Larry Pointer 1937 Chevy Brule
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“Swiftly and with style. Those elegant concourse cars could go as well as show. A straight six with a stick shift could keep up with the big boys in road races across Europe. Some, notably, with lady drivers.
And our Mrs. Robinson was not the “show and shine” kind for a yearly putt putt down Main Street in the July Bots Sots Stampede parade.
Brule’s gift of life came from Scott Stalick: a robust 261 ci Chevy six truck engine. Scott found it sitting in a 1963 Suburban body in Wyoming. But under the grime, we discovered a decal from its last rebuild: “Quick-Way Engine Co. 25 Years Kingsport, Tennessee”
Scott Stalick’s gift, a rare 261 Chevy six.
Clues to a well traveled past.
How did that old warhorse get from the backwaters of Bristol’s famed NASCAR home to a Wyoming weed patch? However, here it was! It next went to friend Scott Clark’s son Greg for tear-down. Then to Mitch Miles for machine work and a raft of new bits and bobs, including .60 over pistons (seems Kingsport was not its first rebuild.) Sadly, the meticulous young Mitch Miles passed away from a very fast, virulent cancer not long after.
Back home, the 261 donned Fenton dual exhaust manifolds, a Fenton dual intake manifold and a pair of modern Zenith style carburetors.
 Shades of days gone by, Fenton equipped, with dual carburetors.The engine soon nestled down between the 37 rails, already updated with a Mustang II “bolt-in” front suspension, and an 83 Camaro rear end, also with new parts, marshalled by Pat Bentz. Pat is one of those rare old school guys conversant win the quirks of the venerable GM six. It would be Pat Bentz who…three years on…would correct my mistakes and oversights and bring Brule back to life, singing with twice pipes.
The rolling chassis.John Stroble rebuild a T5 transmission from a Chevy S10, and helped align it to the 261, via a resplined clutch and an aluminum adapter plate.
John Stroble adding the five speed transmission he rebuilt.
Transmission installed, awaiting those twice pipes.
I routed the brake lines and dual exhausts. Wheels were a concession to my 1960s passions: US Wheel five spokes. Traditional custom guys might cry “foul” at the updates. I think, however, Dick Bertolucci and those old school six cylinder campaigners would approve. And Mrs Robinson would sweetly smile, and grab another gear.
Ready for the body.
Dashboard
Those Brussels boys Vesters & Neirinck, and Figoni & Falaschi in France as well, were famous for their interiors with jewel-like gauges set in exotic sculpted wooden dashboards. While progress through the winter months was otherwise on course, I turned to creating my own concept of such styling. The 37 coupe’s interior was destroyed in the fire. But then the original dash and gauges never were my passion anyway, so…
The original interior of the coupe in 2016.
I located a complete 1949 Plymouth dash, removed the gauge panel and then sectioned the surround to fit within the coupe’s dimensions. I also added a front lip of 3/8” rod to the surround to increase the center recess depth.
I had a personal love of the 49 Plymouth dash. I’d learned to drive in my father’s sedan.
At this point I could paint the surround in the car’s new body color.
Dash painted, in anticipation of the wooden gauge panel.
I tried templates of various arrangements of a six gauge Classics cluster, then created a mock-up panel in pine.
The 49 Plymouth surround, with the pine panel in mock-up.
I then scored a beautiful board of cocobolo wood, as often used in guitar construction. Then shaped it to match the pine example.
Front view of the cocobolo dash panel.
Backside of the cocobolo dash insert.
Dash painted, with the cocobolo panel in trial fit, with a sneak preview of upholstery.
Below that would come a lower line of walnut, then a strip of ebony.The original heater was shot to the core. I found an after-market unit to place in its stead. Taking an “isn’t it good vintage wood” view, I created a fake vintage radio surround in cocobolo and walnut, complete with speaker screen and knobs. The whole ensemble took on a period Philco or Zenith radio look, with the accent of brass bars across the dash panel.
The walnut table radio façade for the under dash heater.
The completed dash, in the upholstered interior upholstery.
To top off the transmission hump, I also fashioned cocobolo panels with a hint of a Django Reinhardt guitar profile. Well, it was the Hot Jazz Age, wasn’t it?
<Transmission cover topped in cocobolo in a guitar outline. Our neighbor Loki seems totally taken with it all.-
This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by
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This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by .
Oops! Something is not right here. When it was time to jig the body onto the rolling chassis, it was a misfit at the firewall.
A deep recess was needed to allow that 261 truck motor a home in the engine bay.I recall Conquistador harry Larson had once cut in half of an oil drum. Others, a wheelbarrow box. Pretty savage surgery just to do a narrow bit of tunneling. Think! Think!
Aha! A Radio Flyer wagon box!!!
Early TV ad for the ubiquitous child’s Radio Flyer wagon.I still had to section that piece lengthwise, but it worked.
The Radio Flyer wagon was cut to fit the firewall recess.
In primer, awaiting a surprise in paint.For some Hot Jazz whimsy I then painted the firewall Hot Rod Flatz Imperial Purple.
Now, in Imperial Purple!Then I carved out a BRULE plaque to mount above the recess.
BRULE.
Then, to carry on…waste not, want not…I used the rest of that wagon box as the transmission cover on the firewall. And someday, someone will discover the Radio Flyer lettering on the backside of that firewall insert.
The Radio Flyer transmission cover.
Lettering, soon to be covered by carpeting.Makes me want to check out the two industrial SS toilets I have to see if I can make them into a trans hump!!! Haha !!!
Thanks, guys. Back in the “Golden era” of customizing, us kids in the hinterland could drool over the little pages, and only wish for professional help on our cars. Lacking skills and tools, much of our customizing was “find something that will work, and hopefully look right, and adapt,”  Before “re-purposing” would come into vogue half a century later.
So, Quentin, double dare you. Shameless Stainless!
This super cool stroller I photographed in Sweden in 2007 was created by a guy in The Netherlands using Stainless Steel Kitchen sinks… and some other bathroom stuff as well as some bicycle parts like the headlights etc.
Enjoy the beauty of Customizing
For a moment there, I could imagine Jan Lono, Rik Hoving, Quentin Hall and the rest of us sitting around the shop sharing stories and, most important, common views and feelings about our passions for customizing, individualizing, our cars. Bless you Quentin. And long live the CCC!
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