Inliners International Forums General Discussion Truck Talk 1940 Chevrolet Coupe Build!

Hi all! I'm a newbie here on the site as well as in the club. I just thought I'd share my build with you guys. Here's the plan:

-1940 Chevrolet Special Deluxe Coupe.
-270 GMC straight six from a 1956 GMC 1/2 ton.
>Dual Zenith Carburetors.
>High Dome, light weight pistons
>3/4 race cam.
-Saginaw 4 Speed (2 I.D. ring---3.11 first gear)
-1955-62 Chevy 1/2 ton rear end
-7X10 tires on the rear

A little history on the car and why I'm building it. I spend a lot of time with my grandpa (I'm only 17 years old.) Like many grandparents, my grandpa loves to tell his old stories. So one day, one of my grandpa's old military buddies dropped by and they got to looking through a bunch of old photo albums. After about an hour or so we hit May of 1956. Inside were 3 pictures of him, his buddy and their 1940 Chevy Special Deluxe Coupe with a 270 Jimmy in it. Then the stories came. They had driven this car all over the west coast. Twice, they drove all the way from Bonners Ferry, Idaho (just about as close to the Canadian border as you can get) to Fort Worth, Texas. The first time was through one of the worst storms to hit the west. They said that by the end of it the front end of the car looked like a crumpled tin can from hitting all the snow drifts. The second time, they got pulled over for speeding about 50 miles after they left and were fined almost all the money they had. They calculated that they had just enough gas money to make to Fort Worth, so they kept going. Two days later, they were scavenging off the floor of the car and dividing up left over chocolate chips that my great grandmother had packed them for lunch the day they left. After their final fill up, they had 92 cents left to buy a gallon of milk. They drank it before they got out of the corner store.

Anyhow, I listened to their stories for a little while longer then went home. Two hours later I called up my grandpa and said "I've got a '40 Chevy down in Albuquerque, New Mexico" with the usual comical "Ya wanna buy it!?" thrown in at the end. He said "Sure!" so we did. Three weeks later, I had a break from school so we hopped in the truck and drove down there. The road trip alone was worth it. We racked up 63 hours behind the wheel driving from Sonoma, California (an hour north of San Francisco) to Albuquerque, NM. Trip of a life time.

Sorry, that was pretty long. But, there’s the car and there’s the story!

Stay tuned!

Pete

1940 Chevy 1

1940 Chevy 2

1940 Chevy 3

P.S. If this thread is in the wrong spot, I’ll happily move it to wherever is best. Thank you!