If you have been following the 1A Auto Nutt’s and Bolts blog, you have no doubt seen the pictures of the 60 Pontiac Ventura rot box that is waiting patiently awaiting some love in my garage. If you are sick of hearing about it, I’m sorry, but it is weighing on my brain, and I need to get my thoughts straightened out. So yea, I have spent a lot of time recently trying to figure out what the heck I’m going to do with it. It definitely doesn’t make sense financially to restore it back to original, because you can easily find clean drivable examples for sale for less money than it would be to restore this (and that doesn’t include my 1000+ hours of my “free” labor.) That fact has definitely been established.
So my latest wild and crazy idea is to turn it into a 1930’s style hot rod. (Disclosure: Yes, I was somewhat inspired from Gary Campesi’s paintings from the other day.) Anyway, I would do this by cutting it up and shrinking the body into a 2 seater, almost like a T-bucket but with all the sexy 1960’s body lines. Then I would drop it on a home made chassis and suspension. I’d probably power it with something more modern like a 4G64, L92, 2JZ, or maybe a KA24DET. No matter which I choose, it would be backed by a manual transmission, because that’s how I roll. Wrap some giant brakes and big wheels around the whole thing, and I feel like it could be pretty slick. Other than the injected engine, I would keep everything super simple, no crazy options. Just simplistic beauty.
Unfortunately I couldn’t find anything similar on the internet (imagine that?), but these four pictures are the closest to the idea itself. Obviously none are 1960 Pontiac’s, but…. well…. you get the idea…
So what do you think? Stupid? Awesome? or just plain “no”?
Picture Credit:
Willys: http://randyellisdesign.com/photo-gallery/custom-fabrication/willys-hot-rod/
Gary’s amazing art : http://www.hubgarage.com/mygarage/GaryC/vehicles
http://ekhatch.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/rat-rod-vw-06.jpg
I encourage this behavior.
Gotta Luv da RatRod!
A newer car turned into a street rod…very cool. I’ve often thought about clipping the front of a VW off and mounting what’s left of it to a T-bucket frame. A early Camaro(67-68)might work also if you got the proportions right.
That would be an interesting animal for sure! You have my vote for starting the build! Also – Nice blog! You have some good stuff there!
Thanks for your positive comments on my blog(website?). Coming from someone who understands the work involved in maintaining and growing a website, makes it more meaningful.
love the idea except for the jap motor. a car like this needs a true hot rod power plant. think Big block 😉