I think it was Earl Sheib who said, “Body work is glamorous!” He was lying! Ok, I made that up. Body work’s dirty and you have to use a bunch of tools that make noise. I like that part! But, it takes so much time. It’s hard work. This week, I enlisted another friend, Joe Nagy. He came over to hit the roof of the wagon, and that we did. (for a good laugh, check out the Earl Scheib home page and the endorsement from Danny Boneduce)

On the left, you can see where we started. For some reason, I really like wagons, but I guess that was before I wanted to paint one! The roofs, as they’re known, are LONG. I’m pretty lucky that the roof’s straight and basically trouble free except for more of that black primer filled with that strange oil the previous owner used to keep it sorta-shiny. (I already said, please don’t do that…)

Joe and I fired up the wire wheel and DA sander only to find that sucked. From there I decided to go back to the paint stripper to ease the pain some. Does anyone know of a stripper that actually works? I’m sure it doesn’t help that it’s 90+ in the garage, but still, as much as I put on, you’d think some more of this ratty primer would come off. Not so. Even the “Aircraft” quality stripper I had wasn’t that hard core. I want the paint to peel off in one big sheet! But, I also want my kids to have clean air and clean water. I bet in the old days, paint stripper got it done! Here’s what the paint stripper did. Any paint that does peel off is still paint I don’t have to force off.

After throwing almost every wire from my low-buck Harbor Freight wire wheel, this is what was left. The original color of the car was burgundy and a cool one at that. Once I hit color, bare metal or the grey/yellow primer, I moved on to the next spot. I wasn’t trying to get all bare metal, just get all that oil off there. Looking back, I think it would have been worth it to have the entire car blasted. I would have done that, but I didn’t want to find any major surprises. Small ones, ok, but from what I’ve seen on Overhauln’, some stones should be left unturned. Speaking of Overhaulin’, check out this “Overhaulin’ game“. You can customize a car. I think Chip probably threw up a little bit when he saw it.

After the wire wheel, I broke out the DA sander with 80 grit paper. It’s amazing how much better that works when it’s not trying to gum up with the old black paint. It didn’t take long at all, then I was ready for some primer. You can see in the picture above there was only 1 spot with any filler. The DA smoothed that out nicely so I can put a little more on.

3 cans of primer later, the roof finally looked like we had done something! The solid gray after looking at the spotted mess of paint, steel and primer was a great change. I used a long board for the first time to do the first bit of sanding. Or maybe I should say, I tried using it. Wanted: Dude who can teach me how to use one of those without undoing all work from the previous step. I did get some advice tonight, but I’ll have to wait to give it a try. You can see that one spot with filler. I learned how much hardener is too much tonight too. That stuff kicked so fast I threw half of it away. Time to wrap it up for the night/week.

Just to catch you up completely, I also got most of the passenger doors stripped and ready for the DA and primer treatment. Then, here’s a picture of where the rear door handles have been filled in. That area’s smoothing out nicely to get ready for Squeeg’s filling primer. I learned from Doug why his primer’s the best and I’ll blog it all soon.

Much more later, we’re just getting started. Stay tuned. Any comments on the progress?

Thanks to my current sponsors:

• Heat and sound insulation from Auto Insulation
• A great new steering wheel, a stock one from Cesar at Vintique Inc.
• My current paint supplies and those to come: Automotive Refinish Supply
• Doug Jerger and Squeeg’s Kustoms for the Epoxy Primer Filler

More sponsor opportunities available!

The LA Roadster Show is one of the MUST shows of the year, at least for me. The Pomona Fairplex gets another sweet show too, the Grand National Roadster Show. (let’s not forget 2 NHRA events!) It’s no wonder, about a ka-jillion hot rodders and custom car builders are in the greater LA area.

The LA Roadster Show is put on by, you guessed it, the LA Roadster Car Club. Founded in 1957, this is the 44th annual show.

