RodPlans Projects Past and Present

Welcome to my photo album of some of my past projects. This is a good overview of the cars I have owned over the many years I have been involved in the automotive hobby. The photos start back in the 1970s and progress towards present day as you go down the page. I hope you enjoy the tour.

Chris

My first street rod. I purchased this 1937 Chevy (with a 1938 Chevrolet grill) running and on the road with a 350 and a Muncie 4 speed. The body and drivetrain had seen a lot of miles so I rebuild the car the second year I owned it. I installed a 454 big block and had a full body and paint job done. I took it out the first year and promptly blew up the 1957 Chevy rear end showing off for a young lady. She walked home and I had to find a tow home to make it stronger. The rearend never broke again but I sure went through a lot of transmissions…

This is the same 37 Chevrolet about 1982 . After driving it  for several years the pro-street thing had hit the magazines.  I had not seen a car on the road that had a narrowed rear end so I decided I would cut off the rear frame of my coupe and be an innovator. We narrowed a Ford 9” rear end and installed it to the new back halfed frame rails with ladder bars and coil overs. I also changed the transmission to a Ford top loader s the GM transmission just were not standing up to the beating I was giving them with the 454. In all honesty traction was much worse with the rock hard Mickey Thompson street tires of the time than the old narrower BF Goodrich tires I ha been using. It was a very fun ride. I ran over most of the bottom end of that 454 at the fast end of the St Thomas Ontario drag strip when a rod bolt failed. I was not able to reuse any part of that engine and I replaced it with a 402. As with most guys I got married about this time and sold the car to a fellow from New Jersey  so that I would have a down payment for a house.

Mrs. “Plans” standing beside her 1939 Chevy pickup. She actually took her drivers license test in that truck because it was the newest car we owned at the time. A second photo of the Mrs. behind the wheel of a 1970 Corvette

Another shot of my better half this time hanging out of the door of a 1946 Chevrolet. The 1959 El Camino was big on style but sure was a boat on corners.

1959 Corvette Kind of a funny story to this one. I had always loved the early Corvettes  and was doing an industrial equipment installation when one of the other guys on the project mentioned he had a 1959 Corvette project for sale. So my ears perked up and went to see it. It was a basket case. Lots of new parts, lots of missing parts and lots of parts no one knew what they were for. The basic body was there in good condition with a cheap replacement front end glued on where the original had been. The rear wheel wells had been radiused to fit larger tires.  The whole lot was covered in soot from a fire in an attached garage. So I did what any real car guy would and bought it and loaded all the parts into the 1959 El Camino I was driving at the time. I restored the wheel wells and spend weeks stripping the paint from the car. About this time I ran into someone else who had a Corvette project for sale. I went and checked it out and found another basket case. This car had a mint body but had a rusted frame. I made deal to buy the car without any of the trim. So I hung the first body that I have stripped the paint from on the rusty frame and sold it. I searched and purchased NOS parts to replace every trim piece on the car.  After two years I had the car rebuilt painted and on the road. I hopped into the drivers seat for the very first time and looked right into the top of the large chrome windshield frame. I could not slouch low enough to comfortably see out of the windshield so I drove it looking over the windshield frame. I could not drive it with the top up and looked like a giant driving it. So after two years and lots of hard work I admitted to my wife I should have sat in one before I bought it and sold the car. She still on occasion brings up the time and money I spent on that car

This is my son Robert’s first Hot Rod an electric scale T bucket. Rob is 21 now and working on putting a 454 in a 1973 Nova. I borrowed a full size T Bucket body from a friend and made a half scale replica out of wood and plaster. I then made a mold and finally the body from fiberglass. The car has a wheel chair motor drive and coil spring rear suspension. I have it put away in my shed waiting for the next generation to enjoy it. If you want future hot rodders you need to start them young. The red 1965 Chevelle SS was a clean stock factory car with a lot of options. 283 ci automatic , tilt and air. A very nice cruiser

The muscle car phase…. I had a few of these over the years.. The black 1966 Malibu was a former NHRA race car when I purchased the shell. I took it apart and reworked just about everything installed and interior and drive train. The engine sure screamed with the 5:13 rear end gears it came with. The White 1966 Buick Skylark was an interesting car. It kept the original drivetrain  but had major suspension modifications to improve the handling. That car was the best driving  muscle car I have ever driven. Touring springs and large sway bars were added front and back. Spindles from a 80’s Camaro were swapped for the stock ones to change the front end geometry.

 Fiberglass 1933 Willys coupe I purchased as a running street rod. The car had a Mustang II front end installed old school by cutting the whole cross member out of the Mustang and trimming it to fit the Willys frame. I am working on Mustang II cross member drawings and should have the completed plans ready to sell late spring.

This is my 1935 Willys 4dr sedan that I turned into a 4 door hardtop. Someone had started to make a drag car out of  it in the 1960’s and had moved the firewall back halfway across the front doors. I hated the rear quarter windows so I filled them when I chopped the top on this hot rod.

The hood was hand made by a friend Gary Geady  who I call the Tin man. I have a link to his web site on my link page. This was the car that the first set of suicide hinges I designed were installed on. I hated the way the stock hinges stuck out so I made my own.

This is my present ride. It is a 1937 Chevrolet coupe. Note the RodPlans straight axle and Tilt front end. Power comes from an aluminum head aftermarket BBC displacing 565 cubic inches, There is a 8/71 blower under a pair of 950 Holly carburetors. The transmission is presently a Powerglide complete with Transbrake which I have never used. I think that I will be changing the transmission to a manual 4 or 5 speed in the near future. Not as good for the drag strip but I find it more fun on the street.

No I did not have anything to do with the Chip Foose DecoRide car. It is just a case that I have always liked the back end of an Auburn Boattail speedster and I am in love with the way they have improved that classic look. If I can ever come up with the money I would like to build one of these cars so this may well be a  future RodPlans project.Some of the other cars I have owned but not pictured include: 1936 Chevrolet pickup, a 1938 Chevrolet coupe , 1965 Chevy II Nova , 1966 Chevy Nova , 1973 Pontiac Ventura , 1970 Pontiac Lemans sport, 1971 Pontiac Lemans T37, 1957 Chevrolet Belair , 1970 Chevrolet Camaro SS, 1990 Corvette. As you can see I have always been a GM guy but for the record I did have one Mopar collector car. 1966 Dodge Coronet 2 dr hardtop with the leaning tower of power. The car rode and handled very well but sure lacked get up and go. I drive a Ford as my daily driver and have owned another Ford in the past.

If I can find the time I will try to post some newspaper and magazine clippings as well as a couple of videos involving my cars. Check back from time to time .