Cale's 55
 

Figured I'd share here another project we're working on...

When he was 10 years old (Fall of 2018), I helped my oldest son Cale buy a '55 Chevy 210 2-door sedan basket-case project car. It was originally Neptune Green with turquoise interior, 6cyl 3spd. It's a pretty solid car, but has a few rusty areas.

I have a '55 210 2-door sedan also, so my extra parts would go a long way toward making this one complete.

A couple years passed before we started working on it. At age 12, I taught him how to weld, patching the fender eyebrows and antenna hole on his fenders.

Over the winter of 2021-2022 we started on rust repair on the body. Passenger side needed a full rocker panel, and a patch on the lower quarter panel.

Summer race season we don't do much on this car. Back to work on it in November 2022. He cleaned up his welds, and tacked any pinholes the grinding revealed. He then stripped a door, sandblasted the jambs and the rust-pits hiding behind the side trim, and I primed it for him while he was at Driver's Training class.

We wanted to get the sandblasting done on the shell before winter really set in. That uncovered a few more areas that need patching. We got the whole car in epoxy primer, and I shot the jambs with high-build 2K, then started body work at the dash and firewall so we can get paint on those, and start some assembly work as well... having some part look "finished" is always a good motivator for the rest of it.

Spring of 2023 we bought this chassis that had all been rebuilt with new bushings, disc brakes, power-steering, new brake lines, sway bar, and a freshened up rear end, from a guy who turned his '56 Chevy into a gasser.

This should save a lot of time, money, and effort to make his car roadworthy.

Spring Break 2023, Cale had a week off school, so he asked Grandpa (a retired body-man who apparently works cheap for his grandkids) if he could come help work on his '55. Grandpa stayed with us for 3 days.

(Monday) Day 1, the center of the dash is painted.

(Tuesday) Day 2 of spring break, firewall into the jambs painted before noon.

(Wednesday) Day 3 of spring break, the dash is fully painted. That was pretty much the end of body work for the winter of 2022-2023, but this being done meant Cale could start some assembly work over the summer.

In order to get Cale's new chassis indoors without taking up any more space, a quick frame swap was in order. With the body in-place, he can figure out where to place the engine and trans mounts, and maybe get an engine out of the way too.

During race season, I knew we wouldn't get much done on it, so we stored it for the summer and finally moved it back into the shop around the beginning of December 2023.

Cale got a bit too aggressive sandblasting some deep pits behind where the emblem goes on the hood, and blew holes in some thin spots, so we cut out the area and made a patch. He also cut a hole for a hood scoop, and used some of that metal to shave the hood-bird... he went a little too fast welding, and warped the hood quite a bit. We're going to need to do quite a bit of hammer and dolly work on it, but it will turn out fine. I made a lot of these same mistakes when I was his age.

The last of the rust issues on the body that we're going to address is the panel between the trunk and bumper. He made the patches, and then I hammered on them for a while to make them fit better.

Summer of 2024, Cale (now age 16) got a job working at a local hotrod shop (L&L StreetRods, Kasson MN https://www.landlstreetrods.com ) He worked there full time during the summer, and now after-school for a couple hours a day.

As of yesterday with most of the other cars are put away for the season, it was time to get back to body work on Cale's 55.

He worked on filling and sanding some seams and areas we patched while I hammered out the dents in the roof last night.

(post now current... updates will come up as we make progress)

That's awesome! This is going to be a really nice car. I'll be glad when my shop is finished and I can start working on my '55 again.

----This whole thread just makes me happy!....Bill S

You are making incredible memories , as well as teaching your son real skills. I worked on a truck with my son this past weekend and loved every minute even tho there were some frustrating moments, lol!
Well done

Thanks for sharing this,how cool are you 3.

Agreed! Thanks for posting and looking forward to following along.

This is an awesome thread. So fun to watch him grow up in front of us. Enjoy your time with him now, life will become faster for him soon enough. The memories will last and last. Keep up the great work.

Awesome - and congratulations to all of you for what you are doing!

Why no respioratory mask and full face shield when grinding?

In July, we picked up this fresh rebuilt 406 with an early Corvette dual quad setup on it from an estate sale. I bought the entire contents of the garage, and told him to sell everything he can and when I get my money back, the engine is his... so he'll be into this for nothing. I also gave him access to my parts hoard to put together everything needed to put a Saginaw 4spd in it.