I posted some pics of the LA Roadster Show, but only of the show itself. Here’s those pics (Click HERE). Sorry, they’re not my best effort. Camera broke, I’m not so talented behind it anways, ’nuff said! I also got some from the So-Cal show (Click HERE).

So before next year’s show, I better show you what I found outside the show; in the swap and in the show lot, I call it. That’s where I found this hot little sedan. This is my favorite picture from the show. (if the owner wants it, you can have it free, just email me.)

One thing that’s true at all the LA Roadster shows is the legends walking around. This year, I had camera ready to shoot two Gods of the Hot Rod and Custom world. 2008 Builder of the Year Gene Winfield and “The King of Kustomizers” George Barris. Both of these guys have cool books out about they’ve done in their lives, but like most car people you meet, they were super nice and willing to chat for a while, no matter how busy they were. I’m trying to work a deal with Jared Barris, George’s grandson, to blog about the build of his first hot rod here at MyRideisMe.com. I don’t suppose anyone’s interested in that?

In the main show, only roadster (duh!) and finished, shiny-painted cars are allowed. Outside the show is a cooler-than-a-Toys-R-us swap of hot rod and go-fast goodies. Bring cash. This show is known to have the hard to find and you got it! Expensive parts. Most people agreed though, the swap was busy, but not much buying going on. Hard to say, but we did see alot of people walking around with empty Radio Flyer wagons and empty hands. I got a new steering wheel for my car and a COOL print for the office. Hey, It was father’s day! The print was from James Owens at Car Noir. This is the print.

Here’s the stuff I found. This old school funny car was too cool. I want one. I sensed this one has a nice history too. Anyone know about it? If you’ve never found this site, I dig it. Trouble is, you’ll be there for a while! 70’s Funny Cars

Then I made a few friends from down in Tucson. Rick Sipes owns this NASTY Austin gasser in the works. He had a bunch of tall injectors for sale too. Injection or blown, you know that story. Then there’s Payola, a super modified built in 1959. I lost the owner’s card! I want to do a feature story on this car.

After cruising the swap meet (for the 3rd time!) I had to hit the car corral, if you want to call it that. I guess almost every car’s for sale, but most of these weren’t. Same as last year, I wowed at more cars outside the show then in. Don’t get me wrong, the LA Roadster’s show is the cream of the crop, but I guess I like a wider variety and rods that might be a little rough around the edges. How about you?

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Pinup models go with Hot Rods like whipped cream on pumpkin pie. That’s why you’ll find hot rods, muscle cars and even some hot bikes shot with the much finer sex in the pinup photo gallery at MyRideisMe.com. It just seemed like the right thing to do! Then, with the popularity of the killer photos of one of my favorite models, Zoe Scarlett done by Photographer: Dirk Behlau and, the most popular blog at MyRideisMe.com about the Hot Rods and Pinups II book shot by David Perry, I start thinking… why don’t I shoot some pinup pictures?

Piece of cake, I’ll let you in on the secrets: 1) Get a hot girl and 2) pose her next to a rad hot rod.

Done. Except for a couple of things… imagine this: Excuse me hot rod owner, I think your wife’s hot. She looks like a pinup model. Can I take some pictures of her? At that point, either you’re feeling the left side of your face caving in or you’ve met Don Simms and you’ll be fine. Don and his buddies from the Throttle Kings are some of the coolest kats you’ll meet at the LA Roadster Show, but that’s a different story (that WILL be told later).

For secret #2, Don supplied the hot rod too. The guys nearly got it all! When you making a garage at MyRideisMe.com Don?

Enough of that, dig the pics. Not bad for the crappy camera I had to use. (It’s always best when your digital SLR takes a crap at one of the best shows going.)

Thank you Doreen for being my first.

To see all of the pinup pics, go to the pinup photo gallery.

These pics work great as a desktop image, so click on them and save it. Make sure you tell a friend where you found it!

And let’s tell Doreen what a great job she did!

