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Projects Loppy's 55 Chevy Belair Wagon Build

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Loppy, Dec 4, 2011.

  1. 56 Frame Dragger
    Joined: Jan 4, 2011
    Posts: 1,212

    56 Frame Dragger
    Member

    Thank You! The roof rack off a VW bus I had to cut it down a little because it sat to high. If you look at some of my earlier photo's you can see how high the rack was before I lowered it. Good Luck on your car and it sure is on BAD ASS build you did. Congrats......
     
  2. koolkemp
    Joined: May 7, 2004
    Posts: 6,005

    koolkemp
    Member

    Nice 55 ! Call me a wacko but I even love the ugly pink color it originally was:D Heres a pic of my brothers 55 Delivery that I did alot of work on for him (hope you dont mind the hijack!)...hopefully I can get another 55 project someday!

    [​IMG]
     
  3. Butch M
    Joined: Oct 14, 2008
    Posts: 1,633

    Butch M
    Member

    very very cool nice car thanks for the pic's love them 55 chevys.......
     
  4. THE CHIEF
    Joined: Feb 22, 2007
    Posts: 847

    THE CHIEF
    Member
    from MIAMI

    [​IMG]nice sandals hippy
     
  5. Loppy
    Joined: Oct 22, 2007
    Posts: 422

    Loppy
    Member

    Was in Cali, whud'ya expect?
     
  6. Loppy
    Joined: Oct 22, 2007
    Posts: 422

    Loppy
    Member

    Koolkemp, hijack, schmijack, it's all cool, all bumps are good bumps. By the way, the original color was Navajo Tan and India Ivory. I miss the hell out of the original patina, but the Florida humidity was kill'n it, so it had to be restored.
     
  7. Really cool wagon Loppy!
     
  8. Craig Owens
    Joined: Jun 28, 2006
    Posts: 464

    Craig Owens
    Member

    Great job! Tom White, who you bought the car from, is a good friend of mine. He'd be proud of what you've done...He still has a nice 55 Chevy convertible and a 57 sedan delivery he needs to finish. Seeing his old wagon oughta give him the incentive to get workin' on his stuff.
    Craig
     
  9. squigy
    Joined: Nov 30, 2003
    Posts: 3,915

    squigy
    Member
    from SO.FLO.

    Loppy now whatcha gonna do that the wagoon is done?
    It did turn out incredible...
     
  10. davidh73750
    Joined: Apr 21, 2009
    Posts: 1,598

    davidh73750
    Member

    how do you like the rack and pinion? One guy in town has one on his 57 and he said he steering radius is not as tight as it used to be. I don't know if he's using stock a arms or not.
     
  11. Loppy
    Joined: Oct 22, 2007
    Posts: 422

    Loppy
    Member

    Get a job and pay for this shit! Looks like my '64 C-10 survivor is up next...if I can bring myself to altering it.
     
  12. Loppy
    Joined: Oct 22, 2007
    Posts: 422

    Loppy
    Member

    Love the Unisteer rack and pinion. Steering is tight and responsive. True, turning is a little wide(r), but nothing major.

    Thinking back at the installation. The tie rod end's they supplied had short(ish) tapered spindles and where not long enough to go through their steering arms. Weird! They supplied a plastic insert type lock nut. When installed the threads didn't come all the way through the locking material. I didn't like that. I contacted them about this, then went out and got longer tie rods. From a Dodge Omni none the less, yep you read that right. They have castle nuts and worked perfectly, safer too. I also had to cut off about 3/4" of threads at each end of the rack. Typical shit with our hobby. The A-arm's I used are from Global West. Nice units. In the end, it all worked out.
     
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2011
  13. Bruce A Lyke
    Joined: Jun 21, 2009
    Posts: 2,523

    Bruce A Lyke
    Member

    very nice work, really turned out well.
     
  14. Nice, although I liked the patina of the original paint.
     
  15. Kenny P
    Joined: Dec 31, 2008
    Posts: 450

    Kenny P
    Member

    Very Sparkley! :)


    Hah, Hah, looks amazing Joe!
     
