Some guys build a new rod or custom every few years; others craft one and keep it forever. The latter option may sound a little boring to the former group, but there are advantages to hanging on to a ride for the long haul. First, you can rebuild it every so often to suit your changing tastes, and each time it's kinda like getting a new set of wheels. Plus, you never have to utter the words, "Boy, I never should have sold that car!"
Brandon Meddock has owned this '56 Chevy for 16 years. It's the only hot rod he's ever had. It was also his first car, purchased with the help of his parents, Ken and Geri, when Brandon was just 14. Even then he knew a '56 Chevy was a cool ride; he particularly liked the versatility. "It could go from a dragstrip look to a conventional street rod look," Brandon says. "Also, the details were interesting, like the gas filler in the taillight."
The car's first rebuild, completed in late 1990 by Brandon with help from mom and pop, could be dubbed "Pro Street lite." It had a stout 327, TH350, Guards Red paint, black interior, and 10-inch Center Lines stuffed in place without wheeltubs. Nothing too noteworthy by today's standards, but it was nevertheless a very cool high school driver for Brandon. Not only that, he had the foresight to keep the Chevy when he left home for college; he just stored it in his parents' garage to await its next incarnation.
It's worth noting that Brandon studied industrial design, with an automotive emphasis, at Academy of Art College in San Francisco. That led him to Southern California and a career as a clay modeler, first in Ford's design studios and now at Honda. Education and career refined Brandon's design sense; so did a growing interest in traditional hot rods. All of it influenced his Chevy's second coming.
Oddly enough, it was a '46 Ford-a Fresno-area rod with no hood, triple carbs, and a red firewall he remembers seeing as a kid-that Brandon kept thinking about as he tore into his '56 again. "I knew it was going to have whitewalls and steel wheels," Brandon says. "I also knew it had to have a white firewall with stickers." A theme was slowly emerging. Brandon calls it a "late-'50s, early-'60s drag car look." We prefer to think badass backstreet brawler.
Many of the ingredients were already in place. The stout 327, for instance, merely needed fresh gaskets before being dolled up with vintage-style Edelbrock valve covers and dual Carter AFBs on a Weiand intake. Ditto for the TH350-all it required was a more appropriate Lokar nostalgia shifter. The black Naugahyde upholstery with red piping worked with the new theme, too, as did the owner-built rollcage.
The key changes came outside. Brandon tackled his first priority quickly-spraying the Ivory-colored firewall (a key factor considering that he often cruises the car sans hood). Flames had also entered the equation, but not just any fire would do. Brandon wanted period licks with fat, tapered outlines. To achieve the desired look using single-stage paint, Brandon sprayed the black pinstripe first, then laid down the Guards Red and India Ivory, overlapping the black slightly with both. This left a clean pinstripe edge once everything was color-sanded and buffed.
As striking as the flames are, they're almost overshadowed by the plain-Jane wheels (we can just picture the guys with 20-inch billet rollers shaking their heads in disbelief). Somehow the gloss black steelies help complete the Chevy's "incomplete" persona-that no-nonsense, just-back-from-the-dragstrip, don't-mess-with-me demeanor that oozes from every seam. McGaughy dropped spindles and 2-inch lowering blocks do their part to enhance the surly attitude with proper altitude.