Streetstrip 1969 Chevrolet Copo Camaro Lives Again as a Gorgeous Daytwo Restoration

Longtime readers of both HOT ROD and Hop Upward magazines might recognize the red '28 Model A on these pages. It appeared in those titles way back in the Sept. 1955 and Mar. 1953 bug, respectively, so once over again in HRM's Nov. 2007 series on "Hidden Hot Rod Treasures."

So why are nosotros withal savoring this old A-bone? Because current owner Alan Mest has a much bigger story to tell, not only about his two dozen or and so classics stored in the rafters, simply also his many decades of feel edifice flathead V8s. Over the years, he has built equally many as "ii or three per month," he relates, while albeit that the hobby is now "graying." Then we decided to pick his brain a bit about his buildup knowhow, and also highlight a few of the more intriguing cars in his collection.

Originally a fireman by profession, Mest has e'er had an abiding affection for the flathead, ever since he had one in his kickoff hot rod, a '39 Ford coupe he owned in loftier school. After building up the engine, he recalls cruising Hollywood Boulevard "looking for chicks" (what else?). But he had to cool down the engine on the side streets, and eventually lost his driver'due south license for street racing. (No big surprise there, either.)

This rafter-eye view shows just part of Alan Mest'southward automobile drove. The black 1935 Ford convertible sedan (middle) is the car that Jack Nicholson drove in Chinatown.

He started working on all sorts of cars and engines professionally in a two-car garage in Inglewood, California. Every bit the business organisation grew, he relocated to his current shop in Gardena. Today he's exclusively devoted to flatheads. Why? "That's all I want to do," he says with a knowing smile.

When Mest acquired the crimson Model A from Kurt Wiese, information technology was in pieces and had no engine. So he dropped in his favorite manufacturing plant, though doesn't recall all the upgrades he did, other than the obvious Edelbrock heads. (Nosotros'll provide some of his general buildup tips instead, based on his extensive experience.)

Wiese, a member of the Fifty.A. Roadsters Club, had bought the Model A from Norm Jennings. Fifty-fifty though Jennings had already souped it up, every bit described in item in Hop Upward magazine, Wiese gave it one of the first-ever modest-cake Chevy swaps. He had large plans to rework it even farther, just never finished.

Mest has owned this 'xl Ford Deluxe nearly 40 years. It runs a Columbia two-speed rearend, one of the really trick aftermarket options offered for early Fords, since it had a depression ratio for acceleration and an overdrive for highway speeds. The machine had front-end damage when he constitute it in east 50.A. The garage was falling downwardly on information technology, so the roof had to exist shorn up to get it out.

Meanwhile, Mest had merely sold his '32 3-window for the princely sum of $3,500, a lot of money back in the tardily 1960s, merely a steal by today's standards. Since he and Wiese both worked in the same burn down department, Wiese agreed to part with the incomplete project about 45 years ago for a few hundred bucks. Information technology all the same has the same tires when Mest bought it, though "they're getting a bit fuzzy," he admits.

What sort of mods does Mest typically do on a flatty for the street, such as his Model A? He prefers to outset with the somewhat later-model engines, anywhere from '49 to '53, equally information technology's difficult to find parts for earlier ones. Magnafluxing the block for cracks is critical, since fatigue and fissures can be found from the valvetrain down to the diameter. "Information technology can be repaired," he notes, "just it ain't cheap."

In one case he is sure the block is solid, "The outset upgrade is putting a balmy cam in information technology," such as the Isky Max No. one. "Only to provide a little rumpety-rump; as long it sounds radical."

Hither is a rare '39 Nash that came out of the Bandbox Goose drove owned by Disney. Mest was hired on occasion to work on cars in the collection. A lady from Illinois won the Nash in a raffle, but couldn't beget the revenue enhancement, so he bought information technology from her. The yellow '36 Chevy was owned past Mest's friend George Brauer, who bought it from its original owner. Brauer gave it to Mest near 50 years agone. "If someone gives y'all a automobile," he warns, "you lot have to pay to have it fixed, usually more than information technology'south worth."

Easier said than washed! Yous have to remove the heads to install it so the valves tin can be held upwards out of the manner, rather than just slipping the bumpstick straight into the front end of the block as you would with an OHV engine. He also uses adaptable tappets, and sometimes does a flake of porting and relieving (removing cloth from the top of the block between the valves and cylinders.) Mest won't do overhead-valve kits, though. "That's a whole different ballgame," he admits.

Some flathead techies point to the engine'southward tendency to overheat due to the restricted exhaust passages, but Mest feels otherwise. "That's not a general problem. Only if the bore is way too big. A good stock flathead won't necessarily boil."

