Thread: What Would You Build?

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if this has already been done then i appologise but i thought it would be cool to share what we would build in a dream world unlimited budget, no build time limits and of course the perfect wife to agree with a blown big block!(mine has)!

give as much or as little detail as you like. would be good if we keep it to 'dream builds' and not 'current' builds- i envy those that have a 'current dream build'

ill start.
although i have always wanted a 46-48 tudor, before this came up i was thinking cheap+cool. i can fabricate almost anything myself so building a body from scratch was a cheaper option than the rising original prices and even higher new bodies. so i was thinking a Model T style and shape with a T grill shell made from stainless sheet. it WILL be built like the show rods of the golden age of hot rodding.. but with modern gadgets and gizmos and modern running gear.

this isnt my lifelong dream car but just something i came up with when the budget is stretched but the more i think about it the more appealing it is so ill start on it after the 48 is finished!

I think all of us have a list in our heads of cars we want to build "someday." Right at the top of my list is a 55 Chevy done exactly like the one in Two Lane Blacktop. I have no idea why I haven't actually done one, but probably because I haven't found a nice 55 210 sedan cheap enough to start cutting up.

Another one for me would be a 40-41 Willys gasser, oh, and also a Henry J gasser. Maybe I just have a gasser fixation.

My tastes run simple, and even if I had unlimited funds I would still probably build basic hot rods with no frills.

Don

Well, as Stu sez in his signature, it'd be low, it'd be fast, it'd be kewl (or something like that.

Hmm, lets see...moly tube frame, aluminum body, 800 inch aluminum engine, 5 speed, quick change IRS, IFS with inboard coilovers....and of course long, low, and wicked!!!!

I just want to finish 2 that are on the back burner until the new shop is built. The 37 Dodge and the 64 Ford.

Having the cars here has actually been a benefit as specifics for the build could be refined over time.

The plan/direction for the Ford build was always pretty much set (60s style sleeper) and the build has progressed along those line throughout.

The plan for the 37 Dodge has been refined and changed on several occasions, Some of the things I've thrown around were;

A barn find kind of thing leaving the paint that's on it and pretty much like it looks in the picture below (quickly discarded).

Little Red Express Truck theme with the chrome stacks and door decals (thought about that one for quite a while).

The direction I’m currently looking at is visually pretty much an early 60’s Gasser style, and some suspension changes to help it hook, up looser converter and a lot deeper gear than I had originally planned on. Basically changing more from a street rod to something I can take up to the Tucson Dragstrip (SIR) on occasion.

At least I have the motor built for the 37 (and I have enough spare parts to build another if this one goes BOOM

The first one would be unusual. I did a lot of work on Devin 'glass bodied sports cars in the past. These were used a lot in '60s drag racing for "modified sports" classes.... like Joe Lunati's car... Dean Moon's car... and other types of racing like Ak Miller's Pikes Peak car. I still have the body parts available to build a clone of a Devin SS. It was Corvette powered, and was like a Cobra for Chevy guys. I would go for the big inches and a 5-speed!

The second would probably be a radical '50's-style custom... chopped... rolled... frenched... rounded.... and tunneled! Maybe a GM fleetline or Torpedo back from the late '40s. Probably a dreamy candy blue or purple.

Then I would find a '53 Stude! This has to be the baddest body design of the '50s! BTW, Raymond Lowey designed it and the Avanti, so his work was way advanced! It would be chopped & slammed, and big block powered! Paint would be an excitement color like red.

Lastly a gasser-style '33 Willys, but in a delivery body. I sat in a AA/G coupe 45 years ago. With a big block and engine setback, there isn't room for the average sized human in there! It would have to be 'flake paint and Halibrands!

Those four should make a nice collection! Now I need to go check my lottery tickets. :-)

i would build a top fuel dragster or a 56 merc that is chopped. love both of them.

Well I would like a Brockville bodied '32 5 window hiboy with a multi carb setup on top of an old scott blower fully dressed flathead with lotz of chrome detail to a modern 5 speed gearbox to a Halibrand quickchange diff that doesn't whine. The paint would be a mile deep red, the upholstery and top a natural bone colour leather. The wheels would be Kensley Hays or widen early ford wires with tyes that look like old style but are new radials with white walls. I wouldn't run a bonnet and the car would sit at that prefect stance. Yes that is my dream car and I think I have spelt "Kensley Hays" incorrectly,sorry.

i would agree with still building a relatively simple car im also thinking 60's front engined dragster. or maybe front engines!

I'm doing my current dream build

I'm driving my dream car.

bumperless 55 chevy belair hardtop .. pearl white with 572 crate motor .. gasser style

1957 Chevy hardtop with a 365 Caddy motor, Buick wires with 1" whitewalls, with fade blue to surf blue paint and white tuck n roll interior. Static drop all around so the car is perfectly flat..no rake either way.

1954 Vette with a nailhead, buick wires, skylark headlights and taillights grafted on and some subtle restyling of the front fenders to makes them fade. '53 Buick Steering wheel. It would be the buick version of a vette and it would rule. White with red interior.

34 3 window chopped 5" channeled 5" with Caddy 331" motor, 3 spd toploader, 3" dropped front axle and a culver city QC with a model A rear crossmember and buggy spring. Kinmonts all around (even though they suck, they look goooood) 600x16" fronts and 750x16" rears on '40 ford wheels. '49 caddy steering wheel. Paint...Wimbledon white with gold engine and black frame and wheels.

56' Ford F100 with Olds rocket power. 51' Olds wheel covers and 3" whitewalls. Shaved door handles and trim. Definitely run bumpers but from something else..Maybe reshaped 55 Chevy? Dropped 6" all around so it tucks a little tire but still has a slight forward rake...Paint- Mint green with green carpet and light green seats with 57 Caddy cloth tucked seat inserts. Olds Steering wheel.

Lets say cutoff is 1960. So cloth wiring and bias ply all around. I would build all 4 of these.

I guess if I had the cash I'd build a classic 62 Corvette along with a Factory Five Daytona, add to those a classic Alpha, Fererari and Lancia, Nomad wagon, 32 RPU, a huge new garage as well to work on them and store them. Whoops left out the shelby Mustang and Cobra. Just too many nice old cars to pick just one! Also would need to add some motorcycles like a vintage Vincent, Triumph Bonneville, Old Indian Chief, and a servi cyle from Harley. Oh what the heck a 1972 Honda 750 too.

1969 AMC rambler scrambler or AMX

1955-56-57 chevy GASSER


and someday hopefully in the near future a 66-67 nova to go stock/super stock racing in of couse 4 SPEED!

my nova right now is undergoing a transformation its getting a 6.0 LS motor

I would be satisfied if I had my 54 Merc restored like it was wouldn't change a thing, ghost flames, chrome garnish moldings, white interior.

Maybe add air bags, power windows, remote doors, Vintage Air, more modern suspension, 454 Chevy, 700R Trans, nice Stereo CD changer, seat belts, just a nice cruiser. Yeah other then that I wouldn't change a thing.

Oh yeah one more thing a Supercharger and nothing else.

With the cost to have that done I'll just keep dreaming.

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