brutus t. maximus aka "nightshade"

[mobile_bob]

well i finally got to where i could drag out the 55 chevy, it is filthy being covered in soot, dust, cat fuzz and bird crap.

decided to take a few pics for those interested

i got the car in dec '74, it came to me as a wrecked race car sans all glass, interior, drive train, and was a multitude of different parts from
several cars.

in its first generation by me it was complete and on the road in oct '78 with a large journal 327 and turbo 400 driving a  chevy nova 10 bolt rear
after loosing two hoods to guys that had to have a look under the hood and not closing it securely (unbeknownest to me) and finding replacements as rare as hens teeth (typical price in central kansas in the mid 70's for a 55 hood was 300 bucks) i decided i had had enough
and in one evening built the steel tilt front end using the only hood i could find that had been drilled for a fake hood scoop.  i was 19 when i built the steel hood, it is remarkably sturdy  and will handle being open in 30 mph winds that would rip a fiberglass front end to shreds.

the last time the car was driven was sept '80

i have towed this car from kansas to washington state, and am fixing to tow it back home.

in this built, i went with a classic rat rod look, it is slammed on the ground with 2" of ground clearance, and will have air lifts to get over parking lot speed strips.

it is buff black, 10 coats of genuine rustoleum!  hand rubbed on the top to get  nice luster, the rest of the car needs to be rubbed out and buffed to match.

the drive train is a 472 cadillac, with turbo 400 and a cone lock cad rear axle that has been narrowed, it sports constant velocity joints front and rear on the driveline (gotta be smooth you know), the rear suspension is custom built ladder bar, with art morrison coil over shocks on the rear.
the front is a heavily modified lower A arm to accept the caddy front spindles and balljoints, and has 12 inch moraine power discs and huge drums in the rear. 

it has the hydroboost system for power brakes and power steering, the front steering is 87 plymouth rack and pinion, and the column is caddy right up the the oem caddy steering wheel, the two are connected with and astro van intermediate shaft.

the headers were originally 1 and 7/8 " small block chevy hooker fenderwell headers, i modified them to mate to the caddillac engine, they connect to 4" lake pipes made with walker blue swinger glass packs terminating into 4 inch pipe.

it sounds deadly, and the stance is  sinister in person,  i need an oem visor to complete the look and smoked out glass.

[mobile_bob]

more


btw, the black and gold theme is homage to the great smokie yunick

the mechanics mechanic

bob g

[Apogee]

Very cool!

Nice work!

I wish I'd seen her going down the road...

Hopefully soon!

Best,

Steve

[flywheel]

Bob, What a jewel, I would take it with me too.  Can't forget a old friend like that.
                                                                                                                                  flywheel

[rcavictim]

Killer!   

[rcavictim]

I should show you guys my 1957 International.  I'm putting a custom blower package on it! 

[mobile_bob]

interestingly the car weighs a full ton less than the coupe deville that the drive train came out of.

the 472 would roast the tires of the coupe deville with a trunk full of rain water, i don't think it will have any issues
with lighting up the goodyears at the rear of the 55.

the sweet thing is, it sound mean as hell, but runs so smooth, just like a cadillac!

duh, cuz it is a cadillac

redline before valve float is 5400rpm, which is more than fast enough to scare the living crap out of me.

a 40 year old 472 cu/in stock engine turning 5400rpm is a bit scary

bob g

[BioHazard]

I got it one peice at a time...and it didn't cost me a dime....(lots of quarters though!  )...you'll know it's me when I drive into town...


I like the paint, I want to do one of my pickups like that. My old neighbor was a painter and he was putting a new paint job on I think a '56 chevy...with a 500ci twin turbo caddy motor. Too bad he was painting the damn thing pink!  One night we snuck over to the runway at the private airport next to my shop to light up the tires......I'm sure glad that thing had hydroboost! 

[vdubnut62]

VERY nice.
Ron

[deeiche]

rm /

[rl71459]

That's Cool Bob.. I'll bet there are some memories in her too!

[mobile_bob]

memories?

interesting you mention that

the car had set for over 20 years in my basement garage, or being dragged from first one place to another, left behind in a cow lot,
dragged to washington on summer, and never allowed by a wicked ex to do anything with it.

she even tried to keep it in the divorce! and it predated her by another exwife!

after the judge ordered it returned to me, i set out to redo it as it is seen today, this was back in 2003

i was in so much pain physically at the time i had to have help of two friends to get up off the floor, so the quality of some of my out of position work is somewhat lacking in appearance.

working on the car then was very painful indeed emotionally, as at the time i was 45yo and i had not worked on the car since i was 19
it was like a time capsule and a reminder of who i once was and what i had become... that was unbelievably tough to deal with.

it was good therapy, it gave me a way back to the guy i once was in some ways.

very hard to explain

bob g

[rl71459]

I understand completely

Thanks for sharing

[Tom Reed]

Love your machine there Bob! Used to have a green metal flake '55 with a 327 4 speed and a black diamond tuck interior. If you've ever seen the movie American Graffiti, a good portion of it was filmed in my town and I used to race the '55 up and down the same strip shown in the movie. The 472 caddy motor is an awesome engine, but a little weak in the bottom end. How did you do the gold trim? That color scheme reminds me of a Cosworth Vega I fell in love with once upon a time.

[mobile_bob]

the engine is bone stock pulled from a wrecked '71 caddy, only thing i did was change out the distributor and rebuilt the Qjet carb.

aside from some cleanup, and  fresh set of wires and plugs it is old and stock as it comes

no i don't plan on racing it, however i might stomp on its tail at the stop light once in a while.

i had planned on pulling the second gear set from a turbo 475 and put them in with a full manual shift kit, just because i like the whine
of the spur gear and the 1-2 shift would come off like a powerglide and 3rd would be more of an overdrive if i went with 16's and a taller set of rear tires.

the drive train cost me 15 bucks at a two auction, and most of the rest is hand built just like the old days, save for the art morrison coil over shocks, which really could have been assembled out of stock parts with a little work and some fab work.

i went this direction with the car after seeing a barn find chopped A roadster at a goodguys car show, it was rough, crude and down right sinister looking, the engine was a 51 caddy, a lasalle trans and they made headers out of old iron bed frame head and tail  boards, looked like the welding was all done with an arc welder with coat hanger wire dipped in mud for flux.  the running boards were extended and also welded in a similar nasty fashion.

that car was built sometime in the early 50's and had been sitting in a barn when found for about 50 years, the owner bought it and just brought it to the show dirt/dust/mice nest/ cob webs and all.

it was the hit of the show!

and it pissed off countless guys with mega buck cars, the little roadster had dozens of people pawing all over it all day long.

folks have a certain appreciation for the roots of hot rodding, when  guys actually built their own cars, using parts they could afford, usually from a junk yard, or whereever, and often times the build was on the crude side, however they were built to drive like you stole it, rain or shine
mud or snow.

no trailer queens need apply

today the movement is called "rat rod" and to me they hold the most appeal for creativity, not that i can't appreciate a mega dollar car also.

bob g