We dearly love Project X. It's the "most famous '57 Chevy in the world" and has been a part of our magazine family for four decades but we just wanted to drive it. So go the best laid plans, as the saying goes, but without the help of D&P Classic Chevy in Huntington Beach, California, it might still be in pieces and not on the road. Our original plan was to get the car to some early season Super Chevy Shows but all of you builders reading this can certainly share the experience of delay after delay. Mind you, this was a complete and total restoration, or more exactly, a remodel, of a car that has been thrashed and abused over its life of being a test mule for every form of engine, trans, and suspension we could throw in it. It even had an engine blow up while starring in the movie "Hollywood Knights." How rude! Anyway, the chassis from John West's fabrication shop in Newport Beach, California, the body freshly straightened and painted by Mark Mahood of Stanton, California, and the parts from all over the country finally came together early in the year at D&P. By putting most of the shops skilled workers on this single job Project X rolled out a couple of days before the Pomona Super Chevy Show in early May 2003. Nice work, D&P.
We civilized the "beasty" 502 Ram Jet at the Muffler Man in Placentia, then debuted the car at the Pomona event on Friday. We skipped the "monsoon" on Saturday but came back Sunday and were gratified at the admiring crowds. We did some tweaks over the next couple of weeks (does that rhyme?) and set out for the last leg of the Hot Rod Magazine Power Tour. This meant that yours truly needed to be in Shreveport, Louisiana, on Wednesday, June 5 to turn right around and head for Fort Worth, and the last stop of the Tour, the next day. We drove the car out of Barry White's SRRC on Monday evening and hit the road in a car that had about 50 miles on the odo. Guess what? We made it. No sweat. Everything worked and all those parts from Chevy and the aftermarket worked fine. Was there ever a doubt?
If the weather had worked as well as Project X, we would have been really happy. No matter, though because at least we had a top. Publisher Tom Vogele met us in Shreveport piloting the McMullen "clone" '32 highboy roadster so when it began to pour, Tom got soaked. No top, no fenders, no wipers (as if that would make a difference), no heater, but adventure. We'll take the X machine any time.
Texas is miles and miles of miles and miles. The way to go is behind the dash of a cool '57 Chevy with Vintage Air blowing on you and Custom AutoSound tunes playing in your ears. |
Which one would you rather get caught in during in a summer rain? Us too. |
And if you forget what you're driving, look at this emblem on the dash. |
It's Shreveport, we found a water source outside the hotel, and Mother's supplied us with the stuff to make this car shine again... |
...the rest was up to us. |
Somewhere between Shreveport and Fort Worth, catching lots of looks. |
Rain on the window and a topless highboy approaching on the left. Nice and warm in Project X. |
Somewhere between Shreveport and Fort Worth, catching lots of looks. |
Even in the rain at the end of the Tour, people still were checking out X. |
After a couple of thousand miles, it came to us that we should have hung some tailpipes and resonators behind the mufflers. That 502 has a BIG voice and our exhaust emptied just past the mufflers, under the rear floor. At the end of the Power Tour in Arlington, Texas, we were directed to Kinney's Mufflers in Bedford, Texas. This is apparently where all the great exhaust systems in the area come from. After a few hours and flawless work, we were civilized again and the car actually sounded better. |
Of course being a driver, we need spare parts once in a while. Fortunately for us TrimParts was on the spot with a new item, Blue Dot BowTie lenses. |
We're still trying to figure out why the left lens on a '57 cracks, while the right one has stayed intact. Any ideas out there? |
The first in a great selection of Project X clones we were to see at many Super Chevy Shows. |
Not that anyone would ask for proof, but when we finally pulled into Indy, we really needed to have this photo. |
We even get preferred parking with Project X. Can't ask the fans to walk all the way out to the parking lot to see their favorite '57 can we? |
Some Project X fans trying to find out where we're keeping it. Oh, and there were some drag races to look at, too. |
An Indy Super Chevy Show tradition is a parade of featured cars, usually Chevy concepts from Jon Moss' toy shop. This year the parade included Project X, naturally, piloted by SUPER CHEVY editor, Terry Cole. |