Speaking of boring the cylinders, has he seen any issues with early blocks, such as core shift? "I don't discover the later on blocks any better at all." But he does propose that the factory 3 3/16-inch (3.1875) diameter tin can usually exist safely enlarged 1/8 inch over standard to 3.3125 inches.

This '48 station wagon, powered by a flathead with a Merc crank, was restored by Mest for the father of a teenage boy. The boy, information technology turned out, wanted a Camaro instead. Mest fabricated a deal to keep the woodie then the kid could take his Camaro. The green car adjacent to it is a '51 Olds convertible.

"That's as much as you lot desire to go," he insists. Emphasizing a practical approach, "I'm not into drag racing. Speed costs money." Which also means he'south non into installing "lake plugs" either, the practice of blocking off the right forward manifold entrance in order to route the left-side exhaust to a new pipe for a dual "lake pipes" exhaust setup.

Some other time-honored manner to gain displacement in a flathead is to use a 4-inch-stroke Mercury crank, which came in the '49 to '53 engines. "It'due south not a actually expensive way to become for more power," Mest points out. He doesn't merits any particular output figures, though. "I never worried about putting it on the dyno. It's more than about the audio and the feel."

For a full general thought of ability commitment, the base of operations flathead initially had factory rating of 65 hp, and later 85 hp. Mest estimates something north of 100 horses for his engines, only politely declines to give any specifics.

Mest bought this '56 Ford F-100, powered by a 390 Iron, dorsum in 1962. It served as a family cruiser for camping and hauling his racing motorcycles.

Topping off the original flathead was a unmarried-throat downdraft carburetor, and later a two-barrel Stromberg. Mest prefers i model in item: "The 97 model is 'old school,' and the 94 is better, in my stance." He's done all sort of setups with two- to four-carb manifolds.

All told, "A practiced stock flathead runs pretty practiced," he says. "It drives all day long." Which explains why he has such a large collection of flathead-powered Fords in his shop, along with several other rare birds, nigh two dozen in all.

"I don't know why I accept and so many cars," he says with a laugh. "I fill in any given space—if I had more room, I'd have more cars."

Sitting above the flathead-powered '40 Ford is a '30 Model A. Information technology's the simply Ford Mest owns without a flathead, running a four-cylinder instead. An Oregon registration is required just one time for an antique. The trunk is an aftermarket accompaniment.

Any ones in particular stand out? "Every auto's got a story," he tells us. For instance, his '32 iii-window was found subsequently a burn that he helped to put out. The owner had died previously, so his widow agreed to sell information technology. "Her hubby and I are the only ones who e'er drove it."

He drives that car and some of the others only occasionally, using a moving permit, since they're not all currently licensed (due to the rising costs of registration in California). What are his plans for the time to come? "I'll keep them until I die, and then have a large auction," he jokes. But old hot rodders never really dice, just like their beloved flatheads.

One of the oldest cars in Mest'southward collection is this 1920 Chandler, but he also has a 1915 Model T at the far end of the store.

Uncle Daniel

Alan Mest'south Model A roadster was given that nickname by none other than Tom Medley, back when "contributing shutterbug" Lester Nehamkin "came bouncing through Tendency'south portals with a fist full of eight past ten glossy prints and a smile that would cook a dozen Krushchevs," said the feature on the roadster in the Sept. 1955 HRM. "Old cartoonyfeller" Medley saw the photos, "took three double-takes and breathed, 'Human being, what an Uncle Daniel!'"

T Med was calling it a sleeper, for those of you lot not effectually in the days when magazines used black-and-white glossy prints and a bald-headed Soviet leader was on the minds of many Americans.

Mest'due south area for working on Flatheads, his engine of choice, is right next to his car collection. The walls are chockfull of old parts and automobilia.

Kurt Wiese owned the car when it appeared in HRM, having bought it from Norm Jennings, who owned it when it was written up in Hop Up two years prior. At the time of the HRM feature the car was still flathead powered, its SBC swap yet to come.

Mest bought it from Wiese in pieces. When he reassembled the motorcar he reinstalled a flathead—natch. Just otherwise he left it very much like information technology was all those years agone.—Drew Hardin

While Mest has done a number of carb setups on flatheads, he prefers using the Stromberg 94 unit over the older 97 carb.

One of the upgrades for the flathead that Mest recommends is changing the stock heads to the Offy heads shown hither.

While all of the parts Mest has stashed away are for auction, "I don't want to sell the signs," he says. "But I accept too much stuff."

The postal service Sleeper 1928 Ford Model A Is Ane of Many Flathead-Powered Hot Rods in Alan Mest's Collection appeared offset on Hot Rod Network.

from Hot Rod Network https://www.hotrod.com/articles/sleeper-1928-ford-model-a-flathead-powered-hod-rods-alan-mests-drove/
via IFTTT

jonessoogniny.blogspot.com

Source: https://itsworn.tumblr.com/page/10

Share this post