Get In Your Garage – May 2021

It’s been a year – and a long one at that – since Goodguys first launched its Get in Your Garage campaign. Rodders and enthusiasts across Goodguys Nation have embraced this initiative with open arms and open garage doors. You’ve regularly and consistently shared your projects, progress, setbacks, and successes with us. We thank you for all of your submissions to date.

As we emerge from the winter, it’s becoming apparent how busy some of you have been in your garages and workshops. You’ve used your time well and we’ve seen a number of new projects that should be ready to hit the streets this season. The variety and selection of car and truck builds you’ve shared with us is certainly impressive – and inspiring.

This month’s Get in Your Garage showcase includes a little bit of everything, from early hot rods, to classic trucks, ’50s cruisers, muscle-era pro-touring machines, and much more.

Let’s keep this going, shall we? Please continue sending us your Get in Your Garage photos and information so we can keep sharing all the cool builds coming together across the country. Simply email us at [email protected] and use Get in Your Garage as the subject line. Feel free to attach several photos, and please write a few sentences to give us a little background on you and your vehicle. It’s always interesting for enthusiasts to see what projects others are working on – and we hope it helps provide the motivation and encouragement they might need to continue making progress on their own projects.


It looks like there’s plenty of work happening in Ken Hart’s Washington-based garage! He tells us his ’53 Chevy wagon on the lift is in the process of getting an LS swap, while the frame on the floor is for a ’51 Chevy and has been updated with a Mustang II-style IFS and a small-block V8 – it’s just waiting for the body to be reattached. “Looking forward to more shows opening up,” Ken says. “I attend a few each year all over the West Coast.”


Ruben Segura has owned his ’68 Cougar since he was 15 years old. Following a 10-year hibernation at his parents’ home, Ruben has been diligently working for more than a year to revive the old cat and get her purring back on the road. He’s documenting his progress both on Instagram (@camilathe68cougar) and on YouTube and has made a ton of headway.

It will be a sure-footed feline thanks to a new TCI independent front suspension with coil-over shocks, and a Heidts independent rear suspension out back. Wilwood brakes all around will ensure plenty of stopping power. Ruben built a fresh small block engine for the Cougar prior to its extended storage and says he plans to get it back on the road using that engine.

Much of the initial metal and bodywork was done in Ruben’s garage, while the final bodywork and fresh Avalance Gray paint was handled at a local shop. It’s contrasted nicely by a bright red roll cage inside, where Ruben has also installed Soundshield sound deadening material and a Ron Francis wiring kit. At the rate Ruben is going, this cat should be prowling the streets again in no time!


Bill Thomas sent us a photo of the ’71 C10 that sits in his Modesto, California garage. The truck has just 56,000 original miles on its stock inline six cylinder, which Bill says still runs perfectly. “I haven’t had the heart to make it an LS yet,” Bill tells us, though he did have the heart to update the truck’s appearance. “I couldn’t handle the ugly green original paint, so I painted it chrome yellow.”


Herb Wyeth says he has been working on his ’65 Chevy C10 for a little more than two years and hopes to have it on the road this spring in time for the Goodguys Nashville Nationals at the end of May. It has a Scott’s Hotrods chassis, a 502c.i. big block Chevy with ProFlo 4 electronic fuel injection, and a Tremec six-speed transmission. There are a number of body mods under the dark gray paint, including a wing on the tailgate and bed sides, shaved gas fill hole, filled stake pockets, and bed-side exhaust outlets. We’re looking forward to seeing it on the road this season, Herb!


It’s always inspiring to see during-and-after photos of successful hot rod builds! Paul DeFilippo’s chopped ’34 Ford five-window coupe is a great example. It’s hard to ignore the blown small-block Chevy power in this beast, especially with those coated zoomie pipes hanging off the sides. Paul says the project took 14 years to complete. “I have been building this car in my mind most of my life,” Paul says, “and after many years I’ve finally completed it.”


Bill Cameron sent us some photos from Niagara Falls, Canada of his ’51 Chevy pickup project, which he’s been working on for a little over two years. Bill says he used an EZ Chassis Swap kit to put an S10 frame under the truck, and then added a 355c.i. small-block Chevy engine backed by a 700R4 transmission. An IDIDIT tilt column and Painless wiring harness are a few of the other pieces used to assemble this pickup so far.

Bill gives credit to Ryan Restorations of Welland, Ontario for the metal fabrication, bodywork, and paint on the truck, and says that Triple K Upholstery will be handling the interior soon. Looks like you’re getting close, Bill – hope to see this truck cruising down the street soon!


