1931 Chevy 5 Window Coupe

This is a video we took the first time I ever drove the car.  It had a bit of a death wobble in the front end but I ironed that out later.  It was an amazing feeling driving something that I built from a truck that was buried in the dirt for about 50 years.

This is the Coupe right before we started sanding it for paint.  I took it out for a test run and the torque converter went out.  I took these pictures after it died.

I was trying to get this car ready for the Glendive car show and the converter went out about 3 days before the show.  So I pulled the engine and transmission, replaced the converter, installed the red lexan windows, sanded and painted the body and put the floor in in 3 days.  Needless to say I made it to the carshow.

Tara made the seat cover for me.

This is a 30's Pontiac dash

These are a couple of the pictures they used in the Rebel Rodz magazine that I had a 2 page layout in.

1931 Chevrolet 5 Window Coupe Body

I set the body up on the firewall, it is the easiest way to square it up.

Here I started adding steel structure to the inside of the body.  Old Chevy's had wood for the body framing.  They basically made a wood frame then wrapped it in metal.

Here is the body before I chopped the roof about 4 inches.

After the chop.

You can see here the fiberglass trunk lid I bought from Speedway Motors, then I made the panel above and below the lid.

Chevy Coupe Frame Fabrication and Painting, Suspension

Here I added some crossmember bracing, sometimes called x-members because of their shape. 

I then added some Ford Mustang springs and Speedway Motors spring mounts. 

Here the frame is upside down for painting.  You can see the 4 link mounts that I welded up.

Tara bought me the headers for Christmas.

I just like these two black and white photos.

These last four are out of order but, they show the body channeled over the frame 6 inches and what it looked like before the channel job.

Unchanneled

Channeled

You can see why I said earlier I should have taken more out of the frame length, it looks funny.

1927-1931 Chevrolet 5 Window Coupe Build Project

So what seems like a decade ago while we were living in Oregon, I bought a 1931 Chevy 5 window coupe on ebay from a guy in Minot, ND and while we were there my in-laws and I scrounged up this 1927 Chevy Truck, I mainly wanted the frame which I found later to be more work than it was worth but I parted it out and made all my investment back.

Total basket case

Here are both of the cars loaded up and parked at the border of Montana and Idaho

Prior to starting the build on this car I read books and educated myself on how to approach it for years.  No matter how much you prepare, it never goes as planned.

So I started stripping the 27' truck on the trailer and selling off the parts to guys that restore.

I came to find out from some guys I met in a car club the the truck was a 27' but at some point someone had replaced the engine with a 28' because they were a sealed oil system and more power.

I drug it into the back yard and that is where I pulled the engine out.  I sold the engine to the guys in the car club the "Westside Cruisers".  I ground and pounded rivets out of the frame for a couple days.

Here the frame is stripped down and ready to get sandblasted.  With the exception of the steering column still installed.