Yeah...the flathead straight-8 Ponchos were torque monsters. Ask Rick D. He ran one as a straight-7 for a long time.
As far as that 51 Desoto...well, I remember driving one of those as a kid. My crazy aunt's father-in-law had one and when he died my cousins got it. It had fluid drive (like the 41 Dodge my father had) and was an absolute gutless wonder. I spose if ya put it on a modern frame with a newer Mopar drive train ("that thing got a hemi in it?") it could be a pretty kool cruiser.
r On 12/2/2010 8:12 AM, Jim Dos wrote:
That looks like a pretty solid project. My uncle and aunt had a 4 dr model of that year, with the I8 auto. Don't remember too many details, but remember getting to drive it around the trap shooting club grounds to move it out of the way once.Grandfather had a 51 desoto.. how I wish I could get that back and hot rod it.*From:*elky-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:elky-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *John Christensen*Sent:* Thursday, December 02, 2010 5:29 AM *To:* elky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx *Subject:* [elky] Re: OT (as usual) 1953 Chevy floor pans Lets face it, you would buy this one just for the hood ornament. JCOn Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 11:01 PM, Ray Buck <rbuck@xxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:rbuck@xxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:Now there's a man who "gets it!" It's a dumpy car, 6v electricals suck, a babbit-bearing 235 would REALLY suck, but it's got character. I wunner how a 292 and a Saggy or Muncie 4-speed would fit in there. I could learn to like something like that.I've been lookin at other things on eBay and there's one that makes me consider takin out a loan: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1951-PONTIAC-CHIEFTAIN-2-DR-67-FIREBIRD-OHC-ENGINE-/280594512702?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item4154bc7b3e <http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1951-PONTIAC-CHIEFTAIN-2-DR-67-FIREBIRD-OHC-ENGINE-/280594512702?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item4154bc7b3e>A 51 Pontiac Chieftain 2-dr with a (get this) Pontiac OHC 6 motor included. Oh, satan...get thee behind me...and don't push...well...maybe just a little.rps. I haven't even looked a Buicks. There are a coupla Olds and Caddy projects that look interesting.On 12/1/2010 7:30 PM, Jim Dos wrote:That actually looks pretty decent. Way back when, my folks had a 53 or 54 ,, traded in 59.. seems the battery always was going flat, and it got traded off.. probably back in the 6v days.. if it was like the 50 IHC pickup I used to driver to school.. oh, those were the good bad ol days, LOLLike I said, my neighbor made a heck of a neat hot rod out of his 53 when he put a v8 into it. Would make a real cool rat street rod.j*From:*elky-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:elky-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> [mailto:elky-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *Ray Buck*Sent:* Wednesday, December 01, 2010 6:56 PM *To:* elky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:elky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> *Subject:* [elky] Re: OT (as usual) 1953 Chevy floor pansVery interesting. If ya look at the fender skirt photo, it appears to have had a whole lotta bondo that's been applied over not much at all and has cracked.Nonetheless, this would be very nice if it was available at a reasonable price. I'll put a watch on it and see what happens.Right now (this time of year) isn't a very good time to sell "recreational" cars...especially right before Christmas.I talked to the car's owner and he's gonna send me a buncha photos. He's relatively young (early 30s, I'd say) and this was gonna be his first attempt at a "hot rod." He's not very knowledgeable about a lotta stuff...either that or he's the best "dumb actor" I've ever run across. He doesn't know if the motor spins or not. He doesn't know much about the drive train other than it's a 3 on the tree and has a torque tube style driveshaft and rear end....the stock stuff...and that it goes into neutral and rolls around easily.I think there's a front wheel bearing gone on the left side...Jim and I ran into that problem last year with the "Redneck Special" trailer we built...they use ball bearings instead of rollers and they're VERY easy to break (I speak from experience.) and it seems to me that if ya put too much torque on 'em, ya break 'em an if ya don't put enough on 'em, they rattle around and break themselves. But they built millions of cars with 'em, so it's probably something I just don't know how to deal with.Windshields are available for it, so that's not a major issue (although those I've found aren't cheap, but I may still have an "in" here locally with a glass company.)One other thing: it has a real live, current title. Better than some I can think of.I'll know more when I get more photos. r On 12/1/2010 3:53 PM, Mary McCarthy wrote: you might want to watch thishttp://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chevrolet-Bel-Air-150-210-1953-Chevrolet-Rat-Rod-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem4aa6ad3e26QQitemZ320623951398QQptZUSQ5fCarsQ5fTrucksRules: Please play nicely with others. -List members page (text & pic links): http://www.myelcamino.net/eclist.htm -List members page (all pics): http://www.myelcamino.net/ec_list.htm
