Todd used to command Quick Classics there, a modern rod-building shop set in a rural locale. After a flood erased most of his family’s earthly goods and snarfed the shop, he quit the car building biz and got a straight job and the bennies inherent. A good friend and a restless spirit, Todd couldn’t stay away from the Biscayne.
“Could I please finish the car?” he asked one day after it had done a two-year jolt in Compton. “I just want to see it done the way you’d want it.” Now it was not the best of times for me. Dealing out jing was impossible. Todd said, “Big Money, Benny and me would be honored to do it. Don’t worry about the dough.”
In return, the big orange Reliable truck brought them a dusty roller, albeit one with an interior already in it. All the sheet metal, the drivetrain, fuel tank, and the civilized systems, were in pieces or in boxes. It was theirs to reanimate. They fit an LS block along with a dummy T56 to ascertain pinion angle at the Currie 9-inch 3.89:1 axle. They had to smooth part of the firewall, install the Vintage Air HVAC system, hook up the Keisler hydraulic clutch, run the fuel lines, install Auto Meter gauges in a custom instrument panel, rewire most of the chassis, get the SSBC brakes to work, align the front end, reupholster the Corbeau bucket seats in vintage seat material, refinish the dashboard, and get it ready to rock and roll.
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The headers, 3-inch exhaust (Magnaflow muffs), and Be Cool cooling system had been sussed out elsewhere. Nicky Fowler at Scoggin-Dickey donated a complete front accessory dress configured for a Corvette--the Vintage a/c compressor is mounted low on the passenger side of the engine.
The engine is founded on a C5R race block, inherently stronger and with siamesed cylinders accommodating a finished 4.155-inch bore and 4.155-inch stroke to yield 451.8 cubic inches. Mark McPhail, ex-Chevy engineer and all-around troublemaker had Katech Performance build and dyno the package as a “harmonic balancer feasibility study.” Said vision was to produce more torque than horsepower. It’s big and not particularly gentle.