Pics of one fast '55 Chevy
 

This '55 Chevy belongs to a buddy of mine. He's 70 years old. It's best time in the quarter mile is 10.39 and 129.6 mph. Pics to follow.

Wow.

Yep, he even has groupies. 14 and 15 year old kids run down to the end of the strip to get to ride back in it.

Hang on mike...the pics are too big to post here. I have to go into Photoshop and resize them.

This thread is worthless without pics :shake:

So where are the pictures? That is virtually the same ET and MPH that my old Barracuda ran. I hear a lot of people spew off about running Tens in the quarter and it is not easy. I am really impressed that he is still doing this at 70.

Ok. Here ya go.

Heh, My old man's 83 Chevy truck can't even go over 25 mph, without the engine smoking.

It takes a lot of hp to push a shoebox into the 10's. I am hoping that my 67 Nova will break into the 10's after a couple of more modifications.

Bob hems and haws when I ask about horsepower but I managed to get a 600 out of him once. It is a small block 400 bored .030 over for a 406 c.u. The amazing part about it is it only uses a 4 barrell carburetor.

If you could tell me the weight I will tell you exactly what the horsepower is. I still have my old Moroso slide rule from the old days. By looking at the car, it is missing the bumpers but still has full glass. 3700 sounds a little heavy but it says that 600 hp should push 3700 lb car to a 10.39 ET.

Damn that thing is cool.

Any pics of the motor?

I am hoping that after my mods to the Chevy II that it will weight around 3200 lbs with about 570 hp. What does your slide rule say about that?

10.08-10.10 . I used to have a sticker that said: Get in, sit down, hold on and shut up that will apply here. I do not know if you have ever gone that fast but it is a blast.

On my new V-max I made it to 70 mph in probably less than 4 secs. It was all I could do to hold on! I am not a good enough rider to maximize the potential of that bike nor do I care to be.

I look forward to getting my car finished. My co-worker bet me that the car will not break the 12 sec mark but I think otherwise. We will find out soon enough!!

Got to put my daughter to bed. Good night!

Bob guessed it at 3200-3300 but hasn't weighed it. If you would, use your sliderule for that weight range. BTW, this guy knows more about cars than anyone alive. I try to stump him with obscure cars like the Isetta and the Stanford but he knows them all clear back to the model A.

Tell Mr. Web TV to post his own picks.

Whatsamatta preacher man? You mad cause you had to work more than an hour this week?

3200 lbs. would sound about right and put it at 520 hp. That is exactly what my combo was. It was a 383, 13.5 compression ration with a Chuck Nutten modified Holley that flowed 930 cfm. The Powerglide with Trans Brake was the most fun. Does he have a tranny brake?
I remember the Isetta but not the Stanford. ROFL

You've done this before haven't you? Yes, Bob runs a Powerglide but it has to be shifted, unlike a normal automatic. He says it uses nearly 0 horsepower as opposed to the Turboglide which takes 40 hp right off the top. It does wheelies too!!

It's been pretty rough so far this week. I am thinking about looking into becoming a cable guy like you so I can sit in a van all day relaxing while pulling down the big bucks.

Lighten up. I was just Ribbing you. :p

One day my clown buddy was helping me take down a BIG dish off the top of a business. We were sitting there in my bucket truck waiting for the guy with the key to let us in. So he slumps down in the seat and puts his feet up on the dash. I say "What are you doing?". He says " I'm making us look like city workers".

Oh yes, it was an expensive obsession for quite some time. I quit after accomplising my goal in 88 and raced free in 89.
The tranny brake is a hydraulic system that works like this. You put it in low gear manually, then depress a switch on the steering wheel that is connected to a solenoid in the trans that puts it in low and reverse hydraulically at the same time. This allows you to "mat the pedal" and max out the stall on the converter. When you are ready to "leave" you release the switch and holy shit, bang, you are gone. It is like side stepping the clutch only more radical. I once had a time card that was laying on the dash go over my shoulder into the package tray in the back window. Shit, I get excited just thinking about it again. You do still have to shift into high gear manually since the valve body is manual unless you install an air shifter.

I think Bob might have been saying that the 'Glide takes 40 less horsepower than the Turbo. My numbers from memory were as follows for hp consumption:
glide 45, turbo 350 90, torqueflite 904 60, torqueflite 727 95.

Nope, he specifically told me tonight that the Powerglide used nearly 0 hp. And I believe that cause it wouldn't turn those times if it were giving up that much hp. Plus he is an old timer that finally gave in to the notion an automatic tranny COULD drag race. Before about '65 none of us believed it.

I'm going to forward this entire thread to him for review. I'll get back to you on that tranny thing. Bob mentioned something about the Turbo wasting hp with pumps. Have I mentioned this car can and does run on the street? Not often but when it needs to go to town they have roaded it the 15 miles and back. My buddy is 70 and his boy who is 35 does the driving. For a joke a few of his buddies hooked him up, in town, with a dork who thought he had a fast car. (Probably about a 16 second machine) So Jerry comes driving up to the Sonic to set up the race. Can you imagine how that poor sucker felt?

I didn't realize you ran around with a younger crowd. Guess you're too active for people your own age.

We've been buddies for 40 years. This dude knows everything there is to know about any car. He's also got a fully restored '49 Merc that is not chopped or channeled. It's his everyday car. Just got it painted a beautiful silver. Also sitting outside the shop are a '41 Chevy and a '48 Chevy. And yes, they both run.

There are two obvious questions nobody has asked me yet?

You're probably driving a '76 Gremlin. Bring it on down to the Sonic big boy!

Does the shifter hurt your chest when you're bobbing Bob?

I figured him more a Vega driver...

Nice, I probably would have chose a different paint job, but a fine piece of machinery.

Not yet. I'll get some though.

DUH!

ROFL

Leave it to the Planet to turn a thread about a fast car into something homosexual.

I have a Chevelle that still needs some work, but it looks good as it is.

It's the Planet, you have to expect that.

Will it go fast?

Nice car, my first new car was one of that series, a 72. The 70 like yours is the most desireable of three years though. :thumb:

It only has a 350 in it. It will move but it's not anything to race with, at least for old guys.

This one is pretty much original. The engine has been rebuilt for unleaded gas. There is only one spot with rust starting to show, typical place for this year car near the rear window.

Interior is in good shape. It does need a new steering wheel, the current one shows the signs of age and hot weather, it's cracked and showing some seperation.

New paint and a few minor upgrades and it will be restored.

Badass! :)

That car has a lot of potential!! A nice paint job and billet rims would do it wonders though!!

Nothing wrong with a 350 motor. I'm going to be running a small block also but with a small blower on it.

Any of you n00bs got a fast car?

that 55 is gorgeous
is the hood assembly glass?

No, it's all metal. He's beaten a couple of all glass '55's though. It really makes them mad.

Don’t have a "fast car" anymore, unless you count my V6 Cavalier as one??
Anyway back in highschool I owned one of these:
http://www.novaresource.org/history/79rally.jpg
I took out the 305, popped in a 350 punched out 0.30 and made a stroker out if it with a 400 crank.
10.5:1 flat tops
Edelbrock aluminum dome with an 850 Rochester on it
Crane came
Headders
took out the 350 turbo for a 2 speed Glide
Swapped out the 2.96's for a set of 3.73's
I never really found out just how fast it was, but I took on a lot of so called 11and a half second cars and beat em :thumb:


I've been looking for 3 years for a 79 Nova, and still can't find one worth buying to restore here in eastern Canada.
Looks like i'm going to have to start looking south of the border.

What does your slide rule say about a 500 horse 2800 lb car?

Thanks

10.05, add a 200 lb. driver and we are at 10.28.


Talking about cars, Frazod and I just got back from the Chicago auto show. The Challenger is incredible and the Camaro is still lacking IMO.

My son lives in Houston and he went to the auto show and said the same thing. By the looks of them I concur.

Thanks for the info. Much thanks.

The looks of the Challenger can turn an old Ford guy into someone that can appreciate a nice offering from Dodge.

As a muscle car lover, I think they have likely hit a home run with this one.

Ya gonna get you one?

Glad to help, good luck with your project. I had a lot of fun and success in a 67 Barracuda running low tens in the late 80s.

If they are sensible about the price when they release it I will. I was awe struck by the car, but if they price it too high I will have to just admire them. :drool:

I had a 97 Cobra that I really liked. Swore I would never buy a new car again. Drove the 97 on limited occasions only in the best of weather. The new Mustang did the same for me that the new Dodge is doing for you. I had to have it. Though it is not at the top of the ladder in performance, the nastalgia for the old Mustangs had me hooked. Luckily for me, they are reasonably priced.

However, when I bought the Cobra I bought it new and wish I had waited a couple years because the price was nearly two thirds what it was new. Because of the nature of the car, those that bought them took exceptional care of them. I could have bought the same car, literally "good as new" a couple years later for a fraction of the cost.

I expect it will be the same with the Dodge. The majority of those buying this car will take great care of it. There will be several on the market that are in "like new" condition a couple years after they come out. If you cannot afford one new, perhaps a used one will be better for you.

When I sold my Cobra to buy the new car, it had 22,000 miles on it and I sold it for 9 grand. It never saw a single drop of rain. The finish was almost flawless. The car was sold in 2005. When I looked on ebay to see what they were going for, I found at least 50 cars in the same condition as mine.

If your love for them is a deep as mine for the pony, you will get your car. If you cant go buy it now, it will come to you sooner or later.

A lot of truth to that, I really like the Mustangs as well. They were showing the GT-500 today at the show. I was amazed by some guy paying $600,000.00 at Barrett-Jackson for the rights to buy the first new Shelby.

Holy _____!

Found a 68 GT 500KR online once with 6 orig. miles on it for 1.5

Way out of my league. But with a price tag like that, I can see justification for buying the 1st of the new breed.

But wow.....just wow.

$600,000 just for the rights to buy the car? Some people just have too much money.

Yep, just for the rights. I do not think that included the cost of the car. The Barrett-Jackson auction this year was full of obnoxious rich guys with big egos. The old 70 Chevelle Convertible LS6 race car brought 1.1 Million.

reminds me of the car from the movie two lane blacktop...anyone seen that?

bp

I was more impressed with the Camaro than Ed, but it certainly has some issues, and my opinion after seeing it in person still matches my opinion from seeing the first pictures - the grille is uglier than a bulldog's asshole and detracts from the entire car, and the interior has some sort of orange highlights to it that is also vomit inducing. Oh, and the biggest problem - why isn't it a fucking Chevelle? Seriously, why bring back the prince when you can bring back the king? As I've said before, the reason I drive a retro Mustang is because there is no retro Chevelle. Of course, if they brought back only the name, as they did with the nasty-ass new GTO, or screwed it up, like the new Charger, that would be an unforgiveable abomination.

But enough about the Camaro - the Challenger blew it away in every way. Easily the best muscle car resurrection. Wow. :drool:

Agree Tim, I would probably have liked the Camaro more if I had seen it before the Challenger. I just think they gave it too much of an attitude, a little cleaner would have been better for me.

Remember when the Chevy person said to visit the website and give feedback on the Camaro? I was going to, but discovered that there is no link available to do so. It is possible to contact them, none of the options deal with specific comments on the car as the rep said.

What morons. Perhaps it's just as well there's no Chevelle concept on the drawing board. It scares me to think what they might do to it. :shake:

Which is your favorite generation Chevelle?
1st 64/65
2nd 66-69 The 68 and 69 were a lot different than the 66/67, but I think they are considered the same generation.
3rd 70-72

3rd. Dream car would be a red '70 SS LS-6 (convertible or hard top). :drool:

They are big money, the LS-6 cars. I had a 71 Elcamino SS that I fixed up and 72 Concours wagon new.
Well I am retiring to the den for a while, have a good day.

I've found the best pic so far of how powerful this '55 Chevy is. Herzig is going to post it for me.

While we're waiting here's a picture of my work van.

Nice looking machine. Does it go fast?

My Camaro that I reluctlantly sold
http://chillplace.net/coppermine/alb...1/camfront.jpg
http://chillplace.net/coppermine/alb.../10001/355.jpg
http://chillplace.net/coppermine/alb...001/camaro.jpg

Here ya go!

That car makes my heart flutter... It doesn't leap out of my chest such as a 57 Corvette would do to me, but as far as new cars... wow.

Moooo

Very funny. You should put on a red nose and some big floppy shoes.

The '57 Corvette is among my favorites. I ran around with a guy who had one. I had a '60 Vette at the time. By todays standards they had tiny engines. 265 c.i. as I remember. Until the 283 came out. But that is still tiny. But it is still the same basic block that is in use today. Just a bigger bore and longer stroke makes a 350. Even the V6 4.3 litre is the same thing minus 2 cylinders. Talk about getting it right the first time.

Shit...I tried to post it and it's too big...Photoshop won't let me resize it either because it's not a compatible pic...gochiefs could probably do it....now I feel bad for messin with you.


:p

Well, shit. I think the car guys would really like to see it. The bad thing about the '55 Chevy is that they are so heavy. It was before the extensive use of plastic and light weight metals. Not many of them will pull the front wheels off the ground like that.

What kind of image is it? Irfanview is a good option for most any graphic and simple resizing.

Can you do it if I would email it to you? I would need your email addy. It's impressive. It shows that '55 Chevy doing a wheelie. I've never seen another one do that.

Ok...I downloaded Irfanview after listening to Morph...here ya go...finally...

Sorry, browser froze up on me and I was working on a wallpaper for someone, otherwise I would have done it.

irfanview is a great tool either way.