Most loyal SRM readers will be quite familiar with the name Bobby Alloway and the cars his shop, Alloway's Hot Rod Shop, has built over the years. The shop has won numerous awards, including the prestigious America's Most Beautiful Roadster award, and the Ridler award at the Detroit Autorama, and designed one of the most popular aftermarket bodies in street rodding-the SpeedStar coupe. But, while the boys down at Alloway's are well known throughout the hot rodding community for building cars such as their latest for Van Tyler-a highboy '33 Ford coupe (SRM, Mar. '08)-their shop has always been peppered with equally built post-'48 hot rods.
Take Bobby's personal ride, a '49 Ford convertible on an Art Morrison chassis with a 460ci Ford Racing Parts engine. Or the 502ci, big-block, Chevy-equipped '59 Impala they built for Chuck Rowe. Add George Lange's Alloway-built '56 Ford Skyliner with its 514 ci of Ford power into the mix, and one can start to discern the type of cars built at Alloway's; regardless of the year, make, or model, they're all hot rods in their own right.
Bobby's got an ace up his sleeve if those three examples are not enough to impress, for one of the company's latest post-'48 projects is this '55 Buick under construction for Texas-based Doyle Thomas. Introduced through trimmer extraordinaire Paul Atkins, Doyle was a fan of Bobby's big-engine, high-performance recipe, so Doyle jumped at the chance to have Bobby put together the old Buford. Enjoy the sneak peek of Doyle's Buick before we show you the finished product in a future issue of SRM.
The crew started tearing out...
The crew started tearing out the offending sheetmetal once the body was in bare metal. The entire floor, trunk, firewall, front, and rear wheelwells were completely removed.
Bobby starts every build by...
Bobby starts every build by mocking up the body with the intended wheels and tires, setting the desired ride height, and determining the custom chassis dimensions from there.
With the chassis dimensions...
With the chassis dimensions determined, the specs were sent off to Art Morrison Enterprises where a one-off chassis was built. Once completed, the reinforced body is set in place and construction of the floor can begin.
The entire floor is fabricated...
The entire floor is fabricated using 10-gauge sheetmetal, including the firewall and transmission tunnel. The end result is a completely smooth floor that is incredibly stiff.
The stock '55 Buick dash was...
The stock '55 Buick dash was replaced with a '57 Oldsmobile unit and modified to fit the confines of the Buick. The stock defrost vents were deleted, the dash smoothed out, and climate vents were also added.
Moving rearward to the trunk...
Moving rearward to the trunk area, the stock wheelwells were split and widened to accept the larger wheel/tire combo. That hump in the center of the kickup is to clear the big Winter's quick-change, a performance cue carried over from Alloway's highboy builds.
Many of the stock '55 Buick...
Many of the stock '55 Buick design elements, such as the taillights and rear bumper, were replaced with '56 Buick units.
The 10-gauge treatment was...
The 10-gauge treatment was continued under the hood where new inner wheelwells were fabricated to clean up the engine compartment and shroud the massive 502ci Chevy mill.
A larger radiator was necessary...
A larger radiator was necessary due to the installation of the big-block, requiring some rework to be done to the upper support area.
Below the reworked radiator...
Below the reworked radiator support is a '54 Buick grille and bumper, giving the '55 that unmistakable Buick faade.
Headlight eyebrows and buckets...
Headlight eyebrows and buckets from a '55 Chevy will be grafted onto each fender, disguising the Buick's heritage even more slightly.
While the stock Buick trim...
While the stock Buick trim will be retained, Bobby opted to move it up 4 inches to bisect the three portholes on the front fender.