We love gassers around here.
We love ’em even more when they’re lucky enough to be rescued from a series of boxes and assembled out of a collection of parts—pieced together like some massive automotive puzzle.
And when you coat the whole thing in a stunning emerald green paint job?
Well friends, that’s a veritable Lot Shots pot ‘o gold!
That’s exactly what we found when we spoke to the owner of this stunning 1956 Chevy gasser that rumbled into the Summit Racing Retail Store near Akron, Ohio early last fall.
The owner tells us the car was purchased in pieces, all stuffed into boxes and crammed into an overflowing garage. “It took us three pickups and a car hauler to get it out of the [previous owner’s] driveway,” he laughs.
From there, all those boxes we sorted and cataloged, and a massive restoration/restomod project began.
“I’ve had it now about four years,” he reports. “We took it off the frame, rebuilt it, mini-tubbed it, re-set the springs.”
Under the Chevy’s tilt cowl resides a built 454 big block Chevy. “It’s a little warmed over,” the owner explains with a wry smile. “It’s got a cam, re-worked heads, stuff like that.”
…And judging from the sound of the exhaust, we think he might be sandbagging a bit on the build specs.
He goes on to describe some other upgraded performance parts, namely with the cooling and suspension systems.
Perhaps more impressive than the engine bay is the body itself, meticulously straightened and smoothed, then coated in a nigh-perfect paint job—done in the owner’s garage, no less.
“What I like about it, is the all-steel front end,” he reveals. “Everybody thinks it’s fiberglass because of the tilt, but it’s steel.”
The owner explains that the factory front sheetmetal was used not only to preserve some originality, but also to maintain the car’s straight body lines—a nuance that’s often lost with a fiberglass clip conversion.
Though the work here is beyond clean, the owner just grins and assures us he’s not a professional by any means. “It’s just a hobby for me,” he says, as he ducks behind the driver’s seat to head home.
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