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1982-2002: The Phoenix Rises I was emotionally and financially spent after limping home from the 1982 Nats. I parked the car in my father's driveway. That December he built a new garage; I helped purchase materials for it because I was going to have space to work on and store the Chevy. The 24-by-20-foot garage was completed in January. I borrowed a chain hoist and pulled the motor from the Chevy myself. I spent the winter and early spring working weekends on the car. The block was bored and everything was hot tanked and checked. I used the many articles I had saved on engine building as research materials for my rebuild. It went smoothly. I painted the block the car's body color, and repainted under the hood. My dad and I disagreed on the firewall color; he said white would highlight the painted block, chrome and aluminum under the hood. I agreed, but sure didn't want to have to try to keep white clean. He took a lot of pride in his work on the car, though I used to hear him tell passers-by "... I tried to tell Jimmie that engine would look better if that back part was white..." I dropped the engine back in and it ran well. I drove it around some to break it in. In the Spring I bolted on an Offenhauser dual quad intake and Carter AFBs, but my attempt at rebuilding them wasn't successful and they dumped gas like crazy into motor. I have photos of the dual quads and they looked fantastic; I pulled them and replaced them with the single Quadrajet. The motor ran flawlessly that year to the 1983 Car Craft Street Machine Nationals, as well as a variety of other car shows. I drove it back for the 1984 Nationals and then to St. Louis with my father for the 1985 Nationals. After my marriage in November 1985, I opened a small body shop. Work there pulled me away from my own cars. After my dad died in 1987 I closed the shop in late 1988 and went back to college to major in history and journalism. On graduation in 1992, I built a garage at our home for the Chevy. My new career in journalism took me away from my hometown, and the Chevy remained parked in the garage from 1993 until July 2002. See the "What's New" section of this Web site to see what's going on lately with the Chevy. In the years while the Chevy was garaged, I avoided car shows of any sort. I quit going to the annual Carl Casper Custom Auto Show. We moved around a lot during a 5-year period, and I didn't have a place to bring the Chevy to do any work on it. I never pulled it out of storage during that time, though I visited the garage a couple of times a year to check on her. The flexible brake line that runs between the body and the rear-end housing burst in 1988 and I never took time to fix it. While in storage, the Big O tires and Appliance mags feel victim to time and neglect. By 2002, all four tires were flat and the rims had significant rust (they had suffered quite a bit on the carport, where neighborhood dogs "marked" their territory). While the car was parked on the carport, I had cleaned my stuff out of my father's garage when his estate was settled. I left the Offy dual quad intake and Carter AFBs on the carport tucked away in a plastic storage box behind the car. While I was away from home during my return to college, the intake, carbs and other parts were stolen, though the car was not damaged. In many ways 2002 has become a year of renewal, both for me and the Chevy. There's lots of work ahead for myself and the car, and I am committed to working hard in both respects. Future plans include:
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