In case you missed the last story, I’m rebuilding my 1963 Falcon Wagon. Originally, I just planned to put some paint on it and re-do the interior, but after inviting a bunch of friends over (here’s the story), my wagon’s now a stripped hulk sitting in my garage. Borderline panicking but not quitting, I’ve still got great friends helping out. We’re making progress. It’d be easier to get out to the garage if it wasn’t 112 today!

The first thing I should mention is the “How-to” I wrote in my garage. In addition to adding pics of your ride, you can also use your garage to help others by showing how you did something… like a tech page. I filled in the backup lights in the tailgate of my wagon and wrote a “How-to” about it. If you ever need to patch a small hole, it might be an interesting read. Click HERE to see it.

First off, I have to mention the tireless help I’ve been getting from my friend Ken Ford. (perfect name for the project, right?) Ken’s a body guy and was looking for a reason to get dirty on a project. He’s got a Harley at home now has built several VW’s in the past, including a few vans, so he knows how to get body panels looking good.

It’s a good thing too! We’ve been moving around the car looking for disasters. We really only found 1. The previous owner decided to fill the cowl vent. I guess it looks a little smoother, but I’d leave it. (too late now!) I wouldn’t mind putting it back either cause it might be easier when you see the mess he left. We knew there was a problem there because the bondo had cracked. When we got to work cleaning it out, this is what we found. It’s hard to see from this picture, but there was about 1/2 inch of bondo covering this patch panel. He didn’t finish-weld the patch, so I think some moisture got underneath it and cause the cracking. This is gonna require some minor surgery to repair. I think it might actually be easier to find a new cowl and put it in. What do you think?

While Ken’s been hitting the outside, I’m inside cleaning the floorpan. It looked pretty nasty at first, especially in the pics. Really, it’s not that bad. Everything all rusty colored, but there was only one small spot of cancer rust. I’ll write about how I handle that in another blog. Here’s the before, during and finished pics of the floorpan. I’m going to use POR-15 to seal the floor up, then insulate the hell out of it with the insulation from Auto Insulation. I removed about 20lbs of muck and filth from the car. Ever wonder where that “old car” smell comes from? I can tell you! I’ve also included a pic of the rear floor. I hit this thing HARD with a wire wheel and it still looks pretty nasty. I’ll cover it with carpet anyway, so it’ll get more POR-15.

So here’s the progress on the rest of the car. We had to strip off all of the old black primer. The previous owner used some kind of oil or something, (I thought it was Armor Al) to keep the primer looking somewhat shiny. Whatever you do, don’t do that. Ken was using up DA sanding paper like crazy with that crap loading up. The cars all spotty, but when Ken throws down some primer, it looks good. I hit the front fenders with some paint stripper and then with a wire wheel to get all the black off. It’ll look worse before it starts to look better.

I also included a shot of the first of many paint supplies I’ll need. The guys at ARS, Automotive Refinish Supply in Chandler hooked me up a little and are going to try and help get PPG to sponsor the build. Brandon at ARS didn’t mind waiting a bit since I came right from work, even on a Friday evening. Its nice to work with good people. Rather then buy this and that from a swap or an auto parts chain, I’m buying all quality supplies. With all the work we’re putting in, I want this to be nice.

Brandon also started helping with colors. That’s gonna be a tough choice. I know it’ll be blue cause that’s what my kids want. I know the car was originally Heritage Burgundy. It’s a cool color, but it ain’t blue. A friend said that Ford offered a light blue similar to what I’m looking for in 1963. Brandon said to look at www.AutoColorLibrary.com to find the color. Glacier Blue or Peacock Blue might be cool. Brian from Problem Child Kustoms Studio might have to make the final choice for me. I’ll trust his expertise.

