Denise Sheldon's '47 Chevy ragtop was close to being finished when it was destroyed in a shop fire. While scouting for a replacement, she got wind of a '47 Olds being built in Wisconsin. The car had been in the works for a decade as a Rodder's Digest project car, but there was still lots left to do. What Denise wanted was a completed ride that she could start enjoying right away. Eventually, she decided that what she really wanted was this car, complete or not--so, in December 2001, she bought Big Olds.
The drivetrain was complete, but the interior, top, and windows were missing and the sheetmetal needed work. Without the money for all that, Denise decided simply to think of the black-primered car as a roadster, and drove it that way for two and a half years. But she knew the car deserved to be finished right.
In the spring of 2004, a bunch of Denise's friends from the Jalopy Journal's HAMB Internet message board pitched in to get the car closer to done. "More than 20 guys from all over the Midwest and Canada got together for one long day to work on Big Olds," she told us. "We repaired rust holes, filled the door handles, filled bumper bracket holes, started a peak for the hood, sanded, and primered." With the car looking so much better, Denise decided it was time to cover the primer with something shiny. Paint and bodyman Mike Howell (Hartsville, Tennessee) had followed the story of Big Olds in Rodder's Digest and approached Denise about tweaking the sheetmetal and shooting some paint. Denise's first color choice was copper, but after seeing so many other copper cars, she chose a '61 Olds color called Twilight Mist, which Mike mixed into a one-off tone he named Concord Smoke.
Big Olds isn't finished yet, but Denise has been working on garnish moldings and top bows in anticipation of a new top. The goal is to have the top, glass, and interior installed in early 2006, so that Big Olds will be done--that's right, done--in time for the Detroit Autorama in March.
Denise Sheldon
'47 Oldsmobile
Livonia, Michigan
Drivetrain
A car named Big Olds should have a big Olds engine. Jim Lucido built the '70 455ci big-block, naturally aspirated via a four-barrel carb. A Cadillac air cleaner with a custom-built finned aluminum top plate to match the finned valve covers dresses things up a little. The stock automatic was built with a Trans-Go shift kit. Rearend is a GM 10-bolt.
Chassis
The factory frame was built up with an '82 Cutlass subframe, rebuilt with a frontend kit from Moog. Steering U-joints and shafts are from Borgeson. Rear coils are from an '82 Cutlass and brakes were taken from a '70 Monte Carlo.
Wheels & Tires
A set of 15-inch steelies with caps and Coker whitewall radials are just the look the mild custom needed. The tires measure P225/75R15 and P215/75R15.
Body & Paint
The extensive bodywork made to Big Olds under Denise's ownership is a combination of necessary body panel fixing and cool custom modifications. Mike Howell got busy repairing the mismatched gaps and panels. The hood and trunk corners were radiused, with removed hood sheetmetal used to fill the cowl. The rear portion of the front fender extensions were also radiused. Rudy Ruedisueli added a peak to the fenders and headlight bezels to complement the look of the custom-peaked hood. A custom front bumper was made from two '47 Chevy fronts replacing the massive original, lowered to show off the grille, where the vertical bars were removed and the gaps filled with pot metal by Denny Lesky at Ionia Hot Rod. The rear bumper is '47 Chevy as well. Mike came back and shot the PPG custom paint.
Interior
As of Asphalt Ego-Rama, Big Olds' innards were still very much incomplete. The weary Cutlass buckets will be replaced by '47 Chevy seats soon, and upholstered in black. The modified original dash has been repaired, painted shiny black, and fitted with gauges from Classic Instruments' Hot Rod series. A banjo wheel turns on a '77 Cadillac column.