Red Raving Beauty
Words & Photography by Julia & John Aschenberg
Some women love to receive jewelry for holiday gifts, birthdays, anniversaries or any other special occasion. For a car gal, they love a different type of jewelry...the kind you cannot wear. For a car gal like Linda Keel, her favorite piece is her '55 Red Raving Beauty. When she and George got married their marriage vows were not the traditional kind. In Linda's own words, "Our vows were a little over the top:' George had promised to love and cherish Linda along with building her a '55 Chevy.
In order for George to keep his promise, he knew this project would begin when he retired. Right before retirement he started searching for a '55 for Linda. They found her car in DC, located in a garage so small that Linda wasn't sure how the car ever fit inside. Even though the '55 had no motor, no tranny, no interior or bumpers, and had most of the chrome missing, it was a gemstone to Linda. She was so excited when they got the double nickel that Linda called all four of her sisters. They all responded with the same "What do you see in this car?; to which Linda responded to each with a single word, "POTENTIAL!"
On the way home with the car, Linda asked George how long the '55 build would take. His reply? "20years". Being the car people they are, they continued to attend various auto events. At one particular show Linda approached a gentleman and asked him how long it had to build his ride, to which he responded "one year." George now knew he was not looking at a 20 year window to build Linda's Red Raving Beauty.
George had originally wanted to build a rat rod. Linda's tastes were different. She wanted bright shiny wheels, red paint, the luxuries of a new car and to fit in with the big boys at car shows. At that point George started calling Linda's car the "Money Pit." Linda knew however this '55 had stole his heart before it began stealing from his wallet.
Every vehicle needs a solid foundation to get it down the road. The Keel's decided to use the original factory frame and install new, updated suspension components. Before the new hardware could be bolted on, their good friend Willie Eustace made all the necessary modifications, took care of the sandblasting and coated the frame with Eastwood Extreme chassis paint. To get the nose out of the air they installed Heidts 2" drop spindles along with CPP tubular A-Arms and Edelbrock adjustable shocks. 31 spline Moser Axles with a 3.70 gear were fitted in back. The 2" drop rear springs were pocketed along with relocated rear shock mounts to allow for wider wheel I tire combos. Binding down the Red Raving Beauty are Willwood 4-piston Dynalite brakes with 12" rotors. The final touch are a set of Billet Specialties, Rail Wheels wrapped in Nitto rubber.
Getting Linda's car down the road is a fresh Chevrolet crate 350 pumping out a conservative 330 hp using an Edelbrock intake and carburetor, accented with a Johnson's Hot Rod Shop custom air breather. A set of Jet Hot Coated Headers by Hedman dump into a custom stainless steel exhaust system with Flow Master Mufflers installed by Custom by Rogers. A Griffin Aluminum radiator keeps everything cool under the hood. A little engine bay dress up is courtesy of Billet Specialties universal wire looms, oil breathers, and their Tru-Trac Serpentine system. Transferring the power out back is an '84 Chevy Turbo 200 tranny, assembled by Keller Performance Automotive who added a B&M 2800 RPM stall converter. Driveshaft mods were made by Jamie's Driveshafts Inc.
With the chassis complete, the next project was the body. George and Linda decided to team up again with good friend Willie Eustace. Willie started tackling the custom body work by creating a one off hood from 2 separate hoods and removing the bird. To give the '55 a slick look, the front pan was molded into the front fenders. The firewall and trunk were smoothed and all emblems along with the license plate bracket on the rear deck lid were removed. The blocking, final prep work and laying on of the DuPont Dragon Fire Red paint, was cared for by Brian Elliott.
Turning to the interior, Linda and George decided on leather when covering the bow tie's seats. They turned the '55 over to Kurt Underwood's Upholstery located in Spotsylvania, Virginia. Kurt covered the seats in a Camel colored hide along with the custom door panels. The floor is covered with a plush brown wool weave to accent the leather interior. Other amenities include the custom built overhead console, the Flaming River column dressed out with a Billet Specialties Rail steering wheel, and Belera Tan Series gauges from Classic Instruments. When Linda needs something to listen to other than the exhaust note, she can push her tunes out of a Custom Autosound's Secret Audio sound system.
Linda's only criteria for her '55 was to have the car built to her specifications so her Tri Five would be unique to her. George has fulfilled his promise and helped create a beautiful car unique to his wife. Now that it's finished, Linda said the most satisfying thing is to stand back and look at her car knowing what they started with. Linda said, "It's truly amazing that you can take something that looks like it is ready for the scrap yard and turn it back into something so beautiful."
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