The Dreamcatcher – 1953 Chevy 2 door hardtop.

 

Behind every classic car is a story, and this one is no different. When Dad dragged home this 1953 Chevy, we all laughed. Mom was angry because she wanted a couch – in fact she was so mad that she wouldn’t even come over to the shop for two years.

 

1989

Actually he dragged home 3 cars for $500. The one pictured here is the one that became The Dreamcatcher.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A fresh coat of primer after completely stripping and repairing, frenching the headlights, peaking the hood, re-designing the taillights, etc. I guess at this point the car was around about 1 year.

 

 1991

 

Dad did the original paint job on this car. The new paint job is a little darker than this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every great American car needs a heart. This one shown here was the first engine he built for it. 400 cubic inches of Chevy small block. I think he bought the manifold at a swap meet about 1987. He built the carberation units from Rochester 2 barrel carbs with some modification and the linkage. Today it is a 350 Engine, principally for gas mileage.

 

 

 

All of those grill teeth did not come from the factory, but since Dad grew up hot-rodding cars in the 50’s – this is how they did it back then.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taken at a car show about 1992.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one shows the car in its present form. You can see the homemade fender skirts. The way he made those was by cutting the fenders off one of the old cars and flipping them over because the curve is an exact mirror image.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More than anything, he just loves to drive it. This is probably around 1995.

 

 

 

 

 

The only thing that matters in this photo is that little decal. It reads “If you see this car on a trailer, call 911 – it’s stolen.”

 

 

 

You can see that he added a Continental Kit to it and extended the bumpers. I think it looks way better like this than it did without it.

 

 

This car has two different personalities. Dad built it for the kids as you can see. This was around 1999.

 

 

This is what happens when a mechanic retires. I think what amazes me more than anything about it all is that not only did Dad build it all himself – he built the parts himself too. Over the course of this time he’s also built about 10 others for people here and there.

 

He goes to a lot of shows with it, Mom loves it, and he re-built the garage around it so he had a place to put all the trophies he’s picked up along the way. People are always dropping by to say hi, get a little information here and there on how to do things, or just hang out. He won’t sell it for $50,000, so I guess it’s here to stay.

 

And Mom finally did get a new couch too.