1951 Chevy Custom’s Only a Minor Threat

51 Chevy Custom SoCal Cruiser

Two staples of Southern California are its top notch custom car scene and its abundance of sun-drenched females with golden hair. So what better way to showcase one of SoCal’s most recognizable custom Chevys, Ian Berky’s Minor Threat, than with quintessential SoCal Beauty Tara Studinger.

With several famous early 50′s Chevys produced in SoCal where the culture’s roots spawned, owner/builder Ian Berky has managed to redefine what was possible and raise the bar for any post-war era Chevys that follow. Even more impressive, this was Ian’s first crack at it! Imagine what any future builds may have in store…

The Chevy was a Christmas gift from Ian’s wife, proof that yes, there are still good ones out there to help fill the garage, not complain about whats in it. When she bought the car the roof had already been chopped, but Ian would soon learn the chop was a hack job and the work that lay ahead would have caused most to throw in the towel. Eventually coming to the realization the top just was not replaceable, Ian tracked down a few parts cars in Whittier and bought a complete ’49 Chevy top to replace the mangled iron on his ’51.

With no shortage of metal work on his hands to put a new twist on an old classic, Ian enrolled in a metal working class hosted by none other than custom car legend Gene Winfield. Not only would the knowledge prove vital on molding in the fenders, rounding the edges of the grill opening and fabricating a custom grille, but along the way he established a friendship with one of the culture’s originators. Since this was a radical build plan in the making, Ian made sure all the traditional modifications had been addressed; shaved handles, nosed front, decked rear, and frenched headlights before he would send the car half way across the country for some beauty tips.

Eighteen months went by before the metal and bodywork was complete. Then Ian sent the rolling metal canvas to Premier Body & Paint in Arkansas City, Kansas. The plum color was mixed and shot by shop owner and Beatnik C.C. member Jeff Myers. If the name sounds familiar it’s because Jeff’s work has adorned some of the most award-winning customs of today. Look closely and you’ll catch a glimpse of the subtle, purple metal flake scallops running the length of the top of the front fenders. Then, you’ll truly recognize Jeff’s talent .

If you can take your eyes off Tara long enough… in the interior you’ll notice white and paint matched tuck and roll across the front bench and custom rear bucket seats. The theme carries across the headliner as well with purple piping trimming the seats and roofline.

Under the hood a SBC dressed with finned valve covers, finned breather and chrome alternator keep the engine as aesthetically pleasing as the shapely exterior. Performance enhancements such as an Edelbrock intake manifold and 4bbl carb dismiss any misconceptions that the 51 may be all show and no go. No shortcuts were taken with this build so why start in the engine bay?

Since Ian’s plans for the Chevy never called for long trips strapped to a trailer, the suspension was upgraded with a Mustang II kit up front and Gambino taildraggers for the rear. A shortened 9 inch Ford rearend offers additional reliability for cruises or road trips and the wide whites (at least what you can see of them) tuck nicely into the front fender wells and are completely hidden out back when the skirts are on and the Chevy’s laid out.

Since building the ’51, Ian’s had no shortage of requests from friends and new customers to apply his touch to their rides. After taking one look at Ian’s Chevy, can you blame them? I was fortunate enough to see Ian’s ‘51 first hand at Texas’ increasingly popular custom show the Lone Star Round Up back and April. It looked right at home next to several already famous customs from various Beatniks C.C. chapters; quite an accomplishment for a customizer that truly honed his skills during the build.

Ian hails from Burbank, a city most famous for its movie studio lots where some of today’s most popular young stars can often be spotted. However, there’s an older one running the streets of Burbank now, 60 years old to be exact, that’s sure to steal the spotlight from any of them without ever saying a word.

Photos by Trent Sherrill

Model Tara Studinger

54 Chevy Truck – 9 Years in the Making

1954 Chevy Pickup -Chopped and Dropped

Author and Photographer: Mike Harrington

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. A truck is a truck, right? It’s meant for only one thing, to be beat to death on the local farm or sentenced to a life of hard labor. If only the designers of the ’54 Chevrolet truck could see how this one fared the test of time. They just might pass a peach pit. There’s a nifty little story attached to this former hay hauler and it all began south of the border and we’re not referring to the Mason Dixon line.

Decades ago Mateo San Martin, living in Mexico, pieced this truck together one part at a time. Almost like that Johnny Cash song and just like the hot rodders here in the USA – a scrounged part here and there over a span of time had the truck all back and working again. Only this truck wasn’t built for any aesthetic reasons, it was built to handle life’s daily chores and experience more hard labor. But things don’t always work out the way they were intended… sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad. In this story definitely for the good.

A few decades later the truck ended up in the USA and was now in the possession of his grandson George San Martin. There were no dreams of turning it into a stocker farm truck when George was around. Hells Bells, not even close! Chopped, dropped, shaved and customized. That’s all George could envision. He was still too young to drive it, but why let a technicality like that stop you?

