Projects chris's 2 day model a transformation

Like the title says, we had two days to work on this car.
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To start it off, my friend Chris in North Carolina had purchased a restored 31 sedan with a locked up banger engine. He was driving a shoebox at the time but that just was not what he wanted. He wanted an AV8!. Over a few months he slowly dismantled the car , pulling the engine and the trans, selling off the stock parts... This is when I met Chris. He had contacted me knowing that I was building an AV8 coupe and asked for some advice. So after some long phone conversations , he had direction!
He wanted the 50's style hot rod, steel wheels, flathead, nice rake, but he wanted it a driver. 40 rear, t 5 trans. Keeping old school 40 brakes and an f1 box..

As we talked more and more he started gathering parts. Piece by piece. Now, I was just finishing up my model a, and just had it on the road for a few weeks. Realizing everything I did to this car worked great! So I decided since mine was done , I wanted to help Chris get his done. I started making him parts, steering box mounts, trans mount, pedal brackets, motor mounts, anything I could think of that I had done to mine..




He called me one day and a said "the model a is all tore down and it yanked the 8ba from the shoebox. " so the project started! A hot rod was gonna be built.
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Later own down the road he was having some health issues.. So the model a was pushed to the corner of the garage waiting for the right time To be worked on again
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Chris had surgery a few times over several months... It was a long road to recovery after a hip replacement .
This is where I knew I needed to step in. Chris called me and was excited as hell, he ended up selling the 8ba an scored a like new mercury 8cm! What a find. A good friend of ours has finally decided to part with it.
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Now Chris has always told me how he wanted 2 carbs but they were so expensive for the entire set up. Soooooo, a few days later, this arrived in the mail from me:

It wasn't a complete unit but I was glad to help.

So after he got that he was stoked! We talked for weeks about getting the car done but it was just not the right time for him with his health.

A few months go by , me and my brother and my friend Sam were sitting at the Cleveland car show, and we decided it was time to drive down to NC and pop in on Chris..

To be continued :








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So March 27 the we hopped in the truck a 9pm after working all day, and drove 9 hours to Chris's house in nc. We arrive around 6 am.
We pulled in and he had breakfast waiting for us. So we all sat down, shot the shit and laughed a bit... The smart thing to do would have been to sleep for a while, we had work to do! We only had. Friday and Saturday to work on this car. So I unloaded my tools, welder, parts, raw steel i case we needed to fab up some brackets. It was gonna be a long day! We busted our ass till 11 pm that night!! Non stop all 4 guys working together to knock the socks off this car! Luckily Chris had the front axle in accept the wishbones .


Motor mounts in!

Engine in!


Trans mount in! Hard to see

Steering in!


Intake is fit on with Alvin's donated carbs!

And we test fit the fenders and installed some nice early manifolds from Alvin. Best way to fit a flatty in a model a!


And that's just day one fellas. More to come!


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Too funny, Im working on a 30 Coupe for a buddy of mine that will be going down to the Charlotte area. This one will be running the hopped up banger for a while though.

 

Still on day one. We made good progress ! Now to introduce you to my good friend Chris!

And you herd me mention Alvin!

Alvin is one of the coolest guys I have ever met. A 76 year old hot rodder with 3!! 33 fords! I don't think he has drove anything else . He had had them since the 60s. These are his rides!





He stopped by Friday morning with the 33 cabriolet .. Me and him went out for a ride ending up at his house to put the hood back on it and for me to check out his other cars .

Me:




And let me say this.. Alvin, drives these cars! We ran the butt off the cabriolet. It was a blast. If you cruise by McDonalds In his town at 7 am, chances are you will see a red 33 5 window sitting there as he drinks his coffee. This guy had more stories and information than I could take in!

Alvin came over to supervise , smoking his cigar, busting Chris's balls about everything . Perfect garage entertainment!
..
This concludes day one!
It was off to bed for day 2.

Continued


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Day 2:
I slept in till 8:30. When a red 33 comes screaming down the road, Alvin jumps out with a cigar... I was still in bed. He came into the garage and asked everyone " wheres that youngster at because he needs to drive my car"...

I caught wind of that from my brother waking me up,, outta bed I came damn near jumping a flight of stairs. I get to drive a real 33!! So down the road we went. It was amazing! 4 inch chopped top, 5 window, it was great! Never have I experienced anything like that. Me being obsessed with 33-34's.. I was soooo excited. We went for a nice road trip and back to the garage for day 2 and the road pilots cc was stopping in for a BBQ


Today was 40 rear, new suspension and new wishbones . removing stock junk

Unfortunately I didn't get too many pics of day 2.


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We fit the rear end all in, new spring, welded all the wishbone mounts to the frame and axle.


I fabbed up some exhaust from pipes Chris had laying around,

Then I moved onto the 39 pedals,
I hand fabbed a bracket for them like I did on my model a. Carefully timing and fitting it to frame of the car

Alvin dropped of a 36 shifter so I welded it up for the t5 to make it look a little more original ish


With all that done we were outta parts and the hard fab was complete! The pedals worked great. Steering is nice. Trans shifts and feels great. We lowered the car off the stands and got a good look at it outside!




