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When I first bought this 1940 Chevy Coupe, I was not sure what I was going to do with it. I drove it for about a month and found that mechanically it was trashed. Motor rattled, rear end howled loudly, the brakes were shot, the transmission had a chipped tooth,The shocks were gone and it steered like I was wallowing in mud. Right then I decided to build a reliable car with a hotrod in mind. I tore into it with great enthusiam. A week later I had the body off and the frame was being sandblasted.
While that was being done I farmed out a small block 350 Chevy engine build to a local speed shop
using an old four bolt main core I had removed from my van a couple of years before. I located some good Fuelie heads and a new tripower setup. My wife informed me it had It had to have Air Conditioning or she
wouldn't ride in it. So I proceeded vigorously rebuilding the chassis with Mustang II rack & pinion steering with a bolt-in crossmember from RB Obsolete, and Ford nine inch Posi rear end using RB’s
leaf spring kit. The tranny selected was a good old reliable Turbo 350. Fortunately the body and chrome were in pretty good condition and only needed some minor work which I did myself.
In only three short months and a near divorce I had the car running and
driveable. I drove it for another month getting the kinks out (surprisingly few) and turned it over to my friendly painter. Two months later it went into the trim shop for upholstery and he took three months to
upholster it. (That's another whole story). Anyway all in all the whole project took only seven months which I am told is incredible for a one man project at home. (I will never do it that fast again!)
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