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THE AUTO BUILDER
Featured
SMOKIN’ CAMARO
We’ll call Cho’s efforts a modern retro. Much like old heavy-metal bands, classic metal has a timeless appeal, but there’s more—lurking beneath the classic sheetmetal is newfound power that will appeal to both schools of thought; purists will appreciate the clean lines and fastidious restoration, while performance mongers will be delighted to know that the original small block was scrapped in favor of a big block.
Caddy Stu
Richard Larson and his wife, Jane, have owned a number of custom cars and trucks in their time, but they never really thought they would have so much fun building and owning a custom 53 Studebaker pickup. There was no plan to find a Studebaker; the truck simply found him. I lived across the street from a friend who owned a repair shop in town, Larson told us. Over some time, he had collected six or seven cars and trucks that he hoped to restore some day. One weekend morning, his wife informed him that she planned to plant an orchard in the area where the vehicles were being stored…and in one week. He had to get rid of his collection. I asked about the Studebaker pickup and he said if he could get $200 for it, it was gone. Well, it was gone.
PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT: Derale Severe-Duty Cooling Kit Brings Serious Airflow to GM Trucks
The Derale Severe-Duty Cooling Kit is designed for builders and truck owners who demand more from their vehicles than a factory cooling system was intended to handle. Instead of piecing together individual cooling upgrades, Derale’s kit combines the major components needed for improved thermal management into one complete package. Included are a severe-duty radiator, dual high-output electric fans, PWM controller, and aluminum shroud.
Spotlighter
LONG TIME COMING
Dennis and Dixie Gray and Their ’63 Fairlane Were all Meant to Be Together
It’s no guarantee that both halves of a married couple will love the automotive hobby. More than one marriage has ended following the ultimatum, “It’s the car or me,” though the same statement has also put an end to a large number of perfectly good hot rod projects. So it’s always nice when a car can bring a couple even closer, as is the case with Dennis and Dixie Gray and their ’63 Fairlane.
Author
Will Smith
Photography By Scott Beutler
The couple decided they needed to find a new car that would suit both their tastes, something that would have the combination of good looks and power that Dennis and Dixie were after. They found that car when they found this ’63 Fairlane—appropriate, as the two had even dated back in 1963. Though the car was in excellent condition when they bought it, that condition didn’t stop them from tearing into the car in an attempt to make it better suited to their needs and preferences.
Scott’s Rod Shop, in Deland, Florida, started working on the suspension. The shop added a frame stub from Fat Man Fabrications that then allowed the builders to replace the stock front suspension with Mustang II-style components. Standard coil springs and shocks work just fine while keeping the cost to a minimum, and Mustang II-style discs with single-piston calipers provide the same functionality and low price. A pair of 17×7-inch Boyd Coddington Smoothie wheels wrapped in 215/45ZR17 Kumho tires fills the wheel wells in style.
Out back sits a 9-inch rearend from a ’76 full-sized Ford, narrowed 2 inches and fitted with 3.50 gears and a limited-slip differential. Coilover springs and ladder bars eliminate the original leaf springs and provide better traction and handling. The rear brakes, too, are discs, this time tucked inside 20×8.5-inch Smoothies and 295/40ZR20 rubber. The fuel tank is gone, replaced with a plastic race-style fuel cell in the trunk.
The Fat Man frame stub eliminated the Fairlane’s shock towers, making it easy to install a large engine under the hood. A 460 seemed like a natural choice, and though this ’79 model is internally stock, it features many external upgrades to make it a real hot rod powerplant. Working from the top down, the builders added a twin-tube air scoop to funnel air into the Barry Grant Demon 750 carb and the Edelbrock high-rise intake manifold. The Ford Racing valve covers are just for looks, but the MSD billet distributor adds looks and a strong ignition spark. Hooker headers channel the exhaust into Flowmaster mufflers to give the Fairlane that required big-block sound. The owners estimate that the car makes a conservative 375 hp, which is then channeled through a C6 automatic to the differential.
One piece of good news is that the Fairlane required very little bodywork in order to bring it to its present state. Among the only real changes made to the car were to alter the rear wheel wells to better accommodate the big rear tires. To that end, mini tubs replace the stock wheelhouses, and the builders stretched the wheel openings. Of course, the hood had to be cut as well to accommodate the air scoops poking out of the engine bay. The rest of the bodywork consisted of nothing more than prepping the car for paint, and it’s hard to imagine a color that would better suit this ’63 than the Flame Red it received. Even the black vinyl top works on this car, and all of the chrome and trim are still there, too.
The inside of this Fairlane is just as bright as the outside. The dash is painted to match the body and contains a ball-milled aluminum instrument cluster, itself containing six white-faced Dolphin gauges. In the center of the dash you’ll find a JVC stereo head, and below that lies the air-conditioning system. The shifter is a Promatic, and the steering wheel a Grant. Red vinyl upholstery covers the stock seats.
So, 44 years after Dennis and Dixie Gray first dated, they can still go out on Friday night in the sort of car they could have cruised when they were first dating. We’re not sure if that makes the pair young at heart, exactly, but it does mean they have an awesome ’63 Fairlane with plenty of style and big-block power—and they still get to take it out on a Friday night!
