Printed in The American Tri-Five magazine in Volume 10 : Issue 2
Written by Jake Ankney - Part of a Series of Articles
Growing up in a family of classic car enthusiasts has been an absolute treat. My family's passion has led to so many wonderful opportunities. I’d like to begin this series of articles by introducing myself. I’m Jake Ankney, a third-generation classic car builder. I’m currently 25 years old and have been invested in the classic car scene for as long as I can remember. My parents' enjoyment for classic cars is what allowed them to meet in the first place. Some of my earliest memories were experiencing car shows with my family on sunny, summer days. It’s always been a treat to be surrounded by amazing classics and great people. I couldn’t even begin to count the number of photos of me throughout every stage of life at shows.
When I was six years old, my dad started a full frame off restoration on his ‘56 2-door hardtop. Watching him, I could tell the build was a passion project that he truly enjoyed. In the early stages of the build, I’d be out in the shop from time to time watching the progress and taking an interest in Tri-Fives. I vividly remember those late summer nights near the end of the project where we’d be out working in the shop well past sunset. I’ve always been so grateful that dad performed this build as I was growing up. It was a great opportunity for me to get involved by wrenching on his ‘56 from such a young age.
Over the summers in middle school, I would go up north and stay with my grandparents for a week or two at a time. During my visits, I would go to my grandpa Clayton's body shop. There I would learn about collision repair on modern vehicles and get hands-on experience installing patch panels and performing bodywork. Along with the collision repairs, I would have the opportunity to help with the classic car builds he had in the shop. Those projects would vary between his personal builds and work for clients. I will never forget the lessons and hands-on experience I gained through my visits to Grandpa Clayton’s shop.
Around this time, we had completed the frame off restoration on my dad’s ‘56 hardtop. Finishing that build allowed us to return to the car show scene. We had, of course, still attended them, but now things are a bit different. We had a fresh build to take to shows, a build that I felt a lot of personal pride having been involved in. I can’t even begin to recall the number of hours I spent polishing the chrome on dad’s ‘56. I’d happily jump in and shine everything up on the front end at the start of each show, even down to every slot in that grille. As the summer unfolded, I was getting more and more invested in the pride and joy that came from this hobby.
Now that dad’s ‘56 was complete, we began discussing the possibility of a project car of my own. While growing up I had heard time and time again that both my parents built their classic cars with their families when they were around the age of 15. I was bound and determined to keep that tradition alive. After months of discussion a project car opportunity fell into our laps. A Tri-Five community member and friend named “Hafrod” contacted my dad about a ‘56 4-door sedan project. Hafrod had put quite a lot of work into the project already, but wanted to sell the ‘56 to focus on his ‘55 build. We struck a deal and dad, Grandpa Jim, and I headed out west to bring the car home.
Having a build of my own was a dream come true. I would come home from school, finish my homework, and go straight out to the shop to put in a few hours on my ‘56. My goal was to finish the build in time for when I got my license. We performed a full frame off restoration on my sedan. The project was a great opportunity for me to learn about the details that I was too young to remember on my dad’s build. My grandpa Jim came over daily to help with the project. As I worked on my build I documented the entire project from start to finish online. It was a great way to be involved and a part of the Tri-Five community. When it came time for the paint and body work, it was all hands on deck with the final block and prep work. Then grandpa Clayton painted the car as an early birthday gift. By the spring of 2015, we had accomplished our goal, the build was complete!
Dad and I proudly took our ‘56’s to shows all summer long. Displaying both vehicles that were labors of love built by three generations. Our family was very excited to hear about the first Tri-Five Nationals being held in Bowling Green, Kentucky. When August rolled around, we decided to take my ‘56 sedan to Nationals. The event was an unforgettable experience. We met so many great people and had the opportunity to put faces to names/cars from online communities. Hafrod even drove out to enjoy the show and had the chance to see the end result of the project he had sold to me two years prior. Needless to say, the Tri-Five Nationals had cemented itself as a new family tradition.