The term “barn find” gets used pretty casually these days, but it seems pretty legit when referring to this ’65 Corvette Jeff Spradlin discovered last year. “Car was buried as you see,” Jeff says. “Took me and two other guys a long evening to find it. Best we can tell, it was last driven in 1980, 57,700 miles on it.”

The roadster still has its original fuel-injected small-block engine. “Inside of engine is clean as a pin,” Jeff says. He tells us he plans to perform a full body-off restoration on the car and hopes to compete in the NCRS Top Flight category and maybe Bloomington Gold, as well as bringing it to the Goodguys Summit Racing Nationals in Columbus down the road after it’s finished.


“It is winter in Montana, and where better to be than in the garage,” says Ron Petrie. Ron tells us he’s a first-time rod builder at age 67. He’s working on an old-school Model A highboy under the watchful eye of Gary McGraw, who Ron says is “arguably the premier Flathead builder in the Northwest.”

The project features an original ’30/’31 body with a 4-inch top chop. It sits on a Blackboard Hot Rods ’32 Ford chassis. The Flathead engine, built by Ron and Gary, is a warmed-up ’49 Ford V8 with a 4-inch Mercury crank, reground cam by Clay Smith Cams, Offenhauser heads, and Stromberg 97s. Gary machined the adapter for the T5 five-speed transmission. The radius rods are severely reworked units from a ’41 Ford farm tractor and the rearend is an original Culver City Halibrand quick-change. Wheels are genuine 16-nch bent-spoke Kelsey Hayes backed by Ford brakes with finned ’59 Buick drums. The interior is getting a ’39 banjo steering wheel and ’33 Dodge gauge cluster.

Ron says the aim is to do as much of the work as he can, with guidance from Gary and the other members of their local hot rod group, while using original or hand fabricated parts as much as is practicable. Ron hopes to have it on the road in time to drive it to Bonneville in August.


Mike Kern emailed us several photos of his Pennsylvania-based Model A coupe project, along with some great background information.

“Since I was in my teens, I wanted to own an old-school style street rod,” Mike says. “I am now in my early 60s and still have the same desire. A friend of mine gave me a heads up his dad’s Model A was going to be up for auction. I attended the auction and thought if I’m doing this it’s going to be now, so I purchased the Model A, a 1930 coupe.

“I started the build but as you can see, I have many hours yet remaining ’til completion,” Mike continues. “My thoughts were to use a small-block Chevy but after I drug it home and my son saw it he commented it would look good with a Flathead. I liked the idea. The Flathead is an 8BA coupled to a ’39 Ford top-loader three-speed transmission. I’m running the original closed driveshaft and Model A banjo rear. I am using a ’32 grille shell. I have an F1 steering box I’m modifying to install and have installed Lincoln juice brakes for a more comfortable stop. I have an Offenhauser two-carb setup that gets bolted on for fuel delivery and hope to purchase a set of Offenhauser heads. The black paint is PPG single-stage urethane. The rear is rolling on 16×6-inch wheels and the fronts are 15x5s. It is an interesting, fun project. It’s like putting a puzzle together but the pieces are from different puzzles.”


Mark Woods sent us this single image of his Lobeck-built Deuce roadster – one of the last cars to come from the late Barry Lobeck of Lobeck’s Hot Rod Shop. The Brookeville-bodied Deuce is stretched to accommodate a 572c.i. Chevy big block, which is bolted to a Gearstar 4L85E transmission. Power goes to the rear via a John’s Industries 3.56:1 center section housed in a Winters 9-inch rearend. Polished 16×12-inch ET III rear wheels are paired with 15×6-inch Billet Specialties rollers up front. “Danny Tesar, who was the fabricator, told me that this was the ‘baddest’ car to come out of Lobeck’s,” Mark says. “Danny is co-owner of Precision Hot Rods and Fabrication in Ohio. How I came to own this car is another story. All I can say here is, ‘Thanks Mike!’ Miss you, my friend.”


James Grable didn’t send us much information about his Falcon sedan delivery, but it appears to be recently painted and ready for reassembly. “After 36 years it’s finally on track,” James says. “Wasn’t bought as a retirement project but [stuff] happens!”

Editor, Goodguys Gazette

Damon Lee began snapping photos at car shows when he was 10, tagging along with his father to events throughout the Midwest. He has combined his passion for cars and knack for writing and imagery into a 20-year career in the automotive aftermarket, writing for titles like Super Chevy and Rod & Custom and, more recently, working for respected industry leaders Speedway Motors and Goodguys Rod & Custom Association.