Roy Brizio
South San Francisco, California
1955 Chevrolet 210 Sedan
Drivetrain
As a guy who endorses the "put a Ford in your Ford" motto, Roy went with the obvious choice when it came time to choose a mill; he had to put a Chevy in his Chevy. The engine started as a ZZ4 short-block and was sent to Edelbrock to have some performance enhancements. Edelbrock added its camshaft, aluminum heads, and dual-quad intake and carbs along with an MSD ignition. The dress-up goodies came from Billet Specialties (Tru Trac serpentine system), Edelbrock (finned valve covers), and Mooneyes (air cleaner). Sanderson is located right next door to Roy's shop, so the company was the easy choice for a set of headers, which is backed with a pair of Edelbrock mufflers. Roy builds his cars to drive, so a Tremec five-speed overdrive and Strange Engineering 3.70:1-geared 9-inch will make it fun and great for long hauls.
Chassis
Roy knew right away he wasn't going to mess with the old chassis and ordered a new one from Art Morrison that has been designed to bolt right in. The GT Sport chassis came with Morrison's IFS, Strange coilovers, 2-inch dropped spindles with 13-inch Wilwood disc brakes, and rack-and-pinion steering. The rear suspension consists of a Morrison four-link and coilovers locating the Wilwood disc brake-equipped 9-inch.
Wheels & Tires
The wheel-and-tire combo is the most uncharacteristic element of the '55. Roy worked with Glen at Billet Specialties to come up with the perfect modern version of a wheel he would have wanted in the '60s, and the result is a custom one-off set of billet wheels (17x8s and 18x10s) resembling '62 Corvette wheel covers. In keeping with the "modernized" traditional theme, Roy had whitewall tires (245/45R17s and 275/40R18s) custom made by Diamond Back. The sidewall is actually so narrow that they couldn't fit the traditional 3/4-inch stripe, but had to go with a 5/8-inch whitewall.
Body & Paint
The body was treated to some subtle mods once all the rust and rashes were removed. The hood ornament was removed and the hood was peaked and louvered, and a new Danchuk grille surround was filled with a custom grille and flanked with custom marker lights. The bumper was filled and brought in tighter to the sectioned front pan. The decklid was smoothed and the rear bumper narrowed, filled, and tucked in closer to the body. The custom-mixed Brizio Gold paint from DuPont really ties the whole package together.
Interior
The interior needed to carry on the smooth and simple theme. The first thing to go was the clock "hump" on the passenger side of the dash and then the heater control panel and the radio hole were filled and the glovebox was moved to the center of the dash. Custom Classic Instruments auxiliary gauges were added in an engine-turned insert above the glovebox door, and a cut-down '62 Corvette steering wheel tops the ididit tilt column to match the theme of the wheels. Sid Chavers finished the upholstery in tuck 'n' roll, giving the car a little bit of '50s flair.