Projects Dads Old Daily Driver - The Resurrection 32 years later

I will do my best to make a very long story somewhat short. In the early 70's my father bought 2 55's and a 56 Chevy in a combo deal for a couple hundred bucks and a 69 VW bug. One of the 55's was wrecked and but had a strong running 265 & powerglide. After work and with the help of my mother they pulled the motor/trans out of the wrecked 55 and put it in the 56. This 56 became my dads daily driver. He drove it everyday to the deep south Texas oil fields where he worked. He would eventually put a hitch on the 56 to pull trailers and equipment to and from work (70 mile daily round trip).

This took its toll and the powerglide eventually gave out. The 56 was parked in 1982 and my father purchased a 64 Chevy truck to take its place. The 56 sat untouched for a few years and when I turned 15 we decided to slowly take it apart as a father son project and eventually get it going again. It had a few dents and still had the factory paint which was beaten down by years in the Texas sun. We took off the bumpers, trim, lights, grill etc etc but like many projects had no funds to do much with it. I wanted to learn body/metal work cause I always drooled over mild customs that I saw in magazines. I got a job bagging groceries but ended up buying a running/driving bare bones 55 Chevy for $1500. The 56 would be our long term project. This was in 1986 my junior year of high school. I graduated the following year and wanted to leave small town Texas so I enlisted in the USAF for 4 years. I planed on serving my time, saving some money, seeing the world and then return home. I ended up serving in the USAF for 20 years and the 56 sat in the same spot in the same condition the entire time. Over my 20 years in the service my father and I discussed the 56. I had many hot rods over that time and he had fixed up another 55 Chevy in the 90's which he still drives today. But his old daily driver 56, the father son project had been pretty much forgotten. I retired from the Air Force in Sept 08 and was driving a 30 Model A coupe. Once again we talked about the 56 & I told him that I would sell my coupe get the 56 on the road again. He handed me the title and said its mine to do with whatever I want.


During my20 years of service I had a few injuries/conditions that somewhat hampered my ability to perform tasks required in the building of a car. Most significantly I have had 2 reconstructive surgeries on my left hand and somewhat restricted use of my right. I wanted to to all the work on my dads 56 myself but knew that probably wasn’t feasible because of the fact of the limited use of my hands coupled with being a novice at metal work. I got a spot at a local shop and wanted to see what I could do while learning metal fab. I lasted a little over a year before my right hand reminded me that it was in need of repair/limited use. I left the shop and came to grips with the fact that I would have to have someone do the major work on the car. The guys at the shop fucking rule and offered to help.

In Dec of 2012 me and one of my pals went and brought my dads old 56 back to Austin to begin the resurrection (this was before my right hand gave out on me in Feb 2013).


Rewind back to 2011 & the devastating tornado that hit Joplin MO. I gathered a bunch of relief supplies and met Big Ken in Dallas and we hauled a 26' trailer to Joplin to help with disaster relief. At that time I did not know Ryno. We had just talked through the relief effort thread on the HAMB. I ended up staying at his house with a bunch of other HAMBers who also came to help. During the 10 days or so I was there I talked to him about my dads old 56. We became pals & he told me to bring it to his shop and we will get it going.


Back to Feb 2013. I ended up leaving the shop and saw a hand reconstruction specialist who made me a brace for my right hand & told me to take it easy if I wanted to avoid surgery.

In Aug/Sep of 2013 I log on to the HAMB after about 6 months of staying away cause I was bummed about my hands and not being able to work on cars. I came across a thread by my pal Ryno about a guy getting his dads old Merc back on the road. I told myself enough with the fucking pride and self pity. I contacted Ryno & reminded him of our conversation about my dads old daily we had back in 2011. He said “hell yeah I'm down.”

In Nov of 2013 my dads 56 was hauled to his shop. The resurrection would fittingly begin on Easter weekend of this year. I went to his shop for the 3 day weekend and we blew the 56 apart.

I wasn’t going to make a thread about this (those who know me know Im pretty quiet) but my pals said I should and thought that the story about the father son project that was delayed for many different reasons for 32 years should be told in its entirety. I think it shows the power of the HAMB & the brotherhood of hot rodding. I never would have met Ryno and many other hot rodders if not for this place. Thanks to many of you for the encouragement and offers to help. You guys rule.

All the best to all of you with your projects and with life...



Oct '79 My father, brother & I after a Sunday cruise - I'm the one with cool hair
My father, brother & I Nov 2012 - Im the one with no hair - The 56 outside for the first time in over 30 years



The 56 makes it to Austin


My dad & Magic at the shop. Dads expression says it all


The resurrection begins at Ryno's!


Body off! Big Ken & Ryno


Easter Sunday 2014 The 56 is blown apart & I head home to Austin

 

Man, awesome story. Thank you for your service to our beloved country and it's people. Subscribed


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Awesome bro! Glad you went ahead and made a thread. Its gonna rule!

 

This is gonna be good..I'm subscribed! HRP

 

glad to be part of this family tradition..
ill post up some pics soon of the chassis progress.

 

This looks like another fun ride.Thank you sir for your service.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

Great story,I'm hooked. Best of luck to you on this project!

 

gotta watch this one after that story cool

 

Very nice!

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as rudy mentioned many many years of the tx dirt/oil fields left the frame and under side of the car supper dirty in this fine silt build up. almost every bolt broke off taking the body off the mounts, resulting in lots of cussing with the slit in our eyes.




so much crud and dirt over the years it was packed solid in the front x member.





rudy getting down with the pressure washer. we spent a good few hrs washing the crud off this thing. found lots of junk packed in the frame rails by mice, paper, plastic, fabric..







after getting it all broken down, i sent it off to the basters along with the a arms.

 

Quite a riveting story........goin to be a great thread!!! Tim

 

Awesome

 

Great story! Keep the updates coming

 

Thanks everyone. Super excited that its finally happening!

 

Very cool, can't wait.

 

Great story!

 

Thank you for your service to our country.

Good write up - I'm familiar with the TX silt undercoating - my 62 C10 was caked with it when I tore it down. Looking forward to the build...Subscribed.

 

after getting the frame and a rams back from the blaster, it was time to get the frame leveled and squared out and clamped down to start the step notch and link arm welding in the rear.

 

we are using a ford 9" rear axle, cpp dropped front spindles with disc brakes, cpp engine mounts 3/4" forward to allow more hei dist clearance and a cpp transmission mount for th e350/350 set up that will power this ride.



true spoke "supreme" wheels, 15x7 std offset front, reverse in rear with 205/70/15 firestone pinner white wall all the way around.



gusseted spokes on the back side

 

Very cool! Waiting to see more progress on this one!

 

Looking good! That first ride will be amazing in this thing!!

-Matt

 

Coming together nicely. Look forward to updates!

 

been slacking on the updates, got the lower a arms plated,and the upper cups fab'd up for the air bags.

 

i tried to upload more using the new upload file on here, doesn't seem to like my file sizes, ill have to photobucket em and try more later...

 

Cool Keep em coming!

 

Any updates here?


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Great story and thanks so much for your service to our country! I am looking forward to updates now! I have always liked 56 Chevy's and a family history like this one has makes it even better.

 

Whoah....a '56 build.....looks good so far......so then what happened. ?

 

Kool story.Keep us posted! Thanks Bruce.

 

No updates lately, but hopefully soon.