I purchased the Chev in near original condition, in March of 1986 from its second owner at Orange NSW. The car came originally from Bondi in Sydney. I attempted to drive it home to Canberra and got as far as Borrowa when the old Babbit big ends said enough and it had to travel the rest of the way on the back of a truck. Two weeks later I had the engine changed (the first of many engine swaps over the years) to an engine from a 52 Chev ute and attended my first rod run at Cowra NSW.

I didn’t build the car in one hit as at the time it was the families daily transport. It was a sort of gradual thing working on the weekends and holidays, making sure it was mobile on monday in time for work.

Over the years I fitted a variety of engines, 52 Chev, stock Holden 186, 53 SV Ford V8, then stock 186 Holden again until the wife let a leg out of bed on the way to work. Next I fitted a screaming hot, bored and stroked 186 and it was time for an automatic gearbox and a new diff to replace the long suffering originals. The car ran very well with this combination but after a couple of years I succumbed to all the comments about it not having enough cylinders and fitted the first of two 350/350 Chev combinations.

Over the years the car took the family to Nationals and rod runs all over the country and served as daily transport. It didn’t spend one night in a garage as there was never any room with all the other stuff I have collected over the years.

After 14 years of continuous use it was very much in need of a rebuild and I made the decision to sell and build something else. In December 1999 I watched it drive down the road for the last time heading for a new home in Murray Bridge SA.

The new project is a 1926 Budd bodied Dodge Brothers sedan.

Specifications