1927 Chevy Roadster
Once owned by the City of San Francisco Water Department the '27 began life as a four door sedan. It was purchased by a friend who just couldn't drive something so slow. So he set to work building a tube chassis with V8 power and like that. What was left was a rolling chassis with the wrong wheels. The original dash instruments and steering column were also intact. This car had just over 50,000 miles on it! I was thrilled to get it. I found an original radiator and shell and began to lay out the body lines. Several swap meets later I had the lights I wanted and an early set of Chevy disc wheels. I rolled out the cowl, the hood and the seats from 18-gauge steel. The "boat tail" is built up of wood strips I glued in plies, covered with linen and "doped" down with lacquer. Although it looks like a boat, it's actually built more like an airplane. I painted the rest of the body with acrylic enamel. The seats are leather. The tail hinges at the rear for interior access. The original engine is still in it. I built up a dual carb manifold and a tuned exhaust header. I also installed "high compression" pistons. It also has a higher performance camshaft. I machined a custom flywheel of steel and fitted it with a Chevy ll clutch ensemble. This works very well as the modern clutch has a sprung hub making things a little easier on the original drive train. I machined up and adapted an early overdrive into the torque tube. This gives me a cruising speed of 65. It also provides 6 forward speeds as well as 2 in reverse. People look at you funny when you up shift going backwards. This one is still under construction. Once I got it this far along I began driving it more and working on it less. This car has been one of my most gratifying projects. It has what I would call, a friendly look, like "Lets go for a Ride". Boat tail bodies are very tricky in terms of proportions, it's easy to make one that's pretty dreadful and difficult to make one that looks right. This one doesn't seem to have a bad angle. In the summer months the '27 hardly gets a chance to cool off, I drive it all the time. At car shows people always seem to enjoy it. It's been said numerous times, "After looking at fat fenders, bright paint jobs and alloy wheels, this is a nice departure". BW