Not many of us wake up in the morning and say to ourselves, “I think I’m going to shorten and narrow a ’57 Chevy wagon, give it a truck bed, and install a 427 with a 5-speed!”
Check out the powered bed-cover! The owner of this incredible machine, however, did say that to himself, and I spotted the result parked in front of a Denver wrecking yard. He didn’t have a lot to say about his creation, no doubt because he’s burned out from all the constant questions lobbed at him from dudes with eyeballs bugged out of their heads in amazed Rat Fink fashion, but I was able to get the summary of what he’d done.
The best part? This beast gets driven on the street for everyday errands such as junkyard shopping expeditions. If only someone would do this for a Studebaker Scotsman wagon…
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I thought you’d fallen off the planet. We haven’t seen much in the way of CCs lately. Thanks for the site of this goofy looking weirdmobile, but not one I wouldn’t drive.
Does anyone know what happened to Paul’s CCs? I miss them and these short outtakes while entertaining are not the real thing.
http://www.curbsideclassic.com/
Clorox and a camera please?
Tinted windows are incompatible with “dingle balls” though I have not seen those once-common adornments as used to be so common out in California a couple decades and more ago.
http://image.lowridermagazine.com/f/Dionnysus/18280137+w224+h168+cr0+re1+ar1/1964-pontiac-parisienne-dingle-balls.jpg
http://www.skyroadster.com/forums/attachments/f5/38425d1280163959t-glove-box-mods-dingle-balls.jpg
That’s one strange shoebox! Just looking at the photos, I have tons of questions, particularly how he (they?) managed to hang ’57 body panels off of a late ’60’s Elky? Or did he graft a late ’60’s Elky roof to a collection of ’57 parts?
To your comment about the Stude: Someone would have to find one. I thinkt they all rusted away…
A friend of mine did this with an old VW bus. I couldn’t imagine driving it, either. If I could figure out how to include my photo of that VW bus, I would!
(now I’m following you)
You jogged my memory on a couple of my dad’s cousins who loved to break out the torch and the welder and go after old Chevy 4 door station wagons. The results could sometimes lift the front wheels depending on what other mods had been performed. Of course this same group of farm boys took an old Iron Duke 4cyl and some scrap iron and fabricated a “garden tractor.” All of these Frankenstein monsters were a sight to behold.
Ha Ha Ha! That’s funny. Had to comb my hair again!
That reminds me of the time that same old friend took an old Volvo PV544 and wanted to make a dune buggy out of it. He cut off the roof and when he went to drive it around his neigborhood to see what would happen, being a unibody and all. Well, it immediately collapsed in the middle, rendering it instant junk! Some guys have all the fun.
What part of the country are you in Zackman? In the mid-’00s, at either the Mass/NY border or (more likely) the Southern Vermont/NY border, west of Bennington, I saw a VW bus–orange, I think–that had had a couple of feet taken out of the middle. It was beautiful and in great shape but very unstable looking. Somewhere I have some photos.
David: This was in the St. Louis area – Ellisville, to be exact. The Volvo episode was in 1969. The VW project was in the early 1970’s, done while I was away in the service. I have a photo, but can’t post it here. I don’t know where that thing wound up. My friend who did it lives in the Lebanon, Mo. area, now. He still does fool around with cars as he is a bodyman and has the equipment to still play around. He’s big into bikes, now. All ancient history, but what fun times those were when I was young! Fortunately, even though I don’t/can’t involve myself in that stuff anymore, I still enjoy my rides!
The shortened VW bus is more common than you think. We have a couple around here (mid-TN). Basically on the VW Buses there is a seam that you can cut along in order to shorten one or add a mid-section from another van giving you an easy stretch van. There is a stretch Vanagon out there that I have seen a few times on the web. Fellow puts ALOT of miles on it. Has run it with VW power and Buick V-6 power and apparently when I last looked the transmission was the weak link. I’m sure if he has enough money he can fix that as well.
This person played with way too many Hot Wheels.
Two more questions: Is the owner a midget? Or in the circus? Wait, one more: A midget in the circus?
At least you didn’t mention clowns, I’m afraid of those things. Truly scary.
That’s an oddly distorted version of the truck that never was-here’s a more practical rendering of a 57 El Camino. http://www.mystarcollectorcar.com/3-the-stars/star-truckin/525-a-57-chevy-el-caminothe-truck-that-never-was-he-have-it.html
Not for me, but I’m all for freedom of expression! I would imagine the handling could be pretty squirelly when you put the hammer down.
The body/roof are so disproportionately large/small that I should be hating this thing, yet somehow it all works, in a creepy, psychotic-carny kind of way. Welcome back, and as always thanks for including the profile shot.
You forgot to tag this as WTF.
My thoughts exactly.
I’m guessing he didn’t drive this to work this morning.
it looks creepy and deformed, i dont like it at all.
I think the problem is the greenhouse. I don’t like it either.
Should be inside the fence.
I Photoshopped a Tercel Wagon to look like this once, but that was just an image manipulation. Nuts.
“Because it was wrong, that’s why…”
Yeah, used to see these freakazoids all the time growing up, usually a station wagon turned into a pickup, to varying degrees of mechanical and esthetic success. Also saw many of the old vans with the mid engines chopped like this too.
>>Not many of us wake up in the morning and say to ourselves, “I think I’m going to shorten and narrow a ’57 Chevy wagon, give it a truck bed, and install a 427 with a 5-speed!<<
And yet, it seems so logical and practical. 8^)
It really does look like a full-size Hot Wheels toy…or an Ed “Big Daddy” Roth creation. At least it’s driven regularly. As my ’57 210 Handyman will be when it’s finished.
@ Budda-Boom…Nice to know that there is still people with the time ,skills, and ambition to take on such a project. Good luck with the 210.
As far as the 57 in the photo goes…..A little radical for my taste, but you gott’a admire the guys chutzpah.
Although I hate to see a ’57 body chopped up, it was his to chop up, not mine. And this required a whole lot of skill – more than I certainly have. To each his own.
This needs to be the inaugural entry in a new category: Answers to Questions Nobody Asked.
Falls under the category into which my father was fond of classifying certain people. “More money than sense.”…
Murilee-
I see you’ve found the Mecca of all Denver recycle yards- Colorado Auto Parts. I used to make the drive down Radcliff from Santa Fe avenue two or three times a month. As a matter of fact, my current driver came from their sale lot. Bought it with a bad rod bearing, and after installing a new GM crate motor, I’ve never looked back. I’d recommend Colorado Auto to anyone in the Denver area.
Unfortunately, since I’ve moved to LA, I haven’t found a yard that comes close to their access, variety, or pricing. C’est la Vie…
I’m guessing that it’s not a quiet car.
I want to do something similiar. I want to buy a classic porsche 911 lift it up and put an offroad suspension on it and use it like a sandrail. Like a sheikh did with this Rolls-Royce http://blog.niot.net/en/tag/rolls-roycehunting/
I know the guy who ownes that car…his name is…Batman!
that thing is ugly. Not as bad as the majority of “Donks” (Chevy Caprices/Ford Crown Vics ruined with ugly oversized rims) but ugly none the less.