The way he tells us this story, he’s had the truck for going on nine years now. Nine years of planning, nine years of collecting and saving parts. Nine years is enough time for ideas to revolve, evolve and dissolve in the minds eye. Obviously when he was still a kid the customizing work was pretty stagnate. Even in high school, the custom Chevy truck was still in the construction stages, but not many high school kids these days drive a ’54 Chevy truck do they?

Once High School was over and George settled into his career, the money situation made it easier to pursue the ideas floating in his mind. George’s father and grandfather helped in the rebuild process of the 236 Chevy inline six. In his own words, the head has been “milled to the max” with forged rods, stock crank, .60 over pistons and an Offy dual pot intake. Forget the Hydra-Matic transmission, a ’67 Muncie four speed is more fun to drive, and that inline six, when properly rapped, will send the decibels out the tailpipes and modern car alarms will be howling like banshees for an entire city block.

Of course it takes an entire crew of friends when it comes to customizing any vehicle. Jim Savage, Steven Aviles, Gabriel Aviles, Sergio Nevarez, Ernie Valle and countless other helped to drop, chop, shave, weld, paint and suicide the truck.  While George claims that the vehicle still is not entirely finished, he says its pretty close and will soon be done. Our question is: Are they really ever finished?

Before this story comes to an end, one thing we wanted to point out is the unique interior of the truck. The dash and instruments, with a mix of Stewart Warner gauges for good measure, come from a 59 Chevy Impala, the steering wheel is a cut down ’60 Chrysler wheel, the bucket seats are from a ’65 Chevy Impala, and of course, the tall shifter is hand made. We can’t wait to see what it will look like when George declares it “finished”.

Here are the rest of Michael’s great photos including more of this lovely lady. Who is she?

One Truck, Two Men, and the Third Coast

It all started with a phone call.

Justin Higley of Phoenix, Arizona, had built a few trucks in his day, but nothing really crazy. He was barely getting into the scene, and little by little he dipped his toes into the water of customization. Soon he had a few trucks under his belt, but nothing that really made him satisfied. He needed more.

Enter Kevin from BNC Offroad and Third Coast Customs. Kevin’s a master builder, and has been putting trucks in the sky for years. Third Coast Customs is the fabrication side of things, making custom suspension kits for mass production and sale, while BNC Offroad is the retail side of the puzzle, installing those same kits, as well as selling other miscellaneous accessories. From lifted to lowered, the BNC crew can do it all.

Kevin was looking to build himself a truck for the new show season, so he needed something special. It was around the time that the first 2007 Chevrolet Silverados were rolling off the transports, so he bought himself a brand new crew cab.

Third Coast specializes in independent suspension lifts, and Kevin wanted to go big with the Silvy – at least 16 inches. As the project progressed, he ended up pulling another 2” out of the suspension for a total of 18” of lift.

It was around this time that Justin contacted Kevin. Justin knew that BNC was legendary for building some of the highest quality trucks on the market, and he asked Kevin if any of his customers were looking to sell their trucks. Turns out none of them were, but Kevin would consider selling his new crew cab, he just had to check with the wife.

She wasn’t picking up what he was putting down. No, Kevin’s wife wanted him to keep the truck, so he continued along on the project, building it the way he wanted to. Problem was, Justin wouldn’t stop. With the persistence of a rabid dog, he kept after Kevin, calling him week after week, begging him to sell his truck.

Eventually, every man has his breaking point, and Kevin finally gave in and decided he’d sell the truck. The sale though, would be on his terms. He only told Justin that he’d be building him a 2007 Silverado, and that it would be big. The colors, the style and the overall design would be of his own doing. With a handshake agreement, Kevin went to work.

As previously noted, the truck has an 18” suspension lift that Kevin at Third Coast designed. The kit drops down the upper and lower control arm mounting points, as well as the transfer case. Up front a pair of Bilstein shocks with remote reservoirs cushion the ride from a set of taller coils. The back is a similar design, also utilizing the Bilstein’s and coils, but the axle is held in place by a parallel four link with a watts link keeping the axle true from side to side. This combination gives the truck an excellent ride, but also lets it handle really well too. For a truck with such a high center of gravity, it cruises down the road and through the corners with the ease of a sports car. The entire suspension was powdercoated black and complimented with an orange to really set things off. Also hidden underneath the truck is a one gallon air tank that powers a trio of air horns that will scare the crap out of anyone who dares to tailgate. Of course, the 22-inch XD Series wheels with 40-inch Toyo MT open country tires certainly don’t hurt in the style and lift departments.

Since at least for a brief period of time this would be Kevin’s shop demo vehicle, he wanted to be sure that everyone knew who built the kit. Since the suspension shop is Third Coast Customs, the roman numeral three became a key piece in the design. Scattered throughout the suspension are stylized III’s in all shapes and sizes. You can find it above the rear axle, in the front suspension brackets, as well as in the graphics on the truck. It’s also noticeable in the light bar/luggage rack that is mounted above the back part of the cab. Those 5 lights are 10-inch Pro-Comp HID lights, and they can turn darkness into light pretty easily.

