1952 Chevy Bel Air - Time Trip

Denny knew exactly what needed to be done and, in six months, the body was painted and mounted back on the frame. It was now Fall, 2002, and Larry was ready to put the rest of the car back together. He used stainless steel bolts throughout, then added the front fenders, hood, and grille before wiring it (paying close attention to detail by hiding all the wires in the engine compartment).

New glass went in, as did the remote door and trunk locks, one-piece California bumpers, steering column and brake assembly from a 1967 Pontiac GTO, a Corvette master cylinder, seven-inch brake booster, a Pioneer sound system, seats from a 2002 Buick Regal GS, and American Racing Torq-Thrust II wheels.

He then drove it to Todd Wolter's Upholstery Shop in Lake Crystal who stitched up the seats with Ultra Leather. Larry has always liked flamed cars but felt they wouldn't look good on a red car, so he told Todd to add hot licks on the door panels, in the rear window deck, and throughout the trunk.

That winter, Larry polished all the stainless trim for the car in his garage. "A shop had quoted me $2,100, so I figured, how hard could it be? I purchased a buffing wheel and some sticks of polish. What I soon learned was there was a definite learning curve in regards to polishing. I not only learned how to pound out dents that were already in the stainless, but also the additional ones that were made from it flying across the garage after the polishing wheel grabbed it out of my hands!"

By the summer of 2003 the upholstery was done, and Larry was trying to finish the car so he could get to a few car shows. In 2004, Larry went to as many shows as he could, and logged over 6,000 miles in his '50 in the first year (he's since racked up more than 19,000). His car also won the Minnesota Street Rod Association's Custom of the Year in 2004 and, at the Goodguys Great Lakes Nationals in Waukasha, Gary Meadors personally picked it as the "Goodguys Pick."

Most folks would be satisfied with getting a car to that level, but Larry, being a true hot rodder, wanted to improve on what he already had. So, in October, 2006, he decided to make an engine change. It all started when a friend let him drive his Corvette with a LS1 engine. He loved the engine's throttle response and power, and he figured he just had to have one. He soon purchased an LS1 and 4L60E transmission and had them sitting on his garage floor, ready to go in the '50. Larry, with his friend Gary Warmington, used Gary's new garage (because it had a hoist to do the engine swap) to do the work. Everyone told Larry that he was crazy to do the swap when the 406 small-block and 700-R4 was such a great combination. But he did it anyway, and the miles-per-gallon went from 15 to 24! "I think a lot of people are afraid to try a project using a computerized engine," he says, "but using Street & Performance's wiring harness it makes it easier. Not that we didn't have problems along the way. We got everything installed and tried to start the engine. It would run for two seconds and quit. I called Street & Performance and they told me it was the VATS. I didn't know what that was so they explained it was the Vehicle Anti-Theft System and I needed to have the computer reprogrammed to take that out. The computer thought I was trying to steal it! I sent it to Street & Performance and they also chipped it to get another 20 more horses out of it. The '50 drives, performs, and rides great!"

And Larry's car is definitely driven! He puts a bra on the front of the car and goes anywhere and everywhere (Editor's note: When Street Rodder took pictures of his car at the Goodguys Nationals in Columbus, Ohio, last year, he and his wife had driven it from Minnesota, part of the 1,890-mile round trip).

Larry's original time table on the build was less than two years but it ended up taking more than five. But now when he thinks back to his high school days and that '52 hardtop, it's just a memory, because what he has parked in his garage now is that car plus so much more.