Let us begin. Near the shop is our favorite lunch hangout named the Times Square Italian Restaurant. It’s one of those places you visit so often your favorite parking spot is always open, the waitresses know your name, where you want to sit, and what you will be eating today. Think of it as Cheers for the nomadic hot rod journalist, as I spend a lot of time in Phoenix.

Dean would paint a verbal picture of the gasser. It had to have the “nose in the air” straight-axle look, fenderwell headers, a horsepower-pumping injected small-block Chevy, Muncie four-speed, skinnies ’n’ fats, front buckets, rear seat delete, a rollbar, a dash-mounted tach, and, of course, the obligatory Moon tank. But at the same time, how to come up with all of these parts? Over the years Dean has collected many parts and pieces that were “homeless” but could be assembled into a 1955 Chevy gasser. But where to come up with a nice 1955 Chevy that wasn’t “too nice” to be turned into a gasser?

t one time the demands on an automobile’s electrical system were simple—the engine’s ignition and starting circuits, rudimentary lighting, maybe a heater, and that was about it. But how things have changed. Today the electrical equipment on cars often includes a long list of electron-gobbling devices, such as high-intensity lighting, climate-control systems, engine-cooling fans, fuel pumps, power windows and seats, air suspension compressors, elaborate stereo systems, and more—and we’re not just talking about cars on showroom floors but many contemporary hot rods, too.

In simple terms, electricity is the flow of electrons from one atom to another through a conductor. A conductor is something electricity can pass through while an insulator is something electricity can’t pass through.

The search lasted about two years before Amie found the “right” car. He traveled from home to New Mexico then to Los Angeles and onto Sacramento where he located the perfect foundation for his new build. It’s the ol’ “friend of a friend” connection that brought him to the “correct” 1936 Ford coupe. As the story goes, the owner really didn’t want to part with the coupe but six months of perseverance finally netted Amie the decisive weekend of negotiating when a deal was made and the coupe was brought home.

It was at this point in the journey when Ben York, of Roseville Rod & Custom (RR&C) in Roseville, California, entered and he and Amie linked up. York and his staff used their substantial talents and blended a Roadster Shop chassis, an ARDUN Enterprises V-8, and a beautifully massaged 1936 Ford coupe with just the right amount of modifications to bring this hot rod to life.

Turns out back in the day—those high school days—Dave owned a 1961 Chevy Impala bubbletop, although we are guessing it was nowhere near as nice as his current ride! The bubbletop proved to bring him good luck, as he met his soon-to-be wife Janice while out cruisin’. Turns out Janice liked the Chevy but Dave not so much. (Oh well, he clearly wore her down as they recently celebrated 50 years of marriage.) Over the course of time while driving the 1961, Dave had the misfortune of colliding with a farmer driving his 1946 Chevy pickup. The bubbletop didn’t fair well and it was onto the “next project” for many years to come.

Time has a way of producing grandkids and it was at this moment that Janice mentioned to Dave that they needed something that could haul the grandkids around in. Opportunity only had to knock once and it was off to find a 1961 Chevy Impala bubbletop that would bring back the memories of the good ol’ days but also rock today’s modern amenities, making this 1961 a joy to drive.

That brings us to why we drop old bodies onto new chassis. We have installed so many of the other amenities it just makes sense to tackle the one significant thing that will change the entire demeanor of an early car. It takes something old and makes it both compatible and on par in today’s modern world of performance.

We’ve progressed to lowering our 1961 Chevy Impala convertible onto the chassis to secure all of the body mount points and make what sheetmetal mods are required. In our world of hot rodding we have come to understand there’s both a need and a desire to have a modern chassis under our many decades-old rides.