That’s it for now! Thanks to my current sponsors:

• Heat and sound insulation from Auto Insulation
• A great new steering wheel, a stock one from Cesar at Vintique Inc.
• My current paint supplies and those to come: Automotive Refinish Supply
• Doug Jerger and Squeeg’s Kustoms for the Epoxy Primer Filler

Even if you are only slightly interested in Nissan and Infiniti cars and trucks the Stillen Nissan/Infiniti Customer appreciation open house is a great show to see. Set right behind John Wayne Airport in Costa Mesa, California is Stillen. The performance shop owned and run by the most successful driver in IMSA history, Steve Millen. Steve was a factory driver for Nissan in the 90s and has special place in his shop for Nissan/Infiniti vehicles (Ford too but that’s another blog!). Steve had heavily discounted Nissan/Infiniti parts on hand for customers as well as discounted dyno runs and free installation on anything purchased that day.
All of the streets directly in front of Stillen were closed down by Costa Mesa PD and opened up for customer cars. Now I am not too good at counting and easily get side tracked when the bright and shiny are in front of me, so I lost track at the number of cars around 150 or so and that was easily only a quarter of the number of vehicles on display. There were vehicles from the last 30 years on display, a first generation Prince motors Skyline, 240Z’s, 240sx’s, Titans, a whole mess of 350Z’s and G coupes as well as a heavily pimped out 2000 Q45 to name just a few of the models on display. Steve also had his engineering cars on hand to show customers some ideas and offerings for everything from the Sentra and Versa to the new Altima coupe, Nissan/Infiniti FR cars (front engine, rear drive) and all of the Nissan/Infiniti truck and SUV line up.
Nissan even had a few employees head out to answer questions about the newest offerings from Nissan/Infiniti: First there’s the GTR! Two GTR’s were on hand; a white engineering prototype and a Red press car. Then there’s the new FX50 and the newly unveiled Maxima which holds to its roots as a sport inspired sedan with new flowing lines and bulging fenders. The white GTR showed up a little late, still 20 minutes before the show officially kicked off, as the street were shut down and people were already lined up around the block. It had a little trouble pulling in to the open space right in the Stillen parking lot set aside for it as people immediately surrounded the car for photos and glimpses of Godzilla as it pulled in. Reaction to the GTR was absolutely amazing! There were 2 guys walking around with the sales sheets to show they had a GTR coming to them and had Steve and the Nissan Staff sign the order form. In my 29 years of existence I have rarely seen anything have such an effect on such a large mass of people as the GTR did pulling in. This is true auto enthusiasm at its best.

This story is the first from my friend and huge MyRideisMe.com supporter Joe Nagy. Joe’s been working on the GTR for about 4 years now. Yea, I know, that kicks ass. Big thanks to the guys at Stillen for the great event and for letting us use a few of their pictures. There are alot more pictures HERE. There’s also a great story about Steve Millen driving the GTR for a press event. Video’s too!

Hazy, Hot, and Humid was the only way to describe the weather at the 2008 NSRA Street Rod Nationals East in York, PA. What few shady spots were available were taken shortly after the gates opened to the York Expo Center and Fairgrounds. Luckily the buildings, where most of the vendors were located, were air conditioned which provided some relief. We wimped out and parked our ‘48 Ford rather than cruise around the fairgrounds since the only AC is provided by a cowl vent and the windows down. There seems to be quite a change going on at the NSRA shows. While there are still a large collection of high dollar builds more and more jalopies (like my car), beaters, and dare I say rat rods are showing up. I think people are getting back to just enjoying driving these old cars rather than the stress of worrying about dirt and scratches.

It doesn’t appear that the price of gasoline has reduced the number of people attending these large shows. Close to 4000 vehicles gathered around the fairgrounds. Dozens of vendors and manufacturers crowded the main hall. This is always a good time to pick up the latest catalogs for your parts suppliers since they are free! Other than the typical June heat, this is always a great show.

Photos of these Hot Rods and other event photos can be found in the Pictures gallery.

Written by Bubba Harmon (bubbastoybox)

A lifelong family friend told me, “The funnest part’s over.” On Saturday 6/7, I had a “Strip Party” at my house. Sounds more fun than it was cause we were stripping a 1963 Falcon Wagon. Including me, 12 guys took apart this wagon Overhaulin’ style. (Chip, are you seeing this?)

