Thread: The timesaver coupe

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Just a little background on why we have this car. It all started a long time ago. About 1990 as I recall. I was building a CMC 34 classic (AKA street beast) when at a car show I struck up a conversation with a guy. Long story short he had a real steel 33 Chevy coupe that was running and he wanted to trade me straight up for the kit. As a kid this seemed like a great deal and I still think so to this very day. So off it went and I was happy because I had a running car (Time saved)...or so I thought. It ended up being more bondo than steel and the body was made from several cars riveted together (yes aluminum pop rivets). It had bathroom rug in it and all the wires were red...every single one red. I took it to a show one day and went to start it and the dash went up in a blaze of glory. There was smoke everywhere! There was this guy there that seemed to come out of nowhere and hot wired it for me to get it home. This guy just vanished afterwards never to be seen again. I really wished I could thank him. This started a 3 year rebuild that fixed just about everything we could making the car not only look better but more pleasurable to drive. This started our love affair with 33 Chevy's. We drove it hard for ten years then kids happened. That in itself wasn't a bad thing we just needed a back seat now. So my father-in-law gave us a real nice deal on a 40 Chevy sedan. We ripped into that pretty good for a couple years but never really finished the build as it came time for the kids to start school. I made a tough decision to sell the coupe for a down payment on a house in a better school district and a much better town with a great neighborhood. I sold it on my wife's birthday of all days and she was pissed for months about it. As I waved goodbye to my coupe I had no idea it would be almost 15 years before I would get behind the wheel of another hot rod. As time passed the 40 Chevy just sat for several reasons. I only had a tight 1 bay garage and it was packed. Plus I was working 50 to 60 hours a week so the decision was made to sell the 40. That one didn't hurt so bad because it was too new for me. I like the styling and look of the 30's vehicles. I happen to think that 33 is the perfect year for cars. I have never seen a 33 anything that I didn't like. After the 40 was gone I went hunting for our old 33 but could never find it. Then one day I found a 33 chevy up in MA. A deal was made and home it came. At the same time I came across a killer deal on a 34 tudor. Both of these cars were from estates and were great deals. Trouble is; I still only had a one bay garage but I knew I was gonna have a larger garage someday so I tucked them both into that one bay. As time passed my Mom took ill and we added an addition to the back of our home. This was my opportunity for a garage so I cashed in what was left of my 401K and made my dream garage. Now that that was done I could finally get to some building again. It was decided that the tudor would be built first because of the kids. Well between the kids, work, and my Mom it has taken me 4 years to get my tudor to the point it is now. One day god said he needed another angel and he took my Mom. Sure I was sad (and still am) but it freed up some time and I was glad her suffering was over with. I had a good friend approach me the other day and asked me if I wanted to go in on a flip with him. The mark was a glass 32 ford 3 window coupe. We agreed it was a great deal and we could fix it up and sell it at peak season. The deal was made and the car was dropped off at my house. As it came off the flatbed and he started it; the wife was all excited. You see she has a love affair with the 30's hot rods as much as I do but she had never been behind the wheel of a hot rod. Now I'm a pretty big (around) guy. I'm 5'9" and just over 400 pounds. My shoe size is 12-5E (aka real wide). I get in this thing and my foot is hitting both the gas and brake at the same time so I can't drive it. I look at the wife and tell her to get in there and I'll ride shotgun. She was tad bit apprehensive at first but all that disappeared once she hit the go pedal. We got back to the house and we pulled it into the garage. Great now I'm packed in like a sardine again. The next day my buddy comes over and looks over the car and it was everything the guy said it was. My buddy is kind of a numbers guy. He drives me nuts sometimes but most times he is right. So the three of us are there talking about plans for the car (me him and the wife). He says "ya know... you could take 3 years off your build time with your 33 coupe and just keep this one. Yeah it's a glass car but I bet you could almost get what I paid for this out of the steel coupe". To wrap this diatribe up; a deal was made with a guy to buy the steel 33 chevy for almost the cost of a running glass car. I paid back my buddy and I shaved 3 years of build time off my life..Hence the name "Timesaver coupe". Follow along as we do little things to it to make it ours..er Hers. It will be nice to hit the open road with a hot rod again after all these years. Sorry for the long read.

Our old 33 coupe after we rebuilt it.

The tudor the day it showed up.

The day her 33 showed up.

The 33 coupe and the 34 tudor stuffed in the tiny garage.


