven Moroso tach on the dash and 5:13 gears for a wheels up launch in this mag and popped a head gasket.
About 15-20 years ago, Popular Hot Rodding published a book that contained every Project X article (up to that date). I wish that I'd purchased that book. I have "somewhere" in my stash of car magazines (I've kept them all from the early 60's to present) the very first article, which showed the car in "as purchased condition". If I remember the story correctly, they installed a floor shifter on the original three speed trans. Perhaps someone reading this thread remembers the book that I'm referring to.
I read somewhere back then that it was a powerhouse long block they had used. These were old adds that used to come out in magazines back in the 80s and 90s. I think the tranny was a Richmond 5 speed. I believe that was the motor that blew up in the movie. I have a nice photo shot of it with the 6-71 from a Super Chevy event. I'll see if I can scan it for you.
If I had the name of it I could find one and that would be a huge help. I know that its going to take some time to find the parts I just want to make sure I get the right ones. Billy
I have done extensive research on this car to build a clone. I have purchased most of the magazines that featured it. I also have copies of the "build books". What I have found out is ...the car changed so often that you have to pic a time to duplicate it. I was going to go after the "Hollywood Knights" Look. The car didnt not stay the same to long unless it was in storage waiting to be changed. The car was Corvette yellow as stated in one of the articles. I have decided to build my car with a mid engine set back and a stright axle so I wont be doing a clone. The most problematic thing I have found was ...What color was the two-tone-ing on the dash? White or pearl white with stripes and black. Most of the picks were black and white not color. Tim
I liked it the way it was to, anybody have any bamboo strips we could drive under there finger nails?...
There have been a couple of versions of Project X that I've liked a lot and a couple that I thought totally sucked. I don't know what the latest version is like. The last time that I saw it was in the mid '90s at a Super Chevy Show and it had a gold chain kinda fake hotrod look going on. I hated seeing the car like that, it had been a real hotrod for a long time.
You are welcome to call "Bullshit" on this, but I had Project X in my garage for a month back in 2002. I worked for the Super Chevy Show and Tony Kelly from the magazine needed a place to stash it between the Norwalk and Chicago (I think) Super Chevy Shows. It was a 502 at the time, full cage (my brother cut out the cross bar behind the seat so we could slide it back). I beat that thing like a rented horse while I had it - drove it to Brice Road in Columbus during the Mopar Nationals, people were booing me until someone hollered out "Holy shit - it's Project X!". I swung into a gas station and was instantly mobbed. Took it to Jegs on the east side of Columbus (Reynoldsburg) where the hot cars hang on a Saturday night. Real non-chalant, rolled in with that cam lopin', backed into a parking place, opened the hood and walked away. When the people realised what it was they all got on the cell phone and started calling their buddys. Half-hour later the lot was packed and I was letting people climb in and get their pic taken behind the wheel. There was a bag full of little '57 Chevy keychains in the trunk with a bottle of yellow touch-up paint. Painted a few of the keychains and still have 'em. My garage key is still on one. Damn, that was a goood summer. I gotta find those pics and scan 'em.
Project X is dead. It will forever live in our hearts in the favorite personal version we liked best. Don't clone it, make a tribute in the same spirit that the old fellas who first did her up would be proud to take some test romps in. just my .02
OK, I went ahead and took a couple pics of the Project X keychain. It was still a rip-roaring street fighter when I drove it, a real shame what happened to that car - they literally wiped away all of that history with the most recent re-build.
I would've liked to seen the "project X" logo on the doors inside the quarter trim, other than that Hollywood Knights era
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