Imagine a guy with big dreams about a cool cruising wagon that can carry his family to cruises and shows in style. That same guy has said family out of the country, in Japan, for 7 weeks. What to do? I got the idea to invite my buddies and fellow MyRideisMe.com members over for a party to kick-off the disassembly of the wagon. I supply beer and pizza and my friends, new and old, got to dive into some 45 year old dirt in my garage. Sound like fun? Then you’re in the right place. This is My Ride is Me at it’s finest.

The tear-down thrash started when my friend Mike Schnur showed up. He was early, but I was thrilled to see him over. Mike’s the undisputed “Falcon God”. In case you forgot the car we’re working on, here it is in my driveway after a good cleaning… The car was a running, driving 4 door wagon with a later model 200 6 cylinder and the original Dagenham 4-speed. It’s got some pretty nasty black primer on it right now from the previous owner. He used to spray it down with Armor All to keep it shiny. Don’t do it. It eventually turns into a black paste that just won’t come off! That’s what you’re seeing in the darker streaks in the picture. (Click on it to make the picture bigger). I drove the car into the garage for Mike and I to get to work.

Since Mike’s owns a flat-out bitch’n 1960 2-door Comet wagon and has removed and replace more trim (sounds like the start of a bad joke) than anyone else coming to the party, that’s where he started. We still need Mike to add that Comet to his garage (CLICK HERE) so he can say more about. But, it’s easy to see, Mike knows Falcons, Comets and no doubt, wagons. Here’s Mike getting started. It’s about 1PM. The car could have easily taken us to buy the many-many ice cold beverages we had ready to quench the Arizona heat building up in the garage, but instead, I choose to tear it apart. Mike handled the delicate work while I chipped in with photos… not really, I did get into the mix too with some of the bigger items. I’m an engineer and son of a Ford Mechanic, so I can mix it up a little in the garage too. Here’s me triumphantly holding the first piece I pulled off. The not-so-good bumper. It’s still early in the day so the glassy-eyed-ness is just a special camera effect.

Not too much later, more of the crew showed up. Brian Stupski from PCK Stuido (www.problemchildkustoms.com) is there chipping away at the window with Mike lending a hand. That stink’n window did NOT want to come out. Chances are, I’ll have to replace it cause of some fairly deep scratches from a missing wiper blade (insert nails on a chalkboard sound here) but still, I didn’t want to bust out the hammers, not yet. Luckily Brian’s a patient guy. He has to be to turn out the sick designs he does. Dave Kiesel’s also hard at it. If you’re a Division 7 drag racer, you might know that name from his runner-up in Super Street at this year’s Fontana race. He busted out by 0.054s to the other lane charging at 140+ mph. He was that far away from a Wally! (Dave’s garage) Dave’s a mechanic at heart, so he got to work pulling the engine and trans. Rob Zoller, my partner for the drive to the LA Roadster Show this weekend, also jumped right in. (Rob’s Garage) Rob and Mike have turned out some sweet suede Falcons over the past few years. Between Rob and Mike, we had our Falcon knowledge completely covered. The windshield finally came out, but Rob thinks we missed a spot. My left over “Christmas Jack” is riding shotgun.

Before the engine could come out, of course the radiator and all that came out, but rather than trying to wrestle the engine and trans out together, Dave got good and greasy with the leaking 4 speed underneath.( Believe it or not, this is Dave’s good side!) One of the coolest components going back into this car is the replacement Dagenham 4 speed I have. My new trans has some history! The Hurst competition shifter with the semi-rusty stick and scratched white shift ball are staying right where they are. If that ball could talk… (Oh no, another start to a bad joke)

This next shot almost puts things into perspective. 6 buddies all making short work of snatching out this engine. Dave Young and Joe Nagy fellow Nissan tomodachi’s and Joel Nelson from 1320designs.com are in this shot. Dave and his lovely wife came over for some moral support before heading to a (surely more sophisticated) graduation party. Cut Dave and he bleeds A/T fluid from all the trans rebuilds he’s done. The end goal of the “Strip Party” was to get the engine and trans out. Little did I know that we were just getting started!

