Pro shop 57 Chevy traditional custom

[chris chabre]

so Im staring at the Ferrari Im turning into a drag car (WIP drag racing build thread) and while Ive done some more work on it, Im part of a FB group that challenged us to build 55 to 57 chevys...in car or truck variants. I have 2 in stock, along with a pile of Drag City Casting resin parts for them, so I guess Im building an early 60s era custom 57 chevy.. My goal is to use a bunch of the AMT 1st issue custom parts even though I have to modify them to fit the Pro shop body as it is wider for whatever reason...

I sat down and went through my parts boxes, ended up with a set of Danbury mint 58 Ferrari wheels, tires and brakes (left over from my Danbury Mint restoration and the left overs from my drag car build)

Also from the parts box is a dual quad Buick nailhead from a Danbury MInt 53 skylark custom i parted out

I threw a bunch of parts in a box and sat down at my bench.  First goal is to make the Ferrari wheels, tires and brakes fit the suspension, next step..make it sit like a respectable early 60s custom.

 

Ill be redoing the plug wires in black and most likely getting rid of the Hydro on the back of it for a 4 speed

First step to the z...make some room

well that was easy

I flipped the spindles which required drilling the lower control arms out for the locating pin, The now upper pin is smaller and Ill use the clearance there to set the camber

I had to open up the hole in the "brakes" to fit the spindle, I used the factory indention to set track width up front

quick mock up with some coils from the same Buick I got the motor from

so the back had big squares in the drums/backing plates.I took the 57 chevy wheel hubs and fit them to the ferrari backing plates, but that made the track width way too wide...Thats when I modified them to narrow it up. When I got to that point, I sanded the front side to make them fit the wheels tighter, positively locating them inside the wheel and fitting the car the way I wanted them to

 

couldnt get the rear low enough so I cut the snubbers off...Unfortunately I ended up sanding off the brake line detail but the axle touches the frame rails now. Ill most likely C notch the frame a bit

The inner wheel wells had to be cut as well. I ended up taking most of them out but this in process photo shows how I did it.

 

Who doesnt love mock up photos

 

My next step is to finish up the front of the frame and radiator support. Then Ill start fitting the motor, trans and cutting the driveshaft tunnel out...Hopefully Ill have some bench time this week. thanks for looking!

Edited August 24, 2021 by chris chabre

[Outlaw_Pitbull_0411]

Nice!

[chris chabre]

2 hours ago, Outlaw_Pitbull_0411 said:

Nice!

thanks!

[Zippi]

Nice work on the mods.  That yellow 57 looks Nasty.

[chris chabre]

3 minutes ago, Zippi said:

Nice work on the mods.  That yellow 57 looks Nasty.

thank you! Im hoping I can make the body mods look like whats in my head haha

 

The yellow one is an out of the box Danbury Mint diecast

[slusher]

Super nice work on you modifications…

[TransAmMike]

Should be a great looker.....as if any '57 isn't😄

[BDSchindler]

3 hours ago, chris chabre said:

thank you! Im hoping I can make the body mods look like whats in my head haha

 

The yellow one is an out of the box Danbury Mint diecast

Yup!  I was going to say the same thing, I reviewed it for a couple of Diecast Magazines 5 or 6 years ago.

[chris chabre]

1 hour ago, slusher said:

Super nice work on you modifications…

thank you. I try to keep them as clean as I can, makes it easier in the long run to not lose interest haha

1 hour ago, TransAmMike said:

Should be a great looker.....as if any '57 isn't😄

thanks. I always liked 150 and 210 57s as straight axled, radiused quarter drag car that sit low but there never were a lot of customized ones, and the ones that were, ended up gaudy in my eyes. Im trying to but a radical custom that isnt gaudy...Im gonna have to pull some tricks out of my ass haha

56 minutes ago, BDSchindler said:

Yup!  I was going to say the same thing, I reviewed it for a couple of Diecast Magazines 5 or 6 years ago.

I ended up buying a small collection and it was in it, I figured I would sell it, but I decided to keep it.

[chris chabre]

kids fell asleep early so I sat at my desk. normally Id z the frame up at the firewall, and then back down for the radiator support but since Ill be cutting the first 6 inches of the nose off I didnt do the drop back down at the radiator support. at least not yet. 

I got the front clip tacked back in but I may shorten the wheelbase a bit still. I started modifying the trans tunnel and firewall, but Im gonna have to move the motor back some. Ill redo the firewall with the indent from a revell 3 window firewall. i may have to cut the front crossmember too.  for now its kind of on all 4s at ride height. 