I got a nice pair of Tri-5 Appliance headers with 4-bolt flanges for free, so I gave him those, and picked up a cheap Hurst shifter to fit the Tri-5 w/ bench seat at the Jefferson swap meet.

We're putting together a pretty nice vintage drivetrain on a high-school budget.

I love this. I love seeing a young man do all of that work with your guidance. Great work dad, son and grandpap.

Some of my fondest memories were working on cars with my Dad.

My Dad definitely got us into '55 Chevy's.

In 1975, Dad bought what is now my '55 for $60. (Yellow one in a few of the pictures) Flat towing home from Missouri behind a green '55 that Dad's friend bought on the same trip, a rear axle bearing went bad on the yellow car, so they changed the whole housing with one from a junkyard along side the road. The '60 Impala 4dr hardtop was Dad's car they drove down, and left it at a junkyard, trading it for a door for my uncle's 63 Impala.

Dad always wanted to build it into an American Graffiti replica, but never finished it. I bought it from him in 2017.
Needless to say, we're all 3 excited to see the American Graffiti and Two Lane Blacktop cars at MCACN in a few weeks!

Dad definitely was rockin the 60’s vibe! I bet he has some stories!

Cale is an unassuming and quiet young man. He watches, listens and learns by doing. When we have a Chevelle Club event at their place, he is right in there, helping with whatever needs doing.

Derek's wife, Jenna, has the same personality and is instrumental in making our events better with her attention to detail for food prep with coffee, cookies, donuts, etc.

It's always a calm, pleasant experience being around them for a day.

Priceless.

I love this: "a rear axle bearing went bad on the yellow car, so they changed the whole housing with one from a junkyard along side the road..."

Some of us older guys remember how common this kind of repair was. You could go down to the local wrecking yard and buy an entire rear axle for $100. No chit. That was the going rate. So, if you didn't have all the tools necessary to work on a rear axle, who cared? Just swap that one out.

Yea a 3rd member for a tri-5 here was 25 bucks in the junk yard in the early 70's. We bought several for a local 57 a guy had in high school. A good muncie was 75 bucks.

The whole car was $60, I doubt Dad paid much more than $10-20 for the replacement rear end...
He said that they tossed the old one in the ditch when they were done. :rolleyes:
And when he went to the DMV to transfer the title, he told them he paid $30 :D

Transferred the title? Few even bothered.

Cale stole the slots and L60-15s off my 68 Chevelle to do some test-fitting so we can clearance the quarter lips before we do the body-work.

I have to say, they look badass on it!

Please post some details as well as measurements of those wheels and the backspacing / clearances on them. They look awesome on there.

It was a pleasure to meet Cale and his dad at MCACN.

Agree. Post as many details as you can about this build. I know it is sometimes hard to document EVERYTHING. You want to spend every minute working on it, not talking about it, right?

Bitch’in

The slots are 15x8 with 4" backspace rear, and 15x5 with 2.5" backspace front.
Tires are bias ply 275/60 Coker Pro-Trac and 6.40-15 Coker Firestones.

The clearances are pretty tight to the outside in the rear, so we'll run either a 4.25 or 4.5 backspace on it when we order wheels for this car. These are just borrowed off my '68 Chevelle for fitment-check before we body-work the quarter-panels.

He's probably going to run these same size tires, but on chrome steel wheels since he's going more for a mid-60s look than the early-70s look of slots.

Derek and his middle son A.J. came into the Certification area at the wrong time Saturday. We were pushing cars off the lifts and others back on and he got roped into steering and pushing some. Of course, being the person he is, he readily volunteered to help anyway, so thanks for that and sorry you got put to work...:biggthumpup:

Great meeting both of you at MCACN - the car looks awesome with that wheel/tire combo. Continued good luck!

MCACN provided some inspiration!

It was really cool to see the movie cars that inspired 3 generations of '55 sedan ownership in our family.

Where's the pic with you in it ? Did your Dad get to sit in it too ?

Cale scored a nearly impossible find on Marketplace today. He got a pair of 15x8 Chrome Reverse wheels with Chevy bolt pattern and 4" backspace. For some reason, nobody makes these anymore.

We just need to find some 15x5 or 15x6 fronts now. Fronts won't necessarily need to be reversed, so the current available closest thing to this style new ones from Speedway Motors will probably be good enough...