Paint work on the truck really sets it apart. The guys at BNC took over and laid a custom orange flake over the top half of the cab, with a stylized silver stripe separating the untraditional design. Of course a III is prominently displayed in the paint too, helping to form the start of the design itself. Other nice touches on the exterior include a billet grill and a super trick license plate frame camera. The interior is a bit sparse, but the factory materials certainly don’t make it Spartan. Stock black leather and in-dash navigation up the high class level in this ride, with plans in the works for a full stereo.

When Justin took delivery of the truck, he had no idea what he’d be getting. Now that it’s in his possession, he’s doing his best to show the truck off and make it a showpiece. Justin and his wife are now opening up a clothing shop in Phoenix named Wink Boutique, and the ’07 will be spending its time up front drawing people to the door. It’s funny how things can come together for one project, but in the end, sometimes it’s all about the math. One truck, plus two guys, equals one crazy Third Coast Custom.

Rare 1976 Chevy Cosworth Vega Twin Cam Gets Salty

Bonneville Salt Flats Race Car:

While at World Finals at Bonneville on Friday, I was cruisin’ the pits looking for cool cars.  I spotted the little red Vega with its hood up and the small crew busy working.  I walked over and just started watching and listening to the sweet Cosworth powered twin cam engine.  I did not know anything about the rare Cosworth Vega (only about 3500 total built during 2 years of production), but I left with the interesting basics.  The owner/driver Frank Sloan from California answered all my noobie questions and left me wanting more.  Luckily, his “Cosworth Vega Owners Association” decal had a website that can give you the history of the Chevy.  The concept actually started out as early as like 1970 or so.  The Chevy Special Projects group (Chevy Racing Dept.) wanted a hot little econo-rod to compete with BMW’s 2002ti and Datsun’s 510.  Original designs called for a 2.0L twin cam, 16 valve aluminum head and block built by the Indy car engine builder Cosworth to make around 185hp.  After having smog certification test failures, the car was late to the market and only showing 110hp.

Back to Frank Sloan’s Bonneville racer shall we.  Frank’s Vega used to race in SCCA road races in the late 70′s/early 80′s.  Frank picked it up and with his hot rod tricks, the car is making somewhere around 260hp naturally aspirated. He has to keep it that way, because he runs in the G/PRO class (G = 1.51-2.0 Liter engine, PRO = Production car).  Oh, and Frank just set a new class record on Saturday during World Finals, at a 2 run top speed average of 156.818 MPH, raising the record about 3 MPH, which was set back in 2001.  And get this, the little 4 pot of fury shifts at 9500 RPM.  Oh ya!!!  You can see from the pics, it runs a wicked tubular header that exits in front of the front tire, has a very big throttle body/intake manifold setup built by “BJ’s Racing Manifolds” and is using SDS (Simple Digital Systems) tuning equipment.  Its running Crane Cams camshafts recently reground to about 256 degrees when the engine suffered some internal damage, and some where around 13.5-14.0 compression.

I tried to snap some interesting photos of Frank and his “crew chief” who I failed to get a name for.  Sorry man!  You can see in the pics below that his crew man is checking valve lash under the cam lobes with feeler guages, and removing and replacing the valve cover.  It’s weird to see all the valvetrain (springs/retainers/followers) underneath the cams instead of on top like modern DOHC engines.  Remember, this design is over 30 years old and with modern tuning, Frank and crew more than doubled its factory power rating.  If I remember correctly, the factory top speed was 112 MPH.  Frank has added about 44 MPH without touching aerodynamics, besides a lower ride height.  He can only change gear, tire diameter, ride height, tranny and engine.  Nice work!

Doesn’t the little Vega look like a smaller Chevelle?  The bummer of this car is it sold for only $600 less than a brand new Corvette in its day.  Way to go Chevy Marketing.  It touted up the Cosworth Vega by saying “Buy one Vega for the price of two!”  What?  Dude, what were those Marketing guys smoking back in ’75, “man”!  ha ha  It’s too bad.  Small 4 cylinder lightweight sporty cars went the way of front wheel drive by the mid to late 1980′s.  Chevy should bring back the Cosworth Vega by changing the Cobalt from front wheel drive to rear, keep the SS’s turbocharged 260hp 4 cylinder and call it the Vega SS.  Now you’re talking.! Then, the Marketing department can say “Get a Corvette for half the price!”.  Sign me up!

Frank, thanks for sharing your passion with me.  Also, thanks for racing this rare piece of Chevy history instead of letting it sit in a Museum!  Oh, and p.s. thanks for the Chocolate cookie!  Another example of the fine people you’ll meet on the Bonneville Salt Flats, they’ll even share their cookies!

Hechtspeed