My new garage going up.



The day the 32 showed up.


All 3 stuffed in my new garage. (it's still too small).

The day her 33 left.

Great insight into your life, enjoyed the story and looking forward to the next chapters!

Good story Jim. And just to reinforce your starting transaction............getting rid of a CMC "34" is a plus just by the getting rid of it.......much less getting ANYTHING of value in exchange. They were pure junk........as hundreds of them now languish in garages all over the country with just about nobody interested in buying one. A sad part of our hobby history.

Personally, I LOVED the "long read".

Thx for sharing

Wow, thanks for sharing that with us Jim! Her, your coupe is really nice. I hope you enjoy it as much as you can!

Okay so here are some details on the car. It's a glass body from high boy classics. Chevy 350 (330HP) 700R4 ford 9" rear. It's driver quality that needs some tweekin. It needs interior help bad. Looks like the inside of a 70's boat. Polished P&J front end with super stopper brakes, unisteer and a chrome posies spring. Out back is a polished 4 bar setup with polished coil overs. Boyd wheels (don't like the raised white letters but the wife does) hell this aint no muscle car son! Power windows and power deck lid. Tilt column and generic white faced gauges. Paint and body work are nice but not Barret Jackson quality. The doors close reeeeeal nice. Can close it with your pinky. Bear claw mini latches and safety pins. Steel hood and grille shell, king bee headlights and an electric fan (puller). EZ wiring and no heater. That just about covers it.

Now on to things we are changing and or fixing.
I installed a 40 ford steering wheel, the tilt column is loose and needs to be taken apart and tightened up. She said the shifter was too tall (24") so I got a 12" and installed that. The rear end 3.55:1 one legger was leaking so I pulled it and swapped the chuck for a posi unit with 3.89:1 gearing. It pulls a little harder in second gear now. I put a smaller gas pedal in and I picked up one of those "Offset" brake pedals to see if I could make better use of the realestate available to us. I picked up a dome light and that will be installed along with the new interior soon. I have some 32 ford headlights I'm hoping will fit depending on how close the mounts are to the grille. The chrome horns up front are going to be moved to a hidden location. It needs a battery, pencil tip exhaust tips and a new tire wheel combo. Taller in the rear and thinner in the front. Rears are now 275/60R15 and we are changing it up with a 265/75R15 (almost 3" taller) and 165/80R15 up front. I don't like the Boyd wheels that are on it now. We are going to a halibrand replica wheel. I'm also changing out the chrome center bolt valve covers to some finned aluminum perimeter style covers with the use of some adapters and a finned aluminum air cleaner. This all sounds like a lot but they are all pretty small things (Besides the interior) that can be done late at night after work with little to no down time.





Then just for fun I put my red wire wheels on to see what it looks like. She told me to "Take those ugly wheels off my car!!" Yes dear! I don't care I think they look killer on her car.

Very nice read and sound thinking. Now once you finish, you got to get one you can drive too!

Originally Posted by stovens

Very nice read and sound thinking. Now once you finish, you got to get one you can drive too!

I'm workin on it!

I went out yesterday and checked some things off my list for Mama's car. I picked up a battery, small bottle jack, tire repair kit, 12V air compressor, some exhaust tips and the big brown truck dropped off some "HUGE" 265/75R15 tires. I put the pencil tips on today and changed out the brake pedal pad to the offset pad as well as installed the new battery. We jumped in and took it for a spin down to my buddy Bob's place. I had him take it for a spin to see what he thinks. He said the same thing I said. That motor is not 330HP. Maybe 225-250 but still plenty to motivate it down the road and more than enough for the wife. Next up...upholstery shop for an updated interior.

Jim, What brand are those 265/75R15 tires? Are they Mastercraft Courser HTR?

BTW, those 3.89 gears behind a 700-R4 will make first gear really exciting in a light coupe. I have 3.70s in my '34, and putting my foot to the floor in 1st gear is a Disneyland E-ticket ride.

Originally Posted by Henry Rifle

Jim, What brand are those 265/75R15 tires?

Mastercraft I got them on FEEBAY.

Mastercraft Courser HTR Tire 265 75 15 blackwall Radial 59517 Each | eBay

Very nice Jim!

Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

Very nice Jim!

Thanks Ryan. I found your "Tire size'" link to be most helpful. I also use the tools on project33.com to figure out gear ratio's and RPM's at speed.