One of Chris's friends, dick, also a road pilot member, stopped by in his bad ass 39. Built flatty , 5 speed . He took me to the hardware store in it for some misc bolts.. Wow does this car run!!




Little later on that evening, we got ready for the BBQ in the garage.
Some of Chris's buddies came over to check out our progress. well all sat around and shot the shit, ate some great food chris's wife made and drank a few beers.. it was rainy out but it was warm and relaxing. a nice change from home.


Continued







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To wrap this up...

We drove 1000 miles to get this car knocked out. Functioning on no sleep, beer and Alvin's cigars smoke mixed with a little bullshit smell from his stories

It was a fantastic trip, worth every penny spent, every hour of sleep lost. We met some great people, herd some cool stories. Drove a bad ass car, but most importantly , we helped out a good friend that needed a hand ... Chris,
Glad we could help, hope the car hits the road this summer, and we will be back down this summer driving the convoy of model a's .. Maybe my 34 if it's done.
Here we are for one last pic before bed time . We had to sleep for that long drive home in the am!

What a crew


Hit some snow on the way home


And some other delays...
54 in a 35 at 4 am



89 in a 65.. At noon, 29 miles for home..Ouchy


That concludes my trip... For now





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Speeders! No need for that. But great work on the sedan in such a short time.

 

here are a few videos from the weekend:

me riding with alvin in the cabriolet:



alvin leaving in his 33 5 window


chris's buddies truck leaving the bbq


me driving driving alvins 33

 

we also recieved confirmation that since mr Alvin has never been to bonneville, that he is going with us next year!! that will be a trip of a lifetime for my old friend

 

I stopped by Chris's house yesterday to see the progress and bring him a steering wheel. You guys did an incredible job! He is on cloud 9!!

My work schedule kept me from being there this weekend but I can't tell you guys how much it I appreciate what you did for Chris. Alvin is the real deal and I heard about the plans to swap the motor in the 5 window. Count me in for that one!

Here are a few pictures of your hard work.

 

thats what friends are for great job

 

thank you! im just glad to help him out. i hope he really is happy with how it turned out.
those pics are excellent! that one with him in front, thats what its all about right there..
Alvins car will be a blast!

 

Good on you for helping another out!

I gotta say, Alvin's black '33 pretty much does it for me.

 

I've got another A sedan for you guys.....once you get rested up!

Great work for a great guy! Chris is da Bomb! So are you guys for helping him with his dream!

but now he has to change his HAMB name.....

 

For some reason these two pics didn't load.
This is what Chris started with:




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Great transformation, you guys work quick. Having the parts all ready to go and previous experience i am sure helped the progress along.

 

I sure like those gold wheels on it.

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A deed well done.

 

You guys did some amazing work very quickly. the Road Pilots welcome you back any time.

 

Thats the stuff for sure!

 

Your not a hotrodder if you don't speed a little

 

HAHA what a road trip.. met some great guys. and got to put a smile on chris,s face.... great times.... I can not wait to drive our a,s down there and go cruze w alvin..... aka yellow line crosser......

 

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Awesome what you did, that's fantastic! Best to you man!

 

I talked to Chris today. He is making progress! He was painting all the new stuff we put on the car. The idea was not to do a frame off but make sure it's preserved ad not rusting away . So a nice coat of black will help out!






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What a job those guy's did on my car I did a little bit here and there get parts grab tools bring food out well Nancy did most of that. Then Alvin shows up giving me hell about not having Budweiser so you can bet your ass next time he will have all the Buds he can drink and stop giving me hell about that dam intake, just smoke your cigar Alvin and be still. When the guy's got there on Friday morning around 6:30 I had eggs biscuits sausage and gravy coffee tea for Sam dam odd ball sweet tea from Ohio turned them on to Sundrop. Once we got in the shop it was ass holes and elbows till late that night they where wore out from the drive and the work once we all stopped and got still it got quite around the Evans household.
The next day we got up got a little grub and some coffee Ben was the only one still asleep till Alvin pulled up 7:00 in the dam morning with that dam cigar why aint ya'll working WTF who pulled his chain started on me first thing you going to help today HaHaHa old fart. Long story short I am so appreciative of what they did driving 8 hours after working all day. That's what Hot Rodders do come that far to help a guy out I don't know how I could ever repay them for what they did and not one time did anyone of the guy's say anything to me when I had to take a chair. Looking forward to the next time they come to NC and they will be bringing there cars down and yes they will be driving them.

Chris,box50

 

Not to bad painting parts while on the car once I get down there with the brush and the paint and a rag hope the wife don't miss her $100 pool float Holy shit

 

It was a rough weekend for sure.. But well worth it.. Me Ben and Sam are still talking about how much fun we had and we're all getting ready for the trip down in the Model A's.. All in all a great trip.. Thanks for having us Chris

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Can't wait dude thanks again for all the help and hard work you put in the car. Come on down Alvin said he has plenty of cigars if he just had some Buds and of course he will be driving one of his Hot Rods. You guy's are welcome anytime.

Chris,