Undiscovered Builders is Sponsored by Amsoil
For the 2016 Summernationals Car Craft has again called out for undiscovered builders to step up and be counted. We’re giving them some love to showcase their builds and to spotlight their unique talents for a boost to launch them toward their dream of building muscle cars for a living. Yes, we know that’s a crazy, but not unobtainable, goal for all of these builders. Or maybe it’s not. Here’s one of the five we are featuring:
Chad Davis
Van Meter, Iowa
1968 Olds 442 ‘Vert
Chad’s a car guy, and is known in his neighborhood as being such, so when the older dude across the street wanted him to help estimate what the old convertible hidden in his garage forever was worth, he reached out to Chad. Chad got lucky. When this 97,000 original-mile 442 poked out into the light, he told the owner, “You figure out what it’s worth, but I want it.” He never knew this was sitting within spitting distance of where he lives. The neighbor bought it originally from North Carolina, and then drove it only another 20,000 miles over a few years, so rust damage was minimal. Though decent, the green paint, parking lot rash and grime had to go, and so a rotisserie resto took the better half of three years of night and weekend thrashing. This is a numbers matching 400 ci, 4-speed, air conditioning 442 ‘Vert, a pretty rare combo. Chad fixed the rust, and then covered the body in base/clear VW Carbon Steel Gray. Midwest Machine in Des Moines rebuilt the original 10.5:1 compression engine to stock specs with the exception being a .030 over bore and the Quick Fuel carb. Hedman headers and a Champion aluminum radiator are the only deviations from stock under the hood. Stainless exhaust by the owner runs out the back. The stock Muncie 4-speed was rebuilt, as was the 12-bolt posi, now sporting 11-inch Cadillac disc brakes. Up front 13-inch Corvette discs do the stopping, CCP A-arms replace the stockers, and QA1 coils bounce the corners.
With the encouragement of wife Belinda, Chad is on the fast track to building cars for a living. He wants his two high school-age kids to finish studies before jumping in full time. His plan is to start with a couple of his own cars that he can then flip once finished to continue building more, hopefully building up to a customer base of cars to do. He does a lot of work for friends now, when he’s not doing the 9-to-5 painting components for a tractor parts supplier.
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