Even if you've only picked up STREET RODDER randomly over the past few years, you've probably seen something about Zipper Motor's lakes modified or our very own Project Lakes Modified Zipper built here in these pages. The series and the car turned out to be a smashing success; Zipper Motors had everything under control and the car's logged tens of thousands fault-free miles since completion-even a few long-distance hauls.
But that's no reason to just stagnate. Darrell Zipp, our brimmed 'n' bearded buddy in beautiful downtown Grand Junction, Colorado, just can't sit still long enough to let the moss form on him. Not too long ago, he called us to give us a progress report. It seems he'd reworked the little modified into quite the masterpiece. Project Lakes Modified was so well thought out it was hard trying to associate it with a first draft, but the way it sounded, everything for the past two years has been refinements thereof. We liked what we heard and he left the door open for us, so we buzzed out Rocky Mountain way.
At first glance, he coupled the car closer in the front, eliminating some of the gap between the grille and front axle. He also lengthened the doors and mounted them suicide to facilitate easier entry and egress. But that's just the start. He tidied up and remounted the springs; came up with a newer, simpler shock design; found another way to mount the exhaust; mounted the steering box with a heavier bracket; and even stiffened up the chassis with thicker tubing and a new crossmember design. Those were just the engineering items. For aesthetics he created a really cool-looking track nose, whipped up a turtle deck, and fabricated a drop-in interior kit. Did we mention the fold-up top?
For the grand finale, he even gave us a look-see into his next endeavor-a lakes modified coupe! That's right, boys and girls, a coupe. It seems Harry Bentley Bradley's lakes modified coupe drawing we ran in September '01's STREET RODDER really spun the Zipper out. He just couldn't live without it, so now he's in the process of sacrificing one of his lakes modified bodies to create a buck and ultimately a mold for a coupe body. It's not just a roof on a roadster, either. It's a little bigger here and there and features giant '33-34-style doors and hood cut line. And surprisingly enough, there's loads of interior space due to Zipper's new drop-in interior kit. So if the old Zipper lakes modified had you on the fence, this one's sure to bowl you over!