Things were going great. Time to ramp up the consumption. With this many guys helping, the front and rear bench seats came flying out. I had the guys take a garage tour driving our imaginary wagon. (Or was that a magic school bus ride?) At this point, it was still light out, but we’d already gone past what I thought we could do in one day… And, some heavy hitters had just arrived.

Without a doubt, the coolest part about starting MyRideisMe.com is the people I’ve met. Last week in Michigan, I stopped by American Speed Company and grabbed a shop tour (blog’s on the way!) and before that, I had stopped by Squeeg’s Kustom in Mesa, AZ to write a blog about them. Doug Jerger was putting the finishing touches on his AMBR contending roadster when I was there. He didn’t win, but that is a world- class hot rod. I invited Doug and his crew to my house to help, mostly to give advice on the project, and to have a few coldies. Doug along with Sammy and Moose from his shop and Melissa Jerger, his wife, all arrived at the same time. Doug in his bad, slammed dually and Melissa in her wicked black 32 roadster. Melissa’s launching a new line of apparel for women rodders call, “Hot Brod”. I’ll be running a blog on that later.

Doug had just returned from picking up a Woodie in California, so when he asked how he could help, I told him to just relax. He could see we had already made alot of progress. I asked a few paint questions and he helped out like the pro he is. Then, not 20 minutes later, Doug let me know he’d had enough of standing around watching without pitching in. Now I had guys from a professional shop tearing off the front fenders just cause they are hard workers who dig hot rods. As I said in Squeeg’s blog, these are the people you want on your next project.

Finally, Mike, the first guy there, wrapped up the tear down by removing the under-dash harness. Wow! At this point, only the 4 doors and the tailgate shell remained on the rolling car. I’m glad I caught this picture of Devin Squire (Devin’s garage). Devin and I had only met briefly but he showed up and did alot of work nobody likes but needs doing including tidying up and making sure my tools made it into a single pile. This is about the time when I realized what a big can of worms I opened. Here’s what was left.

Don’t worry! This isn’t the end of the story. I’ve got more blogs to write, so I better keep working. I’ve already finished the all important Project list and even finished a few projects! I’ll be featuring the folks who help me in each blog. Want to get involved? Own a Falcon Parts shop? Let me know! Leave a comment and I’ll see your email address. For now, special thanks to Mike and Kelly from Auto Insulation Specialists Lo-Buc-Rod. Much more later, stay tuned!

You never know what might show up at your local cruise-in. I am always on the lookout for something different; something you don’t see every day. On a recent trip to the local Friday night hangout in Charles Town, WV, I noticed a nice looking black import from across the lot. I moved in to investigate deeper and my curiosity peeked even more since it was a right hand drive. It was actually a 1994 Nissan Skyline GTS25t owned by Ric Wells of Berryville, VA.

Ric told me the story of how he purchased the car while he was stationed on Okinawa, Japan. After retiring from the Marines he had the car imported state side and sent to a company named Motorex for legalization. Soon he was tied up in the Motorex defrauding mess. It took more than two years before he was finally able to drive the car again.

While not a GT-R (which actually makes the car rarer in the US), Ric has modified the original RB25DET motor to put out more than 500hp. Some of these mods include: Greedy intake and plenum, HKS Intercooler and blow off valve, Precision 1000cc injectors, Infinity Q45 throttle body, TiAL 44mm wastegates, and a Garrett GT40 87mm turbo. After the all these mods Ric says, “the Skyline is a blast to drive, especially here [in the States] since it is right hand drive.”

You can find more photos and information in Ric’s garage (dreamrides) Thanks for joining Ric!