Edited August 25, 2021 by chris chabre

[BDSchindler]

17 minutes ago, chris chabre said:

thank you. I try to keep them as clean as I can, makes it easier in the long run to not lose interest haha

thanks. I always liked 150 and 210 57s as straight axled, radiused quarter drag car that sit low but there never were a lot of customized ones, and the ones that were, ended up gaudy in my eyes. Im trying to but a radical custom that isnt gaudy...Im gonna have to pull some tricks out of my ass haha

I ended up buying a small collection and it was in it, I figured I would sell it, but I decided to keep it.

Danbury actually did a number of pro street cars that were farmed out to car modelers to design (upper shelf, lower shelf is a pewter 1/12th scale Daytona by Franklin Mint).  The lot was nothing more than Killer!

Edited August 25, 2021 by BDSchindler

[chris chabre]

10 minutes ago, BDSchindler said:

Danbury actually did a number of pro street cars that were farmed out to car modelers to design (upper shelf, lower shelf is a pewter 1/12th scale Daytona by Franklin Mint).  The lot was nothing more than Killer!

 

very cool! Im just getting into Danbury mint stuff to be honest. It started with a few cheap pieces that needed restoration. Then it turned into "well what do I do with these parts diecasts" and now Im hunting ones I can afford haha Looks to be a few in that photo I may have to find eventually. That Daytona is KILLER

 

the 2 ferraris that drug me into the Danbury world...haha

Edited August 25, 2021 by chris chabre

[BDSchindler]

Oh, I get it!  When I was reviewing 1/24th scale diecast for a couple of diecast magazines, I acquired nearly 1,500 cars, trucks and other transportation vehicles just from Danbury alone from all years.  Some are more memorable than others.   When Danbury halted all diecast production, I stepped away and got back to my roots with modeling after 40-45 years out of it.  This (modeling) is much more fun.

Edited August 25, 2021 by BDSchindler

[chris chabre]

2 minutes ago, BDSchindler said:

Oh, I get it!  When I was reviewing 1/24th scale diecast for a couple of diecast magazines, I acquired nearly 1,500 cars, trucks and other transportation vehicles from Danbury alone from all years.  Some are more memorable than others.   When Danbury halted all diecast production, I stepped away and got back to my roots with modeling after 40-45 years out of it.  This (modeling) is much more fun.

WOW! We may need to talk about that collection haha

[David G.]

Excellent work on the mods so far!

David G.

[chris chabre]

6 hours ago, David G. said:

Excellent work on the mods so far!

David G.

thank you!

[TransAmMike]

15 hours ago, chris chabre said:

thank you. I try to keep them as clean as I can, makes it easier in the long run to not lose interest haha

thanks. I always liked 150 and 210 57s as straight axled, radiused quarter drag car that sit low but there never were a lot of customized ones, and the ones that were, ended up gaudy in my eyes. Im trying to but a radical custom that isnt gaudy...Im gonna have to pull some tricks out of my ass haha

I ended up buying a small collection and it was in it, I figured I would sell it, but I decided to keep it.

I agree Chris....I see another '57 in my immediate future😃

[chris chabre]

help me decide. I ended up with these killer lake pipes which Im usually not a fan of... the car is being built to represent roughly 1963.

 

soo...yay or nay

 

Edited August 27, 2021 by chris chabre

[FLHCAHZ]

 

I like them!

[chris chabre]

said screw it and cut the firewall haha 

 

far from done, just rough cut. next will be final fitment and smoothing 

 

i also decided to keep the heater 

Edited August 27, 2021 by chris chabre

[espo]

I like the firewall idea. The Lake Pipes, which I personally like on some cars, were usually seen on cruiser type cars. This would depend on where you lived when they were popular I think. 

[chris chabre]

1 hour ago, espo said:

I like the firewall idea. The Lake Pipes, which I personally like on some cars, were usually seen on cruiser type cars. This would depend on where you lived when they were popular I think. 

thats where Im at on them right now. Ill make my final decision once I have the body roughed out. my goal is a radical custom BUT not gaudy.  not an easy task. esp since Im more of a clean and mild custom guy usually

[EngineerBob]

My opinion is that the Lakes Pipes don't improve the look that you have so far. The stance and wheels/tires looks more hot rod and the Lakes Pipes are more traditionally Kustom features.

[chris chabre]

1 hour ago, EngineerBob said:

My opinion is that the Lakes Pipes don't improve the look that you have so far. The stance and wheels/tires looks more hot rod and the Lakes Pipes are more traditionally Kustom features.

I agree, I dont like Lake pipes on most cars. I havent started body mods yet but it will be pretty radical. Roof swap, headlight and tail light mods, etc etc Ill know more once I get the frame mods done and start the body

[chris chabre]

told myself to finish the frame first...but i had to set the nose to move forward... initial cuts made to keep the front end from looking too long (proportions are very important to me). now to let it dry and fill in the voids

Edited August 29, 2021 by chris chabre