Built From Scratch
Words by Kyle Luebbe - Photos by Dan White
When Dan White was young, he worked for his father in the family's Flying A service station. Dan's dad was a handy guy to say the least. "I'm pretty sure my dad invented the chainsaw before there were chainsaws. When people would come over to the house my Mom would say don't look in the back yard, it's full of my husband's inventions," Dan said laughing.
All of those handy traits his father passed down would someday help Dan build his labor of love.
Dan enlisted in the Army when he was 17 years old. When he headed off to basic training and chemical weapons school he left behind a '57 4-door hardtop. Yes, Dan was already a Tri-Five guy at 17. He said, "Back then it didn't seem like anything special, it was just a car to drive".
Dan went on to serve in the Army for 6 years until he was discharged in 1973. He owned and ran the Adirondack Molding & Millworks in Peru, New York. It's a successful business specializing in products for the home such as roofing and doors and siding. Upon transitioning into semi-retirement, he had the chance to start fooling with cars again. "I messed around with Fords for a while," Dan said, "I had a few Thunderbirds, one of them I even won the Concourse De Elegance with, a '55 Bel Air Convertible and a '56 Bel Air Convertible but something was missing."
Not so long ago a friend of his purchased a convertible '57 Chevy and asked Dan if he'd have time to go and pick it up for him. Dan obliged and asked his sister if she'd like to make the trip with him. "We were coming up route 87 at night with the top down, there was a full moon... it's one of the best times I ever had with my sister:' During the drive, Dan realized maybe the car he owned at 17 was something special all these years later.
Armed with the skills his father passed down so many years ago, Dan decided to build a '57 Chevy Convertible from scratch, and aside from the paint and upholstery, he did just that.
Dan purchased a donor car for the hard to find parts from Albany, New York. "The body was in very bad shape;' Dan explained, "but the rest of the car still had some really good parts. The convertible roof frame, windshield chrome, seat frames and parts like the drive shaft, rear end, the stock wheels, dash pieces and even the window regulators were all intact:' To help with the most daunting part of the build, Dan thought it would be best to scrap the body all together and just start fresh with new metal. Dan had a '57 Convertible body built by Woody's Hot Rodz in Bright, Indiana. Dan mentioned "I was very impressed with the body, it was made to all the factory specs but you still have to have a certain degree of ability for working on cars. You can't just buy a body, paint it and slap chrome on it."
The donor car gave Dan all those nice pieces... but as it sat, the frame probably wasn't going to cut the mustard. Dan gave it some TLC and welded in all the extra mounts and X-bracing. Then it was sand blasted, primed with epoxy, and coated in Chassis Black. When Dan had his frame the way he wanted, he mounted his new Woody's Hot Rodz body to the frame and fitted his doors, deck lid, hood and fenders. Then everything was disassembled and painted. Dan explained, "Even though the body was made to factory specs you still have to adjust the panels and doors to get a good fit. I've done many frame-off restorations so I knew how to do it."
Dan had a motor built for this ride. A factory 283 that was farmed out to try and save a little time. He soon found if you want something done right, sometimes you just have to do it yourself. "I guess if I was to do it again I'd just rebuild the engine myself' Dan stated. "I had someone else rebuild it. I installed it and fired it up and it smoked like crazy. I tore it apart thinking it was going to be the rings but when I took the manifold off I saw that the intake gasket had slipped and vacuum was sucking oil out of the lifter valley under the intake:' One intake gasket later, the problem was solved... however, after being torn apart the engine did have to be repainted again.
When Dan hooked up the power steering on the '57, he used a 500 steering box with a rag-joint but he also used the original pump mounted on the end of the generator. Dan laughingly said, "When I called to see if I could get a nicer hose for it they said 'You can't use that pump with that 500 steering box: I said 'Too late, it's already on and it works great: I'm not sure if most people know they can use the original pump with a 500 box. By doing that it keeps your car looking as original as possible and it works great! It also eliminates all the control valve, hoses and hydraulic cylinders that are prone to leaks:' Dan shortened the steering shaft and added the rag-joint to help eliminate some of the road feel you get with the original shaft.
Dan wanted a bright, rich looking interior. Ciadella interiors provided Dan with plenty of color swatches to choose from. Ron's Auto Upholstery in Vermont covered the seats with the Red / White Ciadella vinyl, and Dan installed them himself. He's very happy with the way it complements the bright red PPG water base that coats the exterior courtesy of Trim's Auto Body in Morrisonville, New York.
We're pretty sure if Dan's father saw this beautiful Tri-Five pull into his old Flying A Garage, it would put a smile on his face.
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