  16. Loppy
    Joined: Oct 22, 2007
    Posts: 422

    Loppy
    Member

    Thanks Kenny P, I have the recipe to fix you up right ; )
     
  17. THE CHIEF
    Joined: Feb 22, 2007
    Posts: 847

    THE CHIEF
    Member
    from MIAMI

  18. 00 MACK
    Joined: May 10, 2004
    Posts: 3,680

    00 MACK
    Member

    This makes miss Florida !
     
  19. Movinman
    Joined: Feb 20, 2005
    Posts: 1,106

    Movinman
    Member

    We are all still waiting for you to get back down here for a visit! What the hell you waiting for, Mr. White?
     
  20. KustomCars
    Joined: Jul 31, 2011
    Posts: 3,465

    KustomCars
    Member
    from Minnesota

  21. Loppy
    Joined: Oct 22, 2007
    Posts: 422

    Loppy
    Member

    Yep. Added some skinny whites from Diamond Back. Love them. They run great. I tried wide whites but didn't like them. The skinny's fit the theme better. Here's a shot from this past weekend at the Billetproof Florida '12 show. Getting ready for the Lonestar Roundup. Stay tuned...

    [​IMG]
     
  22. Nads
    Joined: Mar 5, 2001
    Posts: 11,862

    Nads
    Member
    from Hypocrisy

    It looks even better in person y'all.
     
  23. barryvanhook
    Joined: Jun 17, 2011
    Posts: 625

    barryvanhook
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Mesa, AZ

    This thread and the wagon makes me jones for a 55 of my own.
     
  24. c57heaven
    Joined: Feb 22, 2008
    Posts: 544

    c57heaven
    Member

    how did I miss this thread?
    Nice job on the car!
    How did youmodify the air cleaner bottom?
    I have an extra and think it would be a neat/practical idea to copy.
     
  25. Beautiful job,,the car looks great! HRP
     
  26. boutlaw
    Joined: Apr 30, 2010
    Posts: 1,239

    boutlaw
    Member

    It looked killer at BP 2012, glad I found this thread to see its transformation.
    Frickin Beautiful!

    BOutlaw
     
  27. Killer nice
     
  28. Loppy
    Joined: Oct 22, 2007
    Posts: 422

    Loppy
    Member

    The air cleaner fab was easy. Take 1" flat stock (or more for clearance) and bend it into a ring with the ID measuring 5 1/8. Check that it slips over your carb and sits flat. Flip your old air cleaner bottom over, center the ring on it and trace the OD. That's your cut line. After your done cutting, align the two pieces tack, then finish weld.

    I replaced the old oil bath filter with
    a K&N filter with the addition of their cover that's a filter too. I made a long center stud from all thead to go up through the K&N filter and up through the old air cleaner top. One wing nut was threaded all the way down to hold the K&N, then another to hold the old air cleaner cover.

    The holes on the side of the top cover I just popped with a hole saw. Felt better to have more air flowing in, and it looks cool too.

    I'll get some pics up soon.
     
  29. Loppy
    Joined: Oct 22, 2007
    Posts: 422

    Loppy
    Member

    UPDATE!!! SELLING MY BABY!!!

    Yep, you read it right!

    Ok peeps, here's my deal! Time for life changes! Buying a house, actually a house built in 1955, go figure! And, starting a business, that's actually experiencing growing pains already, which is a good thing!

    After building and enjoying my wagon for years, I've been wanting to do another project for sometime. Combined with these new life changes I'm needing the moola to help with the biz, and make necessary improvements to the house. I'll actually will be running the biz out of the house so will be killing-two-birds-with-one-stone here.

    That being said, I would seriously consider any serious cash or cash/trade offer for a runnining/driving/stopping beautiful face, flat stomach, tight ass, great rack.....whoaaaa wait a minute, different story....vintage step van!!! Ya, I want a vintage step van for the biz as a delivery/mobile food truck.

    So, how much? You've read this thread, so it's soul is exposed. Nothing to hide here. This car was built right, and thoroughly. I built it for me with no expense spared, and with passion.

    I'm feeling a fair price is $55K.

    Contact me by private message here on the HAMB, or you can can call me at (561)389-2279 to discuss.
     
  30. davidh73750
    Joined: Apr 21, 2009
    Posts: 1,598

    davidh73750
    Member

    that thing is so fresh and clean. Looked at it a lot when you were at Laquinta last year at lsr.
    I picked up a project bel air wagon 55. I didn't realize how few bel air wagons that made compared to the 210. Good luck
     

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