Guest imported_UncleBiggy Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 a friend who inherited a 1955 98 convertible from his family wants to go this route 'cuz he was quoted $3000 to rebuild the original engine and $1500 for the transmission when he can get the 350/350 for a fraction of that. His question, does the street rod fraternity sell the proper crossmembers for such conversion??(there does seem to be a lot of these cars that have underwent that,,,me I'd rather starve a few years & save the money to keep it correct!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe_padavano Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: UncleBiggy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">a friend who inherited a 1955 98 convertible from his family wants to go this route 'cuz he was quoted $3000 to rebuild the original engine and $1500 for the transmission when he can get the 350/350 for a fraction of that. His question, does the street rod fraternity sell the proper crossmembers for such conversion??(there does seem to be a lot of these cars that have underwent that,,,me I'd rather starve a few years & save the money to keep it correct!) </div></div>Your friend is being naive. The SBC and TH350 may be less expensive, but then add the custom mounts, the accessory brackets, the custom driveshaft, custom exhaust, rewiring under the hood, custom throttle and shift linkage, etc, etc. I'm just counting the cost of the parts. If your friend is planning to pay someone to do this work, double or triple the price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talarico8447 Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 IT SOUNDS LIKE THE CAR WENT TO THE WRONG GUY. SORRY TO HEAR THAT. TRY TO CHANGE HIS MIND. IT WILL BE WORTH IT IN THE END. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketraider Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 $4500 to RB the original driveline is peanuts when compared to what a 1955 Starfire convertible WITH ORIGINAL DRIVELINE is worth when done.If he sticks that Chevrolet crap in there, he has a butchered car that will never be worth more than 20-30% of a correctly done car. Plus, if he doesn't keep up with what parts came from what, it will be a service nightmare.Some day, people will realise that a Chevy crate engine is not the solution to keeping old cars drivable. The Rocket engine/Hydramatic was reliable when contemporary, more powerful than about anything on the road, and more to the point belongs there.Try to talk him out of this, and if you can't, then try talking him into selling the car before he starts this abortion. I can see this turning into a never-finished project with him losing interest and then the car sits and goes to nothing, because no one wants to take on a half-finished butcher job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imported_Badger Guy Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 He got the car for nothing and he won't put $4500 back in it? Originality is what makes the car worth more! Not the shine or how fast it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest imported_UncleBiggy Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 well,,,when you're Grandpa's pick(or for that matter any other relative) then the sky's the limit,,,so he got the car. Anyway I spoke my (unapproving) piece on the sbc matter,,,maybe it was listened to.Another thing he wants to know if the stock rear end is geared high enough for todays highway driving (say at least to do 55 on a country road) without the engine screaming. Told him my '53 I had years ago did fine on the interstates at 65. His only other old car was a 54 Chevy that was geared so low, the engine was screaming at about 50 mph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfire61 Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Glenn, I couldn't have said it better.This car is worth far too much to mess up with a half-assed Chevy retrofit. The guy should sell the car to someone who will do the right thing with it.Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jim_Edwards Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: UncleBiggy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">a friend who inherited a 1955 98 convertible from his family wants to go this route 'cuz he was quoted $3000 to rebuild the original engine and $1500 for the transmission when he can get the 350/350 for a fraction of that. His question, does the street rod fraternity sell the proper crossmembers for such conversion??(there does seem to be a lot of these cars that have underwent that,,,me I'd rather starve a few years & save the money to keep it correct!) </div></div>Aside from all the good advice on keeping it original to maintain value, there is no such thing as a power train swap like the one your friend is asking about that really ever works out right. Nothing really fits right and such butchered car will always have driving issues, just as most all "Street Rods" have continuous issues of one sort or another. Another piece of advise for your friend. Stay to heck away from Street Rod shops for quotes on engine or tranny rebuilds all they do is tack on a fee for sending the engine or tranny out to a rebuilder's shop, usually a healthy fee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest imported_UncleBiggy Posted March 16, 2008 Share Posted March 16, 2008 Update : after a week's vacation, I saw my co-worker on this matter. Initially he had serious thought on keeping it correct but three days later, he got his income tax refund. He has now hired someone to cut the original front end off & subframe it with a 1976 Impala. Sorry folks,,,I tried.He also says he couldn't care less about it's dollar value & went into quite a stir about it, saying people over-emphasize on dollar value(I agree somewhat with that) & so on & didn't want to hear any more about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketraider Posted March 16, 2008 Share Posted March 16, 2008 That's a good thing, because I expect he's gonna be stuck with that car for a while. It's also going to be a money pit, and as I mentioned earlier, a service and parts nightmare.Wait'll he starts trying to make the later brakes and steering work with the 56 body shell. The hatchet man will grin till his ears fall off at the money he's making off this job.His car, his money. When he starts yelling about it not driving right, or can't get stuff to work with the earlier body, or how much it's costing and he still can't drive it, just look at him and smile wisely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RocketDude Posted March 16, 2008 Share Posted March 16, 2008 That is precisely what increases the value of an old car, some idiot getting a nice one and destroying it. Now there is one less nice one, so the rest are more valuable. I love building hot rods, it's where I started, but you start with a junker, not a cherry. It takes all kinds...! I hate to see a nice car bastardized..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfire61 Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 I was reading some old threads, & my jaw dropped when I read the outcome of this one.Subframe a '55 Starfire Ninety Eight convertible with a '76 Impala? I can't find the right words...Yeah, yeah, I've heard all the platitudes that "it's his car, he can do what he wants with it," but that doesn't take away from the fact that this guy's a knuckle-dragging fool.Now that the economy's in the crapper, anyone want to take any guesses on the current status of this Turdmobile project???Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketraider Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 Probably still sitting outside at the shop he hired to cut and chop. My guess is the tax refund money is long gone, the car's half finished, not drivable and is slowly going to hell.Some people should not be allowed to have old cars.Even if I were doing a Chevrolet, a crate 350 would be very low on my list of replacement engines. 283/327, hell yeah, I'm all about that, they're interesting. But a 350-based Chevy engine is and will always be one of the most boring engines on this planet. Even the factory made little effort to dress it up or make it distinctive, with those plain flat valve covers. Now, Chevrolet/Corvette script or those early 60s with the recess for the displacement decal, nii-iice.The devil is always in the details, and when there are no details of distinction... you might as well have a washing machine.'Course I'm old enough to remember when appliances had style too. Would love to find an AFFORDABLE late 50s Philco or Admiral electric range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_OToole Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 Hope someone grabbed the original Olds engine, trans and suspension while the getting was good.I'll bet I could have had that car eating out of my hand with a weekend's work. The Olds V8 and Hydramatic was one of the most long living durable powertrains ever made. 9 chances out of 10 it didn't need rebuilding unless it had 200,000 miles on it or was stored underwater. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_OToole Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 Reminds me of a guy I spoke to a year or 2 back. He had a 56 Packard with a Buick V8 in it. He figured, he paid $3500 for the car plus $4500 to have the used engine and trans put in, therefore it must be worth $8000.I told him all he did was turn a $3500 car into a $2500 car. He was insulted at my low offer of $2500 and put it on Ebay. Top bid was $2200. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now