Classic Wheels Spotlight: 1955 Chevy

Ed was bitten by the “racing bug” when he went with his uncle to watch him race in the 70′s. His uncle had a 1957 Chevy 2-door, that he raced at a track near O’hare Airport, called O’hare Raceway. When Ed got a bit older, he had a 1970 Chevelle, that he built. Now he has a beautiful, “one off” 1955 Chevy.

After Ed and his wife raised their family, Ed figured it was time to get a project car, nothing too rusty or badly damaged. About 12 years ago, while searching on Racingjunk.com, he found what he was looking for. A ‘55 Chevy that was already built as a race car. The car was in Roanoke, Virginia. After talking with the owner, to see if it was what Ed wanted, He went down to look it over. Having family in the area made it easy for him. A family visit, with a project in sight, was in order. Seeing family and deciding to buy the car, the car was trailered back home. Although the car was complete and ready for whatever Ed wanted to do, He backed the car off the trailer, drove it for about 20 minutes, pulled it into the garage and promptly started to disassemble it.

There were some things that Ed didn’t like the way the previous owner put together. The body was left as is, but the undercarriage was completely taken apart. The front suspension was replaced with tubular control arms, 2″ drop spindles from Pete and Jakes, QA1 coil-over shocks and a Flaming River power rack and pinion steering system was installed. With the dropped spindles, the rack assembly hung to low, so Ed had to fabricate new brackets to tuck it up in the frame. The differential is a narrowed Ford 9″ unit, that had a 4.56 gear and it was swapped out with a 3.50:1 ratio unit. The axles are from Summers Brothers. Ed made new ladder bars from scratch, along with making some other upgrades to the frame. The rear section of the frame had been narrowed to accommodate the larger rear tires. The entire frame and under body have been coated with Pour 15.

The engine was completely taken apart, totally rebuilt. It is a 350 small block Chevy that was bored 40 thousandths. The aluminum, angle plug heads are “Pontiac” castings. The cam with roller rockers and timing gear set are by Crane. Sitting up top is a 671 supercharger with a 3″ drive and manifold from Induction Engineering, and electronic fuel injection system by BDS/Blower Drive Services. The headers are custom made by John Terhar, out of Joliet, Il. The flange plates for the headers were custom made by Eds’ son. Everything comes out of the 3″ exhaust through Flowmaster mufflers, and turn out in front of the rear tires.

The Turbo 350 trans has been reworked with a reversed valve body from TCI, 2400 stall speed converter, and components by B&M Transmissions.

The tires and wheels are:

Front: ET Gasser rims 15X6 with Mickey Thompson 26X6X15 tires.

Rear: ET Altered rims 15X15 with knock offs, and Mickey Thompson 31X18X15 tires.

Inside the vehicle is all custom, in a two toned tan and light brown leather. The 7-way power seats are out of a Jaguar. The 6 gauge instrument cluster is by Classic Instruments. There is a 6 point roll cage that has been integrated into the scheme, along with a custom console, and an Alpine CDA- 9886 Audiofile stereo radio CD receiver, with two 2 audio amplifiers, 2 12″ woofers, 6″ door speakers, and 2 6X8 rear deck speakers. Even the trunk area follows through in the same theme. All of this work was done in Virginia, by Kings Interiors. Also, power windows and door locks, with a remote. It even has a Vintage A/C system, to keep him cool while he is out cruising.

The build took Ed two years to complete. All of the custom fabrication that was done by Ed, (and there is too much to list everything), none of these parts were painted, they were all powder coated. Ed wants to send out a big “Thanks” to Bob, at Coating Specialty Inc., in South Chicago Heights, Il.

Since the completion of this project, Ed has shown his car at, World of Wheels in 2014, many local car shows and plenty of cruise nights. There are many things to like about Ed’s ‘55, but he likes that it is reliable and he drives it to the store, and pretty much where ever he wants. With the smaller gear ratio, it can be driven on the highway, too. He also likes the ‘55 body style best out of the ‘55-’57′s, he feels that it has a “more business” look to it!

If you have a car you would like to see featured in Classic Wheels, contact Rudy Host, Jr. at Classic.Wheels.Rudy@gmail.com.