Johnny Hunkins from Popular Hot Rodding magazine has been using a ton of Eastwood products on his recent 1968 Chevy Nova Project. He sent us over some pics of our Sunset Metallic Orange paint he chose and some early sprayouts of the jambs, trunk, etc, and we think it is going to look great! Keep up the great work and follow Johnny’s progress on his blog. We’re excited to see how this turns out in the end!
Here in Eastwood country, (Pottstown, Pa. to those not familiar) we have a great classic car community. Because of that, the sound of rumbling exhausts is common to hear echo through the building as they park out front of our retail store. One of our regulars is Bob F. He used to run a repair shop in the area many years ago and has had a ton of experience restoring classic cars and trucks. In fact Bob even had his hands on a vintage Eastwood delivery van we had at our old headquarters many years ago!
Bob’s latest creation is fresh back from SEMA 2011. That’s right, Bob and his wife took his 1948 Chevy 1/2 ton truck the 2,000+ mile trip to SEMA this year, and it performed perfectly! This says a lot about Bob’s builds, I can’t say I could do that with any of my projects completely stress free!
This truck is able to cruise those distances partially because of his drivetrain choice. With a Chevy 383 mated to a 400 turbo transmission with a Ford 9″ rear with 370 posi, Bob is able to keep up with traffic and get pretty decent fuel mileage on the highway. Of course when he needs to “get-up and go” the engine really opens up and moves this truck!
With age, comes the need for creature comforts. Sure when we were all younger it was cool to have an obnoxiously loud rod with no windows, no heat, and solid suspension, but as the years go on, it takes a toll on you and you’ll find the need for a handful of comforts when making drives like Bob and his wife did! He started with adding the normal comforts that we all take for granted on modern cars, power steering, power brakes and even A/C. But then he went one step further and added cruise control. It’s no wonder Bob loves doing these long cruises! I can say that all of this was added in a non-obtrusive manner and didn’t scream “Gadgets!!” like some other classic vehicles kitted out with modern accessories like he added.
There are loads of subtle mods performed to this truck. Some of which were so well done, you could tell “something” had been done, but hard to put your finger on what exactly it was that he did to make it look so “right”. A few of the highlights for me was changing the front glass to the later single piece windshield and even some of the sheet metal on the front end. Bob also did some chopping of the body/running boards to get the truck looking proper when at ride height. Lastly, my favorite mod was the body trim that Bob fashioned out of brass stock, then had chromed. He drilled, tapped, and added studs to the backside of the trim to secure it to the cab and finish out the OE+ look that he has so expertly done on this truck.
We want to thank Bob for bringing his truck by, and we are glad our products could help bring this truck to the level that it is now at! Keep up the good work Bob, can’t wait to see what you turn out next.
This lonely sedan is sitting all alone behind what looks to be a rundown old farmhouse. My other half spotted it locally when getting lost driving some back roads in the area. What a great find it is! Looks to be missing some wheels and sitting on blocks, my first guess was that it is a 50′s Plymouth of some sort, but now looking at the photos, I’m not too sure. No one was around the house, but I didn’t want to go onto private property to investigate further. What’s your guess?
If you had the choice when your were a kid, would you have picked a baseball glove and bat, or a car project? Many young kids surely would pick a good game of baseball and hanging with friends in the summer over long greasy hours in the garage. But for some, the bug catches on early, and this is how many of the best car builders in the world got started. A lot of the legends were tinkering on projects long before they could even drive. Like they say, “start ‘em young!”.
With Bobby G., he was lucky enough to have a family of car nuts that started him when he was very young. Bobby and his dad picked up a ’65 Chevy Nova 4 door from a little old lady close to 10 years ago. He managed to haggle her down at a yard sale for quite a good price, and the love affair started the moment he got it. The little Nova was in runnable-condition when he got it, and Bobby learned to drive on it, and also honed his mechanical skills on it.
As with any original classic, the car began to show its age, and the Father-Son duo began ripping into the project to bring her back to her former glory. They found the typical east coast-car rust and ended up replacing the floors, lower quarters, doors, and even the trunk! They were lucky enough to find a parts car to give up many of these items and keep the majority of the metal on the car OEM. While Bobby was “in there”, he decided to install a fresh 194 straight-6 and a 4 speed transmission.
After about 3 years of work, the car is finished in Mist Blue and Bobby is enjoying the fruits of his labor at just 18 years of age! I know many of us would have killed to have a restored classic when we were only a senior in high school! Now after 10 years of ownership, Bobby is looking to the horizon and who knows what he builds next, will he take this car to the next level and make it a concours car? Or will he start building one of the other family Nova projects they have waiting in the wings? Time will only tell, but I have a feeling Bobby is on the path to becoming a great car builder if he continues at the rate he is currently at!
Dan S. is a pretty regular face, and friends with the guys in the Eastwood retail store. He always seems to have some sort of awesome project going on. Some of you may remember the last time he stopped in to visit in his recently finished 1965 Project GTOhhhh myy!. Today happens to be Dan’s birthday (Happy Bday Dan!- EW staff), and he decided to take a cruise in his most recent project, this 1963 Chevy Impala SS. This car is numbers-matching with a 427 4-speed. As with any project, they never seem to be done, Dan mentioned he will be working on detailing the engine bay a little more and then just enjoying it. It’s nice to see all of the different uses of Eastwood products that go into these projects! I snapped off a few pictures; check them out below!
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