…so she sold it to us in a for a crazy low price that we could NOT refuse–she practically gave it to us!

Here are some pics of the car, immediately after pushing it down the drive from the next door neighbor’s garage and into the yard.  She says that it was running recently, and all it needs is a new battery to run…

This car is straight and in great condition.  We didn’t spot any dings, dents, or rust anywhere, and even the brightwork and original glass is in good shape!

Notice the vintage plates…

And the interior looks to be in decent shape

And in the engine bay…a vintage flathead V8!

We’ll be putting a little work into getting this Ford back up to snuff as a driver, then you can expect to see it hitting the local classic and hotrod shows soon.

The method we used for this removal may seem a bit unorthodox, but is the correct way to remove the involved systems.  Unlike the classic method of using an engine hoist to lift the engine out of the engine bay, we basically did the reverse procedure used by the factory to install the suspension and drivetrain.  At the factory, the engine, transmission, and suspension were installed by lowering the body onto the K-frame/engine/transmission/front suspension as a unit.  Aside from ancillary connections (hoses, electronics, etc). the entire drivetrain is held in by just 5 major bolts!   After disconnecting all the ancillary bits, we were able to simply lower the engine to the floor  using a couple of hydraulic jacks.  Then we lifted the front end of the car to make room for the whole assembly to slide out from under the car!

Once we had the assembly out from under the car, we installed special caster wheels that mount to the frame rail using the same bolt holes previously used to support the k-frame assembly.  Then the car was lowered onto the casters, allowing the body to be pushed around the garage at will without needing jack stands.

Next step:  We’ll be sending the Charger body to Blackbird Fabworx to have a custom suspension upgrade installed, as well as some serious chassis stiffening, seam welding, and a custom cage install!

This truck is a vintage 1954 Chevrolet 5-window pickup truck.  Except for paint and some newer wiring, everything on this truck is original!  It’s in great shape for its age, though we do plan to go through the mechanicals to ensure everything is up to snuff.  It will be used as a shop truck, too…this beauty will not be a garage queen.  The thing we love most about this truck is the beautiful vintage smell of the interior.  It’s that perfect mix of mohair, oil, old fabric, fuel, and whatnot that gives the car an unmatched aromatic patina.  Expect to see some Garage Woolery logos on the doors soon.

Here are some pictures of the mounting points.  Notice the bolts that hold the front of the brace.  These are bolted into nuts that have been welded into the windshield frame so that the stresses are dispersed over a wider area.  The rear view mirror screws are not placed under any stress at all, they still only hold the mirror in place.

The rear mount uses four allen bolts to a plate with welded nuts inside the mount.

This bar will not only act as a chassis brace, but will also be used to secure the G-String bikini top instead of the PVC tube that comes with that top.  The bar is also a bolt in affair, allowing it to be easily removed.  These pics show the bar in its unpainted state, but it is being sent out to be powdercoated for a nice finish.  Once it’s back in place, new SFI padding and a leather cover will be fitted to the rollbar again.

We’ll be adding some more red to the interior to match the seats later.  We’re thinking red carpet (removeable with snaps), and red leather door bolsters & dash crash pad.

We’ve also upgraded the rear wheels and tires, increasing the wheels from 16×8′s on 225/50/16′s  to 17×9′s and riding on wider 275/45/17 Toyo R888 tires.  This bigger & wider rear tire setup has been track proven to reduce lap times by up to 2 seconds.  We can really feel the difference in the handling, the car is much more planted in the corners and power oversteer on turn exit is greatly reduced!

The carbon fiber used to make the side panels is the same weave  used in the body tub construction, and the weave was oriented so that it matches up to the body tubweave, too.  This ensures a clean look.

However, we here at Garage Woolery recently learned of the passing of one our own in the local sportscar enthusiast community,  Kevin Harney….also known to many online as Darkdrifter.

Kevin was a well respected, nice guy who did a lot for the Southern California sportscar and drifting scene.  He was the kind of guy who helped a lot of others in the auto hobby.  We decided to use these stickers to help raise a little money for Kevin’s surviving family members in their time of need.  If you would like one or more of these stickers (and help raise a little money for his family in the process), please send a self addressed, stamped envelope containing a donation (we’d suggest US$2.00 for each sticker) specifying which sticker(s) you’d like to:

100% of all donations raised from this run of stickers will be donated to Kevin’s family.

So, instead of working, we’ve been buying stuff:  For example, we bought this cute little number in December:  A 2006 Lotus Exige

We found this beauty with only 3,000 miles on the odometer and in immaculate showroom condition.  Even the undercarriage was still spotless and shiny!  After some skillfull negotiations we were able to buy this car at an incredible price that we couldn’t refuse…and it’s been added to the Garage Woolery collection.  This particular Exige is equipped with the Track Pack, limited slip differential, and traction control.  For more pics of the Lotus Exige, please visit the picture gallery on the Lotus Exige page on this site.

We recently had the pleasure of a nice warm weekend, so we took advantage of the weather and pushed the Pitcrew Roadster out for some more work on the glass fastback project.  This time we concentrated on the driver’s side quarter window foundation, and got it to the point where we could set the glass into the top for initial fitment.  Here you can finally see a daytime picture of the Pitcrew Roadster with the fastback and the glass installed! 

There’s a lot more work to be done, but at least you can see some of the lines the fastback and glass will have.  For more pics, please see the Pitcrew Roadster page gallery.

We even did some work on the Ariel Atom this week, installing upgraded 17×9 rear wheels shod with Toyo R888 275/45/17 tires.  This upgrade adds 100mm (that’s ~4 inches!) of width to the rear of the car and has been track proven to increase the Atom’s ultimate grip, handling performance, and reduce lap times by reducing power on oversteer.  It also makes the Atom look EVIL!  Sorry, no pics yet–we have some other developments which we want to implement before we do a reveal later this spring (hint:  more CF upgrades).  Stay tuned!