My Chopped '55 Suburban

[HBdirtbag]

New Member, showing pictures of my ride.

This was suppose to be a father/son project...got the car as a 14th birthday present, and plans were to put a motor into it and have it be my daily when I turned 16. Well, things got a little out of hand...don't think I drove the car until I was 19-20 for the first time. Since then it's had some downtime and some uptime. Took a few years to work out the whole "everytime you drive it something else goes wrong" scenario, and got neglected while we worked on some other projects, etc. Finally, it's been running real hard the last 4-5 years...put about 10K miles on it. Wife uses it for grocery store and costco runs, etc.

Car is chopped about 2-3" out of the windows and another 2" out of the crown of the roof. Rear door was a clam shell that we welded up and made one piece. Front end is a chubby chassis mustang II piece, motor is a 406" (mild motor, like to drive it way to much so some efficiency was required).

Given the car was built in the mid 90's...there's some stuff I plan on doing in the next 12-24 months. Will be bagging it soon, going to lay the frame (always been a big regret, just no one was doing bags back then....at least without the knowledge that you needed to keep an extra bag in the back because something would bust, etc). Also going with new wheels and tires. I bought these ones in '96 right when boyd went under the first time and they were the last set made. This is why you wait till you are done with projects for wheels...as I would have done an 18"/20" combo instead (these are 17's). Also going to redo the interior.....tweed needs to go Had been contemplating doing something new and leaving this one alone and as is, had been tossing around anything from a '62 cad, doing a '68 camaro pro touring....to a 964 911.....but have decided, this ones been my baby for too long and I'd rather get it to the point that I like it.

Car's been around, grew up in Southern California, just finished spending 3 years in North Carolina with it....now up in San Francisco. Car is driven multiple times a week, has seen rain, snow, hurricanes.....wife regularly uses it for costco and runs to the nursery...and it's always got two kids seats in the back.

Here are some pictures:

Before:














Other projects we've done:

'48 mercury wood (stock appearing, full hot rod underneath)
'58 Eldorado Biarritz
'66 Mustang Vert (resto mod)
'48 MG TC
'65 Sunbeam Tiger (full concours restoration just completed)
'72 Morris Minor (Doing a Honda S2000 swap on right now)

[mdpaulson1]

Hey HDDB
Welcome to the forum , your truck is awesome.
I talked to you briefly on main street in WC last year at art on the main. Wanted to see more of your project but the light changed. Anyway I live close to you, I'm in concord and just getting my 20 year project road ready. There is so much info and support here its incredible. Good luck!
Mark

[ChuckDriver]

Welcome! All I can say is WOW!!!

[HBdirtbag]

Originally Posted by mdpaulson1

Hey HDDB
Welcome to the forum , your truck is awesome.
I talked to you briefly on main street in WC last year at art on the main. Wanted to see more of your project but the light changed. Anyway I live close to you, I'm in concord and just getting my 20 year project road ready. There is so much info and support here its incredible. Good luck!
Mark

Small world, absolutely remember! Right at the corner of main and civic!

I was actually amazed when I got on here the other day and realized I had never signed up, I've been browsing for years I suppose.

BTW, i'm at a stage in my life where I hate doing work myself (HA!). Been looking for some solid shops in the area. I've used West Coast Mufflers for some stuff last week and was pleased. The guy I plan on bagging it is Hill's in Pleasant Hill. If you have any other recommendations let me know!

[mdpaulson1]

Yes it's a small world, you never know who's path we will cross. If you can, check out Chuckdriver's build thread. I wish I had that kind of drive and knowledge.
I haven't used many shops around the area, my truck is with an old friend that owned a shop in Pleasant Hill and now just works out of his ranch in Martinez. That way he can pick and choose what he wants to do. He has been a driving force to encourage me to finish my truck, after all I've only owned it 43 years. I am currently looking for a welder to help me finish up a few items, I have learned that I have limitations and one of them is welding, soon to go back to school to get better at it.

[_Ogre]

very nicely done... sometimes a project that gets out of hand is a good thing

[Iceburgh]

Holy $h*t that thing is incredible...... welcome to the forum

[mr48chev]

That is one good looking burn and personally I would not change a thing especially the wheels as those are the perfect size for a TF truck and bigger ones look rather silly with the low or no profile tires on those trucks. Not a fan of the laying frame "look guys I made my truck look like I broke it" look either. That is as silly as putting 22 inch rims on one as far as I am concerned.

Why change something that is pretty close to perfect as is just to follow fads that will change again before you get finished paying for the changes?

