The Grand National Roadster Show 2024
February 8, 2024
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THE AUTO BUILDER
Featured
CIMTEX RODS SUPER CAMEO: PART 2
“Building a good truck chassis is just like building the foundation for a house,” says Cimtex Rods’ Tim Cimbanin. “Everything starts at the ground floor. If you don’t have a good foundation, you don’t have anything!”
No truer words were ever spoken, and we’ve been preaching this fundamental information in all our publications.
Back In Black
Jerry McMullan is a long-time Chevy fan, and when he wanted to find a cool daily driver, he knew two things. The first was that the vehicle would be a Chevy, and the second was that he knew it had to be black. Having been the proud owner of a couple of previous ’67-’72 Chevys (a ’70 Chevelle SS and a ’70 El Camino SS), he knew that that the style suited him, so he thought that a pickup from those years would be just right for what he had in mind. After a little searching, he came across this ’71 Chevy Cheyenne. McMullan says that the truck was in fair condition when he purchased it (for the now-reasonable, though still hard to believe, price of $11,000), and thus began his three-year odyssey of building his perfect pickup.
Hot Rodding at Its Purest
The T rides on a home-built frame that’s a mixture of round and rectangular boxed tubing. Front suspension parts consist of a polished I-beam axle hanging from a four-bar arrangement and suspended by quarter-elliptic springs and friction shocks. These parts provide the appearance of a genuine vintage track car, and the end of each axle features a Wilwood polished caliper bolted to a ’40 Ford spindle. Steering consists of a Vega box with linkage outside the hood for additional style. Unseen, though, are the twin 8-gallon gas tanks hidden within the frame. The wheels, of course, are painted steel, measuring 15×6 inches and wearing plain hubcaps and beauty rings. Wrapped around each wheel is a 215/75R15 BFGoodrich radial T/A tire.
Spotlighter
Destined Bel Air
A Classic ’57 Chevrolet From Hawaii, but Not Originally
Author
Bob McClurg
Story & Photography
This has to be one of the nicest looking ’57 Chevrolet Bel Airs I’ve ever seen in the state of Hawaii,” I kept saying to myself as I was photographing Keith Maeda’s black cherry ’57 tri-5 Chevrolet. I mean, this thing has all the bells and whistles.
It has a full house, Gerald Fernandez-massaged 350 small block. The 9:1 compression, Crane Cams-equipped short block sports 202 Bow Tie cylinder heads capped off with a pair of ProForm Industries Chevrolet-script cast aluminum valve covers, not to mention an Edelbrock Performer RPM Air Gap intake and 14-inch K&N XStream-filtered 770cfm Holley. It’s is also fired by an MSD 6AL ignition with MSD Blaster coil, NGK spark plugs and Accel spark plug wires. Finally, a pair of thermal-coated Sanderson block-hugger headers and Flowmaster muffler-equipped 2-1/4-inch exhaust complete the engine tune. A Griffin four-core aluminum radiator cools the package, and a polished 100-ampTuff Stuff alternator is responsible for the electrical power side of things.
Some of the equipment you don’t see on this awesome ’57 includes an Island Transmissions-prepared GM TH350. Suspension consists of a pair of McGaughy’s Classic Chevy Parts 2-inch dropped rear leaf springs, McGaughy’s 2-inch dropped front spindles, a set of William’s Classics tubular front control arms and a McGaughy’s 605 GM power steering box. This Garden Isle-based tri-5 also features Wilwood Engineering four-piston disc brakes, a set of four KYB gas-charged shocks, a set of 17×7-inch (front) and 18×8-inch (rear) Boyd Coddington Magneto billet aluminum wheels, and P215/45ZR17 (front) and P225/45ZR18 (rear) BFGoodrich g-Force KDW high-performance radial rubber.
Since the previous owner had already painted the ’57 in two-stage PPG black with a violet pearl overlay, all that was required was a little buffing and detailing. On the inside, you’ll find a Classic Chevrolet International silver and black reproduction factory interior, along with a Flaming River/GM six-way tilt steering column, Grant steering wheel, McGaughy’s billet aluminum dash insert, Classic Instruments gauges and a Kenwood audio system. The trunk area has also been fully trimmed out, and there you will find the Alpine woofers and Pioneer Amps. Now here’s an interesting story.
“The car was purchased last year in Oregon from the previous owner with only 53,622 original miles on the odometer. It was then shipped to the island. The funny thing is that when I rolled the Bel Air out of the container, it already had a hula doll affixed to the dash although the previous owner had never visited Hawaii before. Maybe the car was just destined to end up here,” Maeda says. Well, it sure seems that way to us!
