I will also showcase project cars of people that send me stuff.

Most importantly, is the ride I have tore into like a mad man. I had some success with my '72 Chevelle on the street, and really what it boils down to is that I was tired of gettng my ass kicked out at Rankin all the time. Plus, I wanted to start doing more legal racing in Baytown, Sealy, and Navasota.

THE PLAN: First part of this project has intailed digging down into the depths of rust hell, and smoothing out the body. With a combination of bondo (as little as possible), fiberglass, and aftermarket body panels. I had to smooth out the front window area, rear window area, back deck (below window), and I opened up the outer opening of the wheel wells 1 inch, cleaned and painted the front section of the frame.

The drip rails have been removed and welded back up for a smooth clean look (less drag), but let me tell ya! Don't try this at home. This has taken me, the novice body guy, a very long time. A very very long time!!

I hope to get the Chevelle down into a smooth looking 2,800 lbs. range. The second part will consist of sandblasting the inside and priming the entire car for future paint, having a 10-pt. cage installed (by The Race Car Shop), installing the dash and gauges, hinging the fiberglass doors, and finally installing the lexan window kit. The third and final part will be the most expensive and time consuming - having the car backhalved and completing the draintrain.

As of right now, I have converted the breaks over from drum to disc ('78 Cutlass), but it didn't work worth a crap. Goes to show that not everything you read from a magazine is right!!!

I am ordering drop spindles from Superior Spindles (2" drop) plus a brake kit for a total $550.00. This with a coil cut from the front springs and I should have my 3" frame drop (NHRA Legal).

With mother nature in my corner, I had some great weather a couple of weeks back and was able to get the frame out from under the car that was hung from the top of the storage.

As you can see, the frame was very dirty and greased up from 28 years of road time. Nothing, though, a lot of simple green and the car wash couldn't handle. After a hour of soak time, we trailered the frame to a local car wash and "wala." Smooth and as shiney as possible.

After a half hour or so, we shot the first couple of coats of primer and later sprayed the frame. With a little elbow grease she turned out pretty nice - especially for a race car!

Mr. Murphy:
'79 Trans Am. It's a 400/4 speed, basically stock. Murphy says, "Rankin has been pretty good lately and the cops haven't been too bad."

Above is a '69 SWB Chevy Truck owned by a good friend of mine Ryan Henson. The plans for this "Project Chevy" is to put a nice drop on the ride (already done) and replace the tired SBC with a "just over stock" BBC Motor.

Right now, the SBC is being disassembled so the engine compartment can be cleaned up and prepared for the transplant.