When in doubt, go bigger

While I was away at school, I told John to drain the water out of the radiator. He did, but he didn’t drain the block. The water froze and cracked the block. That’s how we learned that the ordinary laws of physics applied to us, not just everybody else. Hot Rod building axiom #2 – If anyone else is going to work on your car, run the risk of insulting him by giving explicit step by step instructions. Don’t assume that anyone knows anything.

I bought a seized ’57 364 Buick engine from Tony “Traffic Jam” Traficant’s Amoco station. I ruined a cylinder wall trying to remove the pistons and threw the engine away.

A bench racing acquaintance said he had a built ’60 Buick 401 engine that he would sell for $75. When I went to pick it up, I noticed a complete six two barrel log manifold in the garage. It had Rochesters instead of three bolt leakers. I knew the six twos setup was for a Buick, so I bought it for an extra twenty. I later discovered that although the engine was indeed a ’60 Buick as advertised, it came from a LeSabre which meant it was a 364, not a 401. Axiom #2A – Do your research. Don’t accept what you are told.

The 364 installed easily. The Hurst mounts were drilled for both early (264 & 322) and late (364, 401 & 425) Nailhead Buicks. The bell housing bolt pattern was different, so I had to buy a new adaptor. The ’60 water pump was way too long, so I used one from a ’57 Buick. I reused John’s T-10 transmission and the Olds rear.

The six Rochesters turned out to be small industrial engine units. I rebuilt them, modified the throttle bodies on the left three to move the throttle linkage to the inside, and used two sets of Eelco progressive linkage. The setup ran on the center carburetors except under acceleration, when the end four kicked in. The system looked great and ran almost as good as a four barrel. However, it took a hell of a strong right leg to operate it. There was so much linkage that I was not able to eliminate all of the binding.





The intent of New Jersey’s historic plate law is to register only original or restored cars as historic. Along with most of the street rodders in the state, my intent was different. I registered the car with New Jersey Historic plates. At least I didn’t surround them with frames that said “Support your local drag strip” like Rich did on his Model A.



The 364 Buick had enough torque to bend the control arms which positioned the Olds rear, which is exactly what it did the first time I launched it hard.

A passer-by saw the ’39 in my back yard and wanted to trade me straight up for a ’58 Chevy with a 348. I reluctantly agreed but he eventually backed out because he needed a running automobile. Close call.

The attached garage on our house had a steel girder supporting the second floor. I used it, along with a chain fall and a borrowed trolley to lift the coupe’s body off of the frame. I brush painted the frame and underside of the floorboard with black epoxy.

While I had the body off, I had a ’54 Chevy passenger car front crossmember and suspension installed. The owner of the junkyard where I bought it knew that ’53 – ’62 Corvettes used the identical front end and priced it accordingly at $50.00. I also had pads welded to the frame to mount a ’68 Corvette crossmember and IRS that my wife Nancy had given me for Christmas. The channels on which the control arms pivoted were welded too far inboard and gave the rear tires way to much toe-in. The tires rubbed the fenders because the rest of the geometry was off also. I put smaller 205/65R15 tires on the back to stop the tire rubbing. As soon as I could, I corrected the rear end geometry and went back to 225/70R15s. Next time – 235/70R15s.

I didn’t support the body well enough when I removed it. When I reinstalled the body, it looked OK, but the doors didn’t close as well as they used to.

In 1976, I took a job with Harris Bindery Systems in Champlain, NY. After looking in Vermont, I bought a house six miles from the Canadian border in Sciota, NY. The detached garage was larger than the house. It had a barrel stove, electricity and running water. The water stopped running when the temperature approached -40° F (or -40°C, it’s hard to tell.) We experienced that temperature at least once in each of the nine years we lived there. I registered the coupe in New York with year of manufacture plates.

I wouldn’t do that again because New York has transferable registrations instead of titles for vehicles built before 1972. I had to surrender my New Jersey title to register the car in New York. I didn’t know that you can title the car in one state and register it in another. I might have been able to keep my original title and registered the car with a non-transferable title like they used for the later cars. Live and learn.