lucky hanks

I am extremely honored to have this man spend a little time in my shop .Lucky Hanks is a fantastic car builder/ craftsman and any one whom has seen his work can attest to his skills,he has a gift that allows him to see how a problem can be fixed and done right!His attention to detail and his fabrication work has allowed him to build so many fine hot rods ,street rods and just cool driveable cruisers! I would love to be able to mentor under him and develope into a better builder! This man is the real deal!!!! Thanks Lucky!!

moe on da truck

da fixture has a fiberglass front cap that will tilt with actuators once the fab work is done.There has been 4 inches removed from the top and that's probably why Albert had a heart attack, he asked how many of these I'd done ....none was the reply !! But there was enough beer available so we dove in and only regretted it for a while! Some electric seats were donated recently and they will be really cool too ! Albert has a brand new bed for the truck and a custom made stainless fuel tank made by Gilbert's welding in Centerville Tn. This ride should be terrorizing your neighbor hood soon .

da 55 funky truck

Alberts making a little progress on the chop top 55, we sand blasted it roughed in some of the plastic filler and shot epoxy primer on " da fixture" man that big block "show"looks good between dem rails!Albert has boxed the frame and it has a 9 inch ford diff and mustang 2 front end with disc brakes to" whoo" the 460!Funny how a little primer helps the looks of a project .I hope the big boy will forgive me for not working on it for so long! Some times a little sabbaticle makes the heart grow fonder,so lets get busy... i still gotta mustang or 2 to do!

stuffing the pig with big block

The 427 is ready to stuff into the Nova, and it is kicking and screaming cause it doesn't want to fit !We are having a bit of a problem with the correct motor mounts the measurement of the stock frame mounts is 2 5/8 inch and the motor mounts are much smaller so on this night things were a no go!This left us all scratching our heads , so to the parts store we must go !! again!! It's been a constant battle between the engine shop and the body /fab shop.The engine shop guys are such primadonnas with such complaints as , you cant be sanding and shooting paint while I'm adjusting valves , stuff will get in the motor !! Such whining

the fab shop and the paint shop did a good job on the firewall all will fit nice and snug 1,but the motor shop sez ,heck we can just take a hammer to it if it needs clearence!!!!! Oh no!!

This guitar was done for a good friends son .Brad said his son was wanting to fix up this axe a bit and suggested perhaps some sort of eagle ,well i could not just stop there and added some flame design also.The orion silver base has black art work over it and the chanti candy was shot over that.Heck i liked it with out the candy,but it did give a cool effect

little art work

These hoods were done for Central Church in Collierville, they have made their youth room to look like an old garage and wanted some hot rod art to hang up on the walls.Mrs. Anne Clay was nice enough to allow me free reign on design except they wanted "252" on one that reflects a bible verse that happens to be the theme of the class.I enjoyed the design work and process throughout.The blue hood was completely covered in water drop effects and featured triabal flames /scallops and gold leaf crosses.The black hood has silver flames with streaks of different candy colors on them as well as shadeing.I hope to find time to do more for them !

happy new year to all !

Well we took a little time off to celebrate with family and friends,but now we're gonna hit it hard!Hot rod air has been taking their sweet time getting all the parts to us for the air and heat system ,This week we have mounted the heater box and are putting the hose block on the fire wall, its a nice billet piece that's going to look great surrounded by HOK oriental blue .I got a test panel shot for Mike to approve the colors and design for the stripes,hope he likes it!

Mike has been trudging away at the big block and will soon have it all buttoned up,then we will slip it between the fenders. Not to say there have not been a few stumbling blocks along the way,getting the right parts have been a big problem,and the second is keeping Albert out of the bottle, just kidding !!

Albert's Jeep (lite)

Well proving that guys can't leave well enough alone, Albert has decided to redo his jeep project and make it ....( Green! )so he's getting rid of the V-8 and is powering it with air !! Something he is full of ,hot air !This baby is really light, now it just floats through the mud.

installing the front cap

Here we go installing the fenders and hood for its trail fitment .It seems as if these parts have a mind of their own one side fits well but the other is jinxed !these parts often times have to be removed and installed several times to make it all correct and make the gaps on the doors and hood appear right!The L-88 hood is a steel one that will really make the nova bad ass!!Once all the ftting is done we'll blow it all apart and then i'll paint the fire wall so we can install that beasty 427!

nova undercarraige and assembly

Well lets get back two the big Nova Ive, finally got the front sub frame and under carriage painted with POR-15 and their chassis black product.It is a nice satin black, similar to the factory look.I got all the new ball joints and control bushings installed and painted,and got all new brake parts.Mike and I installed all of these and it looks sharp! The big boy also sprung for the good Russell stainless steel flexible brake lines a really nice touch , no more spongy rubber lines! The rear mono leaf springs were re-arched and new big block coil springs , so the pig will ride nicely.Mike decided to get rid of the 10 bolt rear axle in favor of a 12 bolt with a nice posi -unit and he just had to have nice shiney c clip eliminators to help make it safer when applying gobs -o-torque .Now some new shocks to round out the whole picture and soon we will have a roller again !In between all of this mike has been trying to insulate the trunk floor with a rubber foil backed material .