Written by Bubba Harmon (bubbastoybox)

The rains held off long enough this weekend for the wife and I to attend our first Concours d’ Elegance. Like the last few weekends, the rain has played havoc on most East coast events and this weekend was no exception. But, the clouds parted late Saturday and I decided we would risk attending the Sunday show. The 19^th Concours d’ Elegance of the Eastern United States was held once again on the campus of Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, PA as a fund raiser for The Burn Prevention Foundation. Over 100 awesome vehicles, from a 1906 Reo Model B Roadster to a 2008 Audi R8 Coupe, were present to gawk and drool over. The theme of the show was “A Century of Automotive Innovation” with a special exhibit area of “The Evolution of the Tailfin”. With the theme covering such a large segment of vehicles, there was something for everyone (Antiques, Race Cars, Muscle Cars, Super Cars, Vintage Motorcycles, etc.). How often do you get the chance to be within inches of such rare and expensive machines? This was the most excited I have been about just looking at cars in a very long time! The organizers of the show also set up a special club parking area which made up its own collection of an additional 200 or so more vehicles.

Great shows are made by the people who attend and most of the owners had stories to tell. Take for instance Richard Chappell. Richard owns a 1959 Chevrolet Impala 2-Door Convertible. He has owned it since he bought it new back in 1960. The car was his daily driver for a couple of years and then saw a few more years as the family vacation car. In the early 70’s the car was parked in his mother-in-law’s garage where it mostly sat until 1985. That year he attended a local car show where he met another driver/builder of a ’59 Impala who had just finished customizing his car. A deal was struck and a little over two years later Richard had his frame off restoration back. The nervousness about driving such a nice car was soon eased when coming home from Carlisle, after just taking possession of the car, he got a rock ding in the hood. Cars are meant to be driven and Richard drives his everywhere.

Great people, great vehicles, great show! And wouldn’t you know it…On the drive home it rained…

Be sure to check out the “Pictures” area for more event photos and mark your calendar for next year’s show.

Written by Bubba Harmon (bubbastoybox)

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When Kevin Nichols sets up to build his first street car (he’s been primarily a drag racer) he doesn’t mess around! I ran into Kevin a few weeks ago at the 83rd Ave. show up in Peoria. This car’s under construction, but there’s still a ton to see. Plus, sometimes cars that aren’t quite finished yet tell a better story than a finished car.

The first thing that jumps out of this bad Stude is the engine. How’s 510 cubic inches for ya? If it was only a blown Chevy big block, that’d be cool, but this engine’s from Kevin’s Super Eliminator and Advanced E.T. At NHRA events it ran 6.70’s! A sub 7 second E.T. digger that’s been his passion for years suddenly lost sponsorship and went down the road. The engine’s electronic fuel injection will push pump gas through the 8-71 blower and it’ll have power steering, and A/C! This will be a driver.

Like most projects, the timeline for the Stude’s slightly blown. Alright, it’s been thrown out the window! 3 years into the build Kevin’s proud to say he’s done almost all the work himself. Robert Nurez helped with tin work and chassis, but other then that, you can count this one as HOME BUILT.

The car started as a running and driving flat 6 cherry with the 6 volt system still there and working. For this project, only the body stayed. Everything else was stripped off and sold. The body was so nice, all that’s been done to it, besides the subtle body mods, is a good sanding to take off the original paint. That’s a nice find, but it might make the Studebaker purists a little salty!

As the car nears completion, the plan is to get it running, shake it down a bit, then pull it all back apart for paint. With the professional looking work I’ve seen first hand, I don’t think he’ll find any major problems.

Since meeting, Kevin’s joined MyRideisMe.com. Here’s a link to his garage: “54STUD” is his name. CLICK HERE. Kevin’s loaded about 30 pictures showing the build progress. When you see what’s been done, 3 years won’t sound like much time. That’s Kevin in the red shirt behind the car. When you see him, be sure to say hi.

Look for more info about this car as it get’s closer to being finished. How’d you like to see a first hand video of a bonzai run? Kevin… let’s get it done!

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