Grumpy Jenkins' 1955 Chevy

My friend Ed Jackson has done an amazing job modifying an Ertl '55 Chevy into a great historical drag race car. I'll let Ed's own words describe the project and the modifications he performed.

The Project:

A friend of mine, Paul, started the actual project. Paul wanted to create a replica of a Jr. Stock racecar from the early 60's named the "MonsterMash II", Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins prepared the car for Bill & Andy Spanakos. The project started for me as a bag filled with most of the parts from two completely disassembled cars & a photocopy of a Gumpy Jenkins advertisement for his car tuning service (see below).

The Body:

The standard wheelwell area was cut from a Belair & fit into the radiused quaterpanel of the street machine. The hood scoop was removed, the hole under the scoop was closed & smoothed. The emblem on the front of the hood was removed and the void was filled. Lots of grinding, filling & sanding involved with this job.

The Chassis:

The rear axle housing had to be narrowed to compensate for the closed wheelwells. The leaf springs were cut from the axle. The spindles were cut from the rear. Each side of the axle housing was shortened by 1/8th inch. The spindles were reattached and the leaf springs were attached in closer to the rear to clear the tires. Some painting on the rear housing, springs & drive train.

Wheels & Tires:

The chrome was removed from the wheels. The wheels were painted the same gloss white as the body and detailed. The tread was removed from the tires to simulate slicks.

Engine & Exhaust

A small block drive train replaced the 409 drivetrain. The primary header tubes were made from plasticstruct tubing and were fitted around the steering linkages, the collectors are Aluminum tubing.

Paint:

All components of the body were primered, wet sanded & painted with several coats of gloss white. The body was reassembled & painted again as a final coat. The final coat was wet sanded and polished (no clear used).

Decals:

The images used to create the decals were scanned from a photo copy of a Jenkins ad for his car tuning service. The images were manipulated in PhotoShop & printed on laser jet clear water slide decal paper.