[HBdirtbag]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

That is one good looking burn and personally I would not change a thing especially the wheels as those are the perfect size for a TF truck and bigger ones look rather silly with the low or no profile tires on those trucks. Not a fan of the laying frame "look guys I made my truck look like I broke it" look either. That is as silly as putting 22 inch rims on one as far as I am concerned.

Why change something that is pretty close to perfect as is just to follow fads that will change again before you get finished paying for the changes?

Just different styles for us all. That's the great thing about hot rodding. It's something that's been in my head for many years to lay it down and do some 20's or 22's. But also it's a generation thing.....I'm still rather young (33)...and it's just been what i've grown up with. My dad turns his eyes to it, lol. His friends laughed at me when I started messing with imports in my teens while waiting to finish this....till i built one that started keeping up with some of their drag cars....all different strokes.

If I was to start this build fresh, it'd be sitting matte green on a set of white walls with mexican blankets covering the seats and it'd save me a TON of money

[67swb72klb]

Welcome! done very nice.. All I can say is WOW!!!

[HBdirtbag]

Thanks guys, it's been a fun car. Still amazed how much attention it gets and how timeless it's been. Other then all the tweed...the small wheels...and not laying on the floor.

We did some cool things that have really panned out....like the middle windows roll up and down....makes it easy to get the toddlers in and out of the car

Here are some pics I found a few months back that show some of the work that went into it

[Russell Ashley]

I wouldn't do anything with it but drive it, tweed and all. I like it. I hope you kept the GMC front end.

[HBdirtbag]

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

I wouldn't do anything with it but drive it, tweed and all. I like it. I hope you kept the GMC front end.

Oh, we drive the piss out of it. Kids to school 1-2x's a week. Grocery store 1-2x's a week. Just loaded 12 bags of top soil in it last weekend after it went to the city dump to do some recycling

I did not keep it unfortunately, a lot of stuff didn't get saved...and there's a lot of odd stories around this truck (shop that finished up the build caught on fire...my car "burned" and was a total loss later found it in a garage a few miles away from where the fire was, etc....)


Things wouldn't be fun if you didn't keep tinkering and changing stuff....I've had a few track cars...and always enjoyed breaking things....gave me an excuse to put better and more expensive parts in

[Donaldo]

Nice truck !!! Craftsmanship like that fits right in with the quality the list members can do -

[4DSEVEN]

Great looking ride, congrats!

[Kim57]

Welcome.
Very nice truck.
Kim

[youngrodder]

Great looking burb. I love the everything about it. Make the changes that YOU want and don't look back. After seeing your first attempt it looks like you know what your doing....Than again this is coming from another guy going for the "Hey guys looks my suspension is broken" with a 53 Suburban.

Keep us posted.

Marc

[HBdirtbag]

Originally Posted by youngrodder

Great looking burb. I love the everything about it. Make the changes that YOU want and don't look back. After seeing your first attempt it looks like you know what your doing....Than again this is coming from another guy going for the "Hey guys looks my suspension is broken" with a 53 Suburban.

Keep us posted.

Marc

Absolutely. Going against the norm is what hot rodding is about....hence starting this project and chopping a suburban back in 1995. We had always planned on doing a 56 F100 big window car. Had posters on the wall all through my youth (well F100's and chopped mercs...chopped merc will happen one day). Went through hemmings every month and one day came across my car in it in Missouri....I grew up going to car shows and swap meets on a regular basis growing up in Southern California, remember the first one when my dad made me walk and wouldn't push me in a stroller. I had never once seen someone hot rod a suburban, we grabbed it. Christmas that I year I got a brand new mustang II chubby chassis front end under the tree. After that...this insanity began.

We all have our tastes; i'm just an all around car guy that doesn't listen to norms. I've gone from this, to fast honda's (don't laugh, had a few that were bullets)..to a cammed GTO and now have calmed my nerves and drive a 7 series.

So with that said, plan on pulling the trigger on these early next week after taking some measurements (18x8/20x10). Will drop the front about another half inch and see how more I can bring down the rear. It's the one wheel where every year when I start a search for new wheels I narrow it down to...been doing that for about 6 years.

[Advanced Design]

Welcome and I too love your Suburban! Best part is you use it. Enjoy your time making the changes and please keep us posted.

[HBdirtbag]

Figured you guys would enjoy the other early suv we did this ones been done since probably 1993

[Advanced Design]

That is nice!

[ChuckDriver]

Very cool!

[HBdirtbag]

New shoes

[HBdirtbag]

.....

[Advanced Design]

Looks good!