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“You’ve seen the class act that is Dave Burt’s ’72 Plymouth GTX on this issue’s cover, but he’s got a more evil idea in mind — this tubbed and blown El Camino pro streeter”
As you’ve read in the article about Dave Burt’s Plymouth GTX, he pushed it into the corner for a few years to focus on his other love, a 1960 El Camino, but that build was only ever a stopgap. Here’s his real plan for the slick hauler:
“I have been throwing around ideas for this car. I bought it a few years ago with the intention of seriously modifying it, but it had a rotten floor. After fixing that and restoring the old Blue Flame six, I lost the appetite to cut it up, but my original concept still nags at me.
“It needs to be seriously lowered and seriously tubbed, so I’m thinking an Art Morrison chassis could be the way to go, as, that way, it’ll handle nicely as well. I want the rubber almost right up to the diff and the rear wheels buried up to the hubs, and would stick with a tough style of wheel as opposed to going for big rims with small rubber.
“Up front, it’d need a supercharged 572-cube big block, ideally all under the hood, but that might be damned difficult to achieve. Perhaps the best option would be a Whipple supercharger and EFI to keep it all slimline and nice to drive, despite it having huge amounts of power.
“These cars look great in matt black, so I’d go for that as a finish, which would be in stark contrast to how clean and tidy it’d be inside and under the hood,” says David of his concept.
Having seen what Dave’s done with the GTX, we have no doubt that this is one concept that will soon become reality!
LVVTA’s view
Justin from LVVTA says: “Although they’re far from being a cheap option, the Art Morrison — and some other — aftermarket chassis are becoming a popular choice for discerning builders looking for better handling by combining modern steering, suspension, and brakes packaged with a new, well-fabricated, bolt-in ‘replica’ of the vehicle’s OEM frame. Art Morrison doesn’t generally appear to specialize in frames for radically tubbed vehicles — it’s more focused on the pro-touring style — although they might be available as a custom order; or, you could opt for a local modifier to modify the rear chassis rail set-up to suit. As long as the replacement frame is a catalogued part number replacement for your vehicle, and fits within all of the boundaries in the ‘“Scratch-built” & “Modified production” definitions’ (check out Infosheet 02-2013 from the documents page on the LVVTA website) then you shouldn’t need to worry about the vehicle’s identity changing from a modified production to a scratch-built. If you’re not sure, I suggest that you get in touch with one of the tech team in Wellington before you press the ‘buy now’ button! The big block whipple/EFI combo should work well provided the rest of your driveline is up to the task. If you can’t squeeze it all under the hood, then just make sure that the sight-line requirements are met. You can find these requirements free in ‘Low Volume Vehicle Standard (External Projections)’ on the ‘documents page at lvvta.org.nz.”
This article originally featured in NZV8 Issue no. 141. You can purchase a print copy or digital copy from the links below:
