High School Re-Pop -- Only Nailhead Lovers Need Apply

The end of a three year build.
Just re-licensed.
Muffs way too loud to drive, way loud, really loud.
New ones next week.

 

The front view.

 

Drivers work station - as if you could call this work....

The steering wheel is a temp, a nicer one is on hand and will be installed after front wheel alignment.

 

Hop in - said the spider to the fly....

What beautiful young woman could resist an interior appointed like this?
Not many did....

 

That is beautiful C-9........thanks for the eye candy!

 

wow man, that is nuts! some good rides being posted this week...exciting, and *CURIOUSLY AROUS(ing)ED*, "FORMERLY CURIOUS RASH"

 

Looks great man!! would have loved to have a ride like that in school, maybe I would have gotten a little more

 

That is one nice 57

 

The piece de la resistance' or as the French would say, "The Good Stuff."

425" of good running Nailhead.
Stuffed with a fairly big cam.
Ford 9" rear running 4.11 gears - and you thought it was a custom....
Dual Carters, think they are 625's.
Front disc brakes - bitch if you want, but these old Buicks didn't stop worth a damn. I owned a 57 Roadmaster and it was a brake fader par supremo.
The Buick brakes work great on a lightweight Ford, but on the Buicks, not so hot.
Corvette M/C.
57 Buick auto trans, super turbine or whatever Buick called em. Beefed a touch.

It took three 425 blocks to come up with a good one for the build.
This is one strong running nailhead and bad sounding mofo.

The car is a new build of a high school Buick Century belonging to a couple of brothers we call the "Buick Brothers."
More HP than back in the day, but this car is a good example of some customs that ran the street in the late 50's.

You would look at them and figure, nice, but slow and then find yourself watching a rapidly disappearing set of taillights.

More than a few Nailheads found their way under the hood of a few 40's & 50's era Fords.
They were tough to beat when the Nailhead was in stock form.
A little breathing upon and it was all over.

I estimate it will run the quarter in the high 13's on soft compound street rubber and crank off about 101-102 mph.

Back to the future they say.

Or is it, forward to the past?

 

Nice looking under the hood as well!

 

C9 could you send me larger pics of the car please. If not all at least the engine bay and outside car pics
[email protected]
Thanks
Garth

 

Sweet

 

That kar is fawking awesome... Someday I wanna have a '57 GM non-chevy...

-J

 

[ QUOTE ]
C9 could you send me larger pics of the car please. If not all at least the engine bay and outside car pics


[/ QUOTE ]

Do you mean a pic of the whole car?
Don't have any - yet - as we didn't roll the car out of the garage.

I have a few other shots, close up of the dash and a closer shot of the package shelf.
As well as a shot of the back end and closer view of the engine.
Would those help?

 

C9
100% coool!

 

WOW!!!
-peter

 

as far as i am concerned the 57 buick was the epitome of the whole of auto manufactureing for the year 1957..

i always thought of them as a 57 chev on steroids... just absolutely magnificent...

they made the 57 chevy look like a kmart offering by comparison.

and that car is one fantastic example of that marque!!


bob

 

I got 3 problems with it.

1. Too loud? Huh? What's that?
2. White letter tires don't match the cars look.
3. It's NOT MINE!

 

Do me a favor and post a good detailed pic of the alt and mount. I'm trying to mount one on my 425 in a 51 Merc right now.

 

Mainly i want more pictures of that engine. I like the way it looks

Garth

 

How is the rearend held in?? '57 was still closed, right??

 

Veeery nice!

 

It's absolutley georgous..........i'm envious..Fatchuk

 

You Lucky Dawg.........Enjoy!

 

Abso-f'n-lutely gorgeous, C9. Onliest problem is....it ain't in my garage!! Very cool!

 

Went back for a re-read and see you used a 9" rear. Seeing, too, that you used the stock tranny, how did you mate the 9" up with the torque tube?

 

The Ford 9" is on parallel leafs.
I think out of a late T-Bird, but am not sure.
The stock fuel tank doesn't fit and there's a fuel cell in the trunk.

As far as the generator/alternator mount goes, it's a standard Buick generator mount setup with the bracket shortened up to fit the alternator.

If you're not familiar with or are missing them, Buicks had a pair of head bolts on every engine.
Said bolts were double ended.
In other words there was a 3/8" or 7/16" short stud on top of the hex.
The gen bracket bolts to the head bolts upper stud which makes life very easy.

For the Rocketeers, getting a pair of these double ended Buick head bolt/gen bracket studs will set you up for the world's easiest gen/alt mount.
They screw into the lower head bolt holes on the early Olds and enlarging or drilling new bracket holes and using either the Buick or Olds bracket - forget which - to fit the different spread of bolt holes will have you in business pretty quick.

Here's a closer view of the engine.
Next time I see the car I'll try to get some more detailed shots, but if you're familiar with the stock Buick method of gen mounting then you'll know what I mean.

 

[ QUOTE ]
Do me a favor and post a good detailed pic of the alt and mount. I'm trying to mount one on my 425 in a 51 Merc right now.

[/ QUOTE ] DITTO! I've put a 401 in a '32 5 window and am contemplating an alternator bracket. Ant pics appreciated!!

 

[ QUOTE ]
Went back for a re-read and see you used a 9" rear. Seeing, too, that you used the stock tranny, how did you mate the 9" up with the torque tube?



[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not completely sure how the change to open driveline was accomplished.
Didn't the later Oldsmobiles use a trans similar to the Buicks Super Turbine?
If that's the right name.
Was the Olds trans called Jetaway or similar?

Seems like a little parts swapping if they are the same trans may do it.

Long as we're on Buicks....
Here's another.
This one with the factory three speed and column shift.
I really like this one although the red one above ain't too shabby.

 

[ QUOTE ]
If you're not familiar with or are missing them, Buicks had a pair of head bolts on every engine.
Said bolts were double ended.
In other words there was a 3/8" or 7/16" short stud on top of the hex.


[/ QUOTE ]

Here's a pic of the bolt C9's refering to: