amaraderie, it’s one of the core values that frames the hot rodding hobby. Regardless which decade you grew up in, like-minded performance enthusiasts have regularly gathered in friends’ driveways, home garages, service stations, and even doughnut shop parking lots to tell tall tales and work on their hop-ups. It didn’t matter if it was to fix something that broke the night before, taking on a driveline swap, or simply adding some new jets to a carburetor. In any case there’s nothing like hanging out with your friends while enjoying the hobby.
Once the car was torn down the original spine was blasted clean, painted, and treated to additional bracing to stiffen it up. Out back a GM 12-bolt rearend was packed with Strange Engineering 31-spline axles linked to a Detroit Eaton Truetrac turning 3.73 gears. It’s suspended in place by a combination of Global West adjustable upper tubular control arms with matching lower arms, Panhard bar, and QA1 coilover shocks. To add plenty of razor-sharp handling Global West tubular upper and lower control arms are combined with matching 2-inch drop spindles and QA1 coilover shocks. When it’s time to stop on a dime, fluid moves through a Classic Performance Products HydraStop unit capped by a Baer Remaster to stainless lines with matching 14-inch two-piece drilled-and-slotted discs with six-piston calipers at each corner. For plenty of style, 18×10 front and 18×12 rear Billet Specialties SLC Series Turbine-model wheels wear low-profile Nitto NT555 G2 rubber.
When it came to the interior, Dave wanted to retain the factory good looks with a dash of elegance. The stock dash was updated with dials from Dakota Digital to monitor the vitals while a Billet Specialties steering wheel mounts to a stock column linked to a Detroit Speed steering box. Shifts move through a stick from Hurst while a Painless Performance Products wiring kit installed by Cerce brings it all together. For comfort, Fred Carello of Carello Auto Upholstery in Warwick, Rhode Island, stitched up a winning combination of red leather on the original seating complemented by matching side panels and plush carpet. This is one Chevy that sees plenty of drive time across New England, and to us that’s the real deal.