DECEMBER 2012
I grew
up in North Dallas at the intersection of Forest Lane and Greenville Ave. I was
the oldest of four boys. (no stinkin' girls!) My dad had a good knowledge of
cars which I guess is where I got the car thing from. My uncle bought the ’55
from the original owners who purchased it new from Mohr Chevrolet in Dallas. I
still have the chrome dealer plate. Well as time went by, the car eventually
needed a valve job and my uncle was not good with cars. So my dad stepped in
and traded my uncle a ‘66 Chevy wagon for the ‘55 and $500.
The first mechanic job I can remember doing was pulling the head of the 235
straight six and taking it to City Motors for freshening. We then rebuilt the
wheel cylinders and brakes, put a new exhaust with a single cherry bomb on it
and then took it to be painted at Earl Shieb's. It was originally a dark
green/light green two tone paint scheme. We painted it all white and put brown
vinyl over the green seats. It still had the big steering wheel and the three on
the tree.
My mom
drove it for a couple of years. She used to take us to our soccer games at
Richland College or Fritz Park. All our games where at different times, so the
rule was to either come watch your brother play or wait at the car. Well.. we
decided to wait ON the car, with our cleats! I can remember climbing on the
roof to get up high and find her off in the distance. I can still hear the
engine hood go "fa fump" after we got off of it. We would chase each other all
over that car. I am sure people driving by just shook their heads when they saw
what we were playing on.
I
started driving the car when I was 14. By the time I took my driving test I
could parallel park it and drive it backwards as good as I could drive it
forwards. I took my driving test and when I finished the trooper said the only
mark against me was that I didn't down shift coming to a stop. Who knew..I did
that on my motorcycle but not in my Chevy.
Then
I
started driving it to school. I used to have to park it on a hill so I could
push start it (the starter was bad). I took it to Grapevine Lake once and the
wiring harness shorted on the firewall hole and I had white smoke everywhere. I
found some old speaker wire in the road and re-wired it on the spot to get home.
I
graduated from Lake Highlands High School in 1980. I went right to work for a
mechanic in South Dallas called Lopez Automotive. It was a favor my dad called
in for me. I had a gift to tear down and fix most anything. It was that fall
that my dad bought me the V8 motor. He had seen a ‘56 Chevy truck body and the
man selling it told him he had a motor for it that had just been rebuilt. My
dad bought the motor and brought it to the garage. We set the Chevy up in the
back and he and I worked on it for a week. Finally it was ready to fire up and
when we did a thick blue smoke came pouring out. This motor was actually the
one the seller had taken out of his 1970 Chevrolet truck. So we pulled it out
and the rebuild began.
I had
it bored .30 and went back with TRW forged crank and pistons at 9.5:1 stock
compression. I didn't want it to ping. I milled the heads .10 and put an
Edelbrock Performer intake on it with a Holly 600. I used an Accel dual point
distributor along with 1957 "ram horn" manifolds, high volume fuel and oil pump
and the original 2 core radiator along with the 3 speed transmission.
Then
on New Years Eve night 1980 I painted it candy apple red over silver lacquer.
Since I had taken a hack saw to the rear fender wells and pulled out the lip of
the opening I decided I wasn't going back original. I had decided to put a "pop
top" in it. The owner of the body shop, Big Simon, said "come back to the back
and I will show you something". My father and I went to the back and under a
tarp was the back half of a 1974 Lincoln Continental with an electric moon roof.
$600 later the moon roof was in my car with a button on the dash! I have not
seen another 1955 Chevrolet with an electric moon roof yet. The paint job came
out great and the car glowed. When it was finished I took the car and my
girlfriend to White Rock Lake for a cruise. I had just hit the road along the
lake when I guy ran out into the road waving me to stop. He pulled out a tripod
in the street and put his camera on it and took some pictures. He told me he
was with the UNT paper doing a story on "Cruising White Rock". It was so cool!
I had a friend who was riding his bike on the other side of the lake and he said
that he could see my car's paint job and knew it was me so he rode over.
Well I
made it to the next summer and I had to replace the clutch. So I put an 11 inch
Zoom. I had to drive on Central expressway to and from work, so I had the
strongest left leg in town. By now three of the four boys where driving and
I came home one day and the drive way was full. So I parked out in the
street...across the street to be safe. Well I jumped in the pool and next thing
I remember was the phone in my room ringing. I picked it up and it was my
mom..strange..she said "Philip...it's your car!" I threw the phone down and ran
through the house dripping wet to find my car's rear end had been crushed. My
brother was late for work and jumped in his 1956 Chevy 3/4 ton truck and threw
that baby into reverse and pulled out of the driveway without looking. BAM! My
mother told him to "Get out of here" and then when he was a safe distance away
she called me.
I
cooled off and ended up buying a ‘81 Chevy Silverado Truck. I had the body work
on the ’55 Chevy done to fix the damage but with payments and higher
full coverage insurance I couldn't raise the money to paint it. Well 9 years
later my high school reunion was coming up and I convinced my wife to allow me
to spend the money and have my cousin paint the car at his shop in Plano. It
took him almost a whole year and he cut some rear fender wells out of a spare
1955 Chevrolet he had and we painted the car 1990 Corvette Red using Deltron and
added a Violet Pearl in the clear coat. That is the paint job it has on it
today. I have always been able to keep it in the garage but for the last year
it has been outside. I bought a 2001 BMW 740IL to turn and sell and the
transmission went out on me and I haven't had the money to get it fixed. Not a
good situation.
Ruby still runs good but I would love to do a rebuild if I could. I have
three teenagers and I have built two cars for two of them. The youngest loves
the old cars. I am lucky to still have her and once she is cleaned up she looks
good from 20 feet away or zooming down the road. I still get the "thumbs up"
signs too. I love this car and it has always been my first love..but my wife
Adelita is my inspiration. She is the reason why I didn't paint it midnight
blue like I always wanted..but blood red.
I give
praise to my God and use the car as a conversation piece and in ministry. With
my church in Frisco we had a ministry called I55. Whoever invited the most kids
to youth that week would win a ride in the ‘55 from school and a stop at Sonic
on the way home. We would park in front of the school and roll out a red carpet
and make a big scene, passing out cards and talking to kiddos while the 200 watt
stereo was blasting. Great fun and we brought some kids to the Lord in the
process. That I believe is why I still have the car and can share this
testimony with others. Thank you and Peace to you and yours.