Started out as a bone stock 5 window bought buy a guy in a club I was in years ago. Club started the chop, near 5”. I soon made a deal to buy it for a considerable amount, to help him out, upon the “promise” it would be “done and on the road in 2 months”. After buying it, the deal went south immediately and I got left with a serious mess and all kinds of disasters to fix after waiting nearly 2 years (LESSON LEARNED). After diving into it, I soon realized the only thing usable was the body, the steering wheel, and the wheels, literally. This began the extended 2 year COMPLETE rebuild of my coupe. I met with a few local builders who all strongly voiced their opinions on it and suggested I scrap nearly everything. I then contacted a friend of mine who is a local well-known builder and we got started on it. The build began from the ground up with the frame that I bought from Riley Automotive. If you’re not familiar with them, I highly suggest you look them up! They (Eric) built me a custom boxed tig welded frame, shortened 3” (so I could run a stock length hood), Z’d 8 inches in the rear, and with a 3” inch upsweep on the front frame rails (which gives it a really bitchin’ stance!) As the rear axle I got in the deal was bent, I bought a nice fresh Chevy 10 bolt with a posi and we installed it. The axle was the perfect width. Had to scrap the entire front end and it now has an all new So-Cal entire front end accompanied by Boling Brothers self energizing Lincoln style brakes upfront. Everything was powder coated “Liquid Black”. The floor was completely cut out and re-worked to fit the new frame. Once the super clean body went on the powder coated frame, new everything, right down to the screws was installed. My friend finished the chop and made the corrections, along with fixing the firewall, which I then smoothed and painted “Mint White”. Howell’s out of TX sent me a beautiful new hood with PERFECT louvers (I highly recommend looking them up as well). I bought the Dodge Caravan seat, like everyone does, and had had it re-shaped and upholstered by Paco’s who does amazing work! He also redid my roof insert. The “new” motor that came with the deal ended up having tons of rust in the intake valves and lifters that would not stop sticking as it had been left open in the rain apparently. As one of my best friends works for GM Parts, and I get screaming deals, I pulled the trigger on a new 308 hp/347 ft lbs GM Performance motor with a nice little cam, and a fresh BOP th350 with a nice shift kit (in case I went with a Nailhead some day). I know, I know... “Where’s the 3rd pedal”... I cleaned up and painted the ‘40 Ford wheels gloss black and put new Firestone 750-16’s x 550-16’s on them. Kidwell’s Glass cut and installed all my glass, as they do on all my cars. We Dyna-matted every inch of the car, as any A owner knows is a must. That made the ride SO much better! I scored some really nice YOM plates as well, only to find out that I couldn’t assign them to the car until I paid the $1,000.00 in back fees on the car that I wasn’t told about in the deal. Took the hit and got them on the car and it soon after hit the road. After having years to think about color options, I changed my mind from gloss black, to ox blood, to the color it is now, VW Texas Brown. I’ve added a plethora of accents the give it it’s “personality”, from the tag topper, to the hood straps, to my prized necker knob, etc... I’ve never taken it to a single show; I JUST DRIVE IT EVERYWHERE. Hope you enjoy the photos of the build, it was truly a labor of love and a lesson learned.
Wow, a positive endorsement for Howells! Not to many of those pop up. Nice coupe. I am surprised at the amount of clearance under the chassis considering up swept rails and z ed in the rear.
I didn’t fully know what to expect from the frame, but once it all went together, it sits perfect IMO. I did however have to use a Posies “Stock height” spring up front to compensate.
Beautiful car... everything looks just right. If it were mine, I don't think I'd change a thing. Nice job.
Wow! That previous frame, crossmember and suspension was some scary shit! Nice job rebuilding it! Good looking car now. Dave
Yeah, it was REALLY sketchy. He burned us pretty bad and cost us a lot of savings. I left the club over it. The pics don’t do it justice, everything was really messed up. All I can say is karma will catch up to him and you have to be careful who you burn in life. It took a ton of work, and I basically bought the car twice, but I learned a lot more about building hot rods and know every inch of the car now.
Great hot rod man, can’t eecall the last time I said “what the fuck?” That many times in a row. Any shots of the old chasssi with the body off? That rear “suspension” is unreal
I don’t have any pics of the entire chassis with the body off of it off hand, but it was all bad, really bad. Quite a few local builders looked it over tip-to-toe before I did anything further; every single one of them was blown away at how bad it was and after we all sat down and did the math regarding what I paid him and what was usable, the difference was about $11k in loss. There were live wires zip tie’d to a leaking gas line inside the cab, if that gives you an idea of what I got stuck with, not to mention the mangled frame, suspension, etc. I gave the frame to a buddy who needed it for a section of it. I have TONS more pics of what the guy who sold it to me did to it. He was once a buddy, but the day after I gave him the cash, he started to disappear more and more. And the “promise” of 2 months turned into nearly 2 years, when I finally brought a trailer over to his house and dragged it home. If you knew how much I paid him for it based on “his word”, you would choke. I got my car and walked away from the club immediately after. Believe it or not, the guy is a builder and could have done it right, he apparently saw an opportunity in someone honest with some money. Never again.. LESSON LEARNED.
Fantastic improvement in the new frame over the old. It's amazing how bad some guy's vision of their dream car can be. The car in it's new incarnation looks spot on from every aspect. Mart.
Right? Only this guy builds cars for a living.. More of a matter of taking money and disappearing rather than ability. Thanks for the compliments!
The Jalopy Journal