Bill, in working with Howerton and Moal and the artist Alberto Hernandez, developed the concept whereby the combined American hot rod theme (think Moal) and the race car appeal (think Howerton) was brought to fruition. As mentioned earlier, the build was a collaboration with Howerton handling the design, chassis, suspension, and body support structure fabrication. All of this work was done at his shop in Oklahoma. While this was happening Moal and the staff at MC, comprised of sons David and Michael,and craftsmen Troy Morris, Shane Lindsay, and Robert Smith, worked their magic. MC was responsible for the body construction, final fabrication, machining, paint, assembly, and wiring. Thus the overall build completion was handled at the California shop.

here’s an old expression that goes something like, “You should drive only as fast as you can stop.” There’s a great deal of truth in this saying. However, no matter the quality of the brake system it will only function as well as it matches its usage and its installation.

We are going to walk you through some brake basics and follow along with an installation of a Wilwood Engineering brake package, all the while passing along some brake-wisdom tidbits. Also, nothing replaces the detailed instructions that are provided by Wilwood Disc Brakes and are also available anytime online. Visible in the current photos are a front and a rear Wilwood kit. The Aerolite 6R front kit (PN 140-10641) used with a Wilwood ProSpindle 2-inch drop (PN 830-9807) and a 14-inch-diameter drilled/sotted/vented rotor. (There’s also a standard height spindle, PN 830-10832.) In back The Aerolite 4R rear kit (PN 140-11270) is used with the OE-style parking brake and the 14.25-inch-diameter drilled/slotted/vented rotor. A couple of additional items you will need to have aside from tools will be permanent thread sealer, such as Loctite 271 (red) and Wilwood Hi-Temp 570, DOT3 brake fluid.

The secret sauce of the Simca’s devious deeds lay in its obvious light weight, and the ultrarare 303ci Pontiac V-8 engine that was originally conceived of for use in the Trans-Am racing series. There were all of 25 such low-deck engines made, all equipped with Pontiac’s infamous Ram Air V heads. John was a Pontiac engineer at the time, so he had a direct connection to the rare engine combination. Equipped with a quartet of Weber 48 IDA carbs, a dose of nitrous oxide, and some handmade porcelain headers, the motor became a powerful showpiece in the Simca’s tiny engine bay. The mill was mated to a Muncie M22 four-speed transmission, while a narrowed 1957 Oldsmobile rearend running 4.30 gears allowed some serious rubber to fit between the widened rear fenders. The coupe used the front suspension from a 1952 MG, and the gold leaf “303” lettered onto the coupe’s doors made the Simca instantly recognizable.

The Simca spent a few years making NSRA street rod events from Lodi, California, to Detroit, and all points in between, before arriving at the 1976 Tulsa Street Rod Nationals. At that event, the tiny hot rod collected First Place in the StreetKhana competition, and Third Place in the Street Sweeper contest, while simultaneously snagging the Best Engineered award in the owner-built category from the NSRA brass.

et’s play a little catch-up. This project is based on building a very traditional hot rod in the form of a 1936 Ford phaeton. Underhood, a 59AB Flattie provides additional power thanks to Sharp heads, Sharp intake, and a pair of brand-new Stromberg 94 carbs. During our “top half rebuild” we found H&H Flatheads to be the perfect source for speed goodies and solid information.

Of course, with the engine dressed and more powerful that stock toploader tranny would never do, so after some research we ended up with a Speedway Motors Flathead to Chevy S-10 BorgWarner T5 adapter kit. Once again, the adapter, trans, and clutch fit like a glove and we were more than pleased to have five gears with that all-important Fifth highway gear spinning our John’s Industries 9-inch 4.11 gear mounted to the Heidts parallel leaf spring rear suspension. So that gives you a feel for the project, just good basic hot rod building. Now we are busy with the myriad details of making final connections and to that end we must connect the clutch linkage and change the shifter handle.

There were two problems with the shift handle. First, the stock handle looked like something you’d find in a cheap truck, mostly because it was found in a cheap truck. Second, we could not comfortably reach the shifter while seated in the car. As it turns out Lokar has a very simple solution with a variety of cool shifter handles. They also make a simple adapter that replaces the shifter shaft protruding from the top of most S-10 T5 transmissions. I say most because, as usual, I have a story to tell—more on that later. The Lokar shifter boot will also provide the needed detail on the transmission tunnel, and while we were shopping the Lokar section we simply couldn’t resist a pair of pretty pedal pads and a dimmer switch cover.