The last build I want to talk about is the ‘56 station wagon we built for my mom. During the 2015 Tri-Five Nationals, my mom fell in love with station wagons. Dad and I were of course interested in performing another build. A few weeks after Nationals we found a solid ‘56 210 Townsman project in the hills of Pennsylvania. We all piled in the truck with the trailer attached and headed out to purchase the car. Mom wanted this ‘56 to be more of a drive, and we could utilize a handful of the driver quality parts that were left over from our previous two builds. I remember discussing the color scheme for quite a while. Mom really gravitated towards the 150 two-tone paint orientation. We brainstormed and developed the idea of building a 4-door 150 wagon, a model not offered by Chevrolet. The build was once again documented online, and the finished project made its debut in Volume 1 Issue 7 of this American Tri-Five magazine.
Fast forward to the current day and quite a few years have passed. In the time between builds, I’ve achieved a handful of life milestones. I graduated from high school, started and finished college, began my engineering career, became a homeowner, and married my wife, Jena. All the while we have enjoyed our trio of ‘56’s. Every year after I experience the Tri-Five Nationals, I return home itching to start a new build from my bucket list. Jena and I have spent our recent winters renovating our home, which has kept me occupied during those cold Ohio months. However, we recently finished our renovations and as expected the 9th Annual Tri-Five Nationals gave me the spark to locate my next project car.
Right off the bat I began searching for a ‘56 4-door hardtop. I knew I needed to find a car that was fairly complete. The sports sedans have dozens of unique one-off parts. I spent a good month scouring the internet searching all across the country. I had found maybe a dozen ‘56 sports sedans of varying condition. A few were 30 hours away, some were gutted and bare, and only about two or three were complete cars in a reasonable distance from home. Every time I would search, I kept gravitating towards a nearly complete Belair 4-door hardtop out west. My only concern was that someone had cut the leaf springs and removed the rear end. I knew this would make loading and transporting the car a bit more of a challenge. I spent the next week continuing my search, but I just kept going back to that car out west. I finally accepted the challenge, and we headed out west to pick up the project car.
This ‘56 hardtop was located about 3 hours east of where we picked up my sedan, so it was actually pretty cool getting to drive the same route 12 years later. Dad and I performed the 1,400-mile round trip in just 2 days. Nothing says a road trip more than driving straight through both ways. Once we hit the dirt roads on Saturday morning, we knew the car had to be close. Upon arrival, the ‘56 was already hooked to the tractor with the rear of the car elevated allowing it to be moved around and loaded. Thankfully I was very pleased with the condition of the ‘56, it was just as I had anticipated. We backed the trailer up, hooked the winch up, and used the tractor to keep the rear of the car elevated during the loading process. Before we knew it, we headed back to Ohio with yet another ‘56.
We arrived back home around midnight. I knew the tedious part was yet to come. Before we could even think about unloading the trailer we needed to remove the damaged leaf springs from the frame. The next morning, Grandpa Jim came over and the three of us managed to get everything removed and a rear end mounted in place. I quickly learned how unforgiving the leaf spring bolts can be once they’ve seized themselves into the bushings. After throwing some rear wheels on, we could finally unload the car.
Almost every nut, bolt, and screw on this ‘56 has not been touched. The car has been very well preserved. Based on the stories the seller told me; the car had been sitting for well over 30 years. Thankfully, every 4-door hardtop exclusive piece is fully intact and in good condition. Even the plastic B-pillar covers have held up very well. The car has been fully disassembled and is well on its way to becoming one of the dreams from my bucket list. I have some pretty big plans in store for this build. However, I need to get the car structurally sound before the project can evolve too much.
I’m looking forward to publishing articles related to the progress of this build. It’s a great feeling to be back in the shop, building yet another Tri-Five. My wife Jena has been showing an interest in lending a hand and learning throughout this build. I’m also very fortunate to still have both my mentor figures, grandpa Jim and grandpa Clayton, out in the shop with me as well. It’s an absolute blessing to have them be a part of this project. They, as well as my dad, have taught me everything I know about building Tri-Fives, metal fabrication, and body work. This ‘56 4-door hardtop will be going through a complete frame-off restoration and of course will be getting many of our signature touches. In the next article, we’ll be diving into rebuilding the frame…
