Anyone built a hot rod Chevy 490? I know the early Chevys had lots of wood in the bodies. I think they are great looking cars, especially the radiator shell, hood and cowl. They were years ahead of Ford in styling.
This being a 1918 they are pretty nifty looking. I'd say that you are 100% correct on the wood thing. Years ago I went out and looked at what was left of a Chevy body of that time frame and all that was left was the tin with the holes in it where the had tacked it to the wood and some of the wood with the tacks still holding it to the tin. I passed on that one as I knew I wasn't going to be able to do the wood framework.
Wasn't a 490 but a buddy of mine recently did an early 30's chevy body for a guy for a hot rod and replaced all of the rotten wood with lightweight 1" steel tubing that he curved and fabbed as necessary to fit don't know how much weight it added or removed but the guy was super happy with it.
HMM... This thread got me thinking that I never have seen the Chevrolet that had the first V-8 engine, so I Googled it. Seems that the 1917-1918 Chevrolet with V-8 was available in two body styles, a 4-door Touring and a 2-door Chummy Roadster. Here is a pic of the chummy roadster, interesting curvy lines I think, and then a pic of the engine (weird, it didn't come with Corvette valve covers...LOL!!!!)
I actually rode in a V8 touring car. It was the one that GM gave to the Henry Ford Museum years ago. It was extremely torquey and pretty powerful, as the V8 touring is quite larger than the 490.
I saw one of the V8 touring cars at the Newport IN Hill Climb several years ago. It was a large car. I didn’t see it go up the hill.
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