Jeff Smith's Blog

’55 Chevy

Posted August 19 2008 05:00 AM by CarCraft
Filed under: Editorials

My Old ’55—Part II

After several years of languishing in my backyard in the’80s, I began working on my ’55 again, with a plan to build an ’80s version of the Two-Lane Blacktop movie ’55—complete with a big-block and a four-speed. Along the way, the ’55 also appeared in an episode of that lame TV show ChiPs, where they almost rolled my car, pitching it sideways on a twisty two-lane road. Unfortunately, a divorce forced me to sell the car to the guys at MSD in the late ’90s, and they turned my tattered ’55 into this beautiful big-block billet machine. I understand that the car has now been sold and is living somewhere in Canada.

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Reader Comments:

1. Bummer, man. Cali's community property law strikes again.

dr511scj_1 - Posted August 19 2008 06:27 AM

2. Smith's sad saga reminded me of Dr511scj's sob story/list of excuses over on the "We're Not Rich" turbo thread:

"I could write a book on all of the things that have gotten in the way over the years.

The first time I ever heard about a turbo was as a kid reading one of Dad's Mechanix Illustrateds . . . the legendary Tom McCahill was testing a turbocharged 273 Dodge Dart at Daytona International Speedway. . . . Since then there's seldom been a day gone by when I haven't at least had a fleeting thought about turbo projects.

But here's a few vignettes about why you've not seen a brilliant, World-beating BIG BLOCK V8 turbo car built by me on the Dynomax dyno" at the . . . Nats":

1. Once was part of a group that ordered (with a huge deposit) the old Gale Banks blow-through, non-intercooled SBC system, but one of the group members spent the other half of the money in the MONTHS before Banks could deliver the system;

2. Somebody tried to steal the wheels on one project car, leading to a lost wheel and a ripped up quarter . . . budget shot again;

3. Bought a new turbocharged Mustang SVO while a college student (interim turbo car because there was no place to hack together a turbo V8) . . . had to sell it a couple of years later to cut debt . . . Another financial disaster;

4. Bought a house with no garage (the only one we could afford/finance at the time) and the single carport was filled with a disassembled '60s muscle car that was too nice to hack up with a home-brewed turbo (no place to build a turbo project car);

5. Divorce (creates a financial disaster);

6. Changed jobs, careers and states several times (moving lots of junk on rented trailers eats through development budget);

7. Worked a job for a while that required being "on the road" for 50 weeks a year (see how much you get done on your project);

8. Bought too many marginal Thunderbird Turbo Coupes (a/k/a Freiburger's Syndrome)that were "too cheap" to pass up and too good to let be parted out;

9. Three companies who made turbo kits for SBF (an interim Turbo Coupe-based solution) went out of business before delivering;

10. Vandalism and theft of project cars;

11. Budget shot again when car is totaled on the freeway (not my fault, but see what regular insurance pays on an old '60s car);

12. Budget shot again when my pick up sideswiped a parked car I didn't see in a dark parking garage (I did the right thing and paid up);

13. Washer broke, dryer broke, HVAC system broke, Refrigerator broke . . . budget shot again;

14. Relatives need money, so I bought engines and other stuff I didn't need to "help out" . . . budget shot again;

15. Bought new house with space for project shop . . . . huge down payment required (where do you think that came from);

16. Project shop cost 50% more than budgeted ($60,000) . . . budget shot again;

17. Kids (anyone who has them knows how expensive they are);

18. Stepson totals new car . . . replacement costs thousands more than insurance paid . . . budget shot again;

19. Mandatory "overtime" . . . project shop sitting full of dirt-covered junk (most of which has nothing to do with turbo project);

20. Bondo covers up horrible quarter panels on turbo project car . . . budget shot again;

21. Family illnesses . . . not enough insurance . . . budget shot again;

22. Zoning police write expensive tickets for "derelict cars" . . . budget shot again (renting storage, moving cars, buying used tires, license plates, batteries, battery trickle chargers, etc.);

23. Spent $3,600 on long-term car storage for "first car" (which is not a suitable V8 turbo project car . . . and a CHEVY!?!);

24. Bought non-running English sports car from family member because it was under "blue book" price . . . budget partially shot again;

25. Diesel blows up in pickup while delivering the cheap English sports car. . . budget shot again;

26. HVAC blows out in NEW HOUSE!

Is anyone beginning to see a pattern here? (There are plenty of other project-killing events I could report, not to mention the daily drip of expensive "family" responsiblities, taxes, insurance, payments, more taxes, job-related expenses, etc.)

Some of us have to live vicariously through CC . . . ."

speedzzter - Posted August 20 2008 04:57 AM

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