HOT ROD Garage | PEAK Auto | MotorTrend Exclusive

All right, so we are really close to starting our Peak 63 four-door wagon. This is not just a regular wagon, though. This is a special wagon. It is. Roser shop chassis, blueprint motor, gear start transmission. The list goes on. Yeah, so when we started this project, we wanted to try the extreme of building a car of basically buying stuff from a catalog, piecing it all together in the right order with the right parts, and seeing what we could do. Now, the Peak wanted this to be something that was very reliable, very well-engineered because it's going to be a roadside rescue vehicle. We also opted to do this because there was a lot to do here, and we didn't have that much time. Honestly, if the car was completely untampered, stock and original, maybe high mileage, maybe even low mileage, and you wanted to step it up a little bit, you would pull the body off the frame, have the frame sandblasted, powder-coated, bring it back, and rebuild the whole thing. What you would have then is a really clean stock and all-original frame. We've got an aftermarket frame, completely powder-coated, corrected geometry, tubular control arms, rack and pinion, all the amenities of a nice new car, and both of them, I think, were about a four-day gig. About four days to modify what you have to modify to put it on a roadster shop chassis. I don't know how many catalogs you'd have to go through to buy every little nut and bolt just to put it back together stock. Another thing is we had nothing stock to start with except for the stock original rusty bolt holding the body to the old rusty frame. So, just to recap, we took all of the old frame out, the engine out, transmission out, rear end. The only thing that's the same down there is actually the wheels and tires from the other one, and those may change out eventually too. Now, the fuel tank is in the body. We left the old fuel tank, but we replaced it with an absolutely perfect reproduction of an original tank. So, it's technically a new system. We have a couple more patch panels left. We have a little bit more plumbing, some power steering, and steering in general. We need to deal with the fact that we have two AC compressors here. Couple of hoses. Cooler. All of that good stuff. Radiator hoses. But regardless, that sounds like a lot. It's not as far away as it seems. And I think with just a little bit more work, we're out here at startup. There will be fire. Oh, wait. Not fire. Fire up. There will be fire up. Fire up. Fire bad. Yeah. Fire bad. Fire up good. Correct. All right. To work we go. Okay. So, they do make a lot of different vehicles with very similar body styles. This is a 63 Impala Bel Air. Very similar. The things that are different are the packages. If this was just a four-door, it would stop about here. There would be a trunk. All those moldings would be one design. Not this design. Another design. If it was a two-door, it would be the same thing with a different design molding. Guess what they only make one of? That would be a station wagon molding. So, this being a catalog build, we were able to go into a catalog, find a complete chassis. Went into a catalog. Found a complete motor catalog for a complete transmission. All the wiring. Everything attainable through a catalog. You know what you can't get in a catalog? Just the rear section of a four-door station wagon for a 63 Bel Air. Have you got one? Do you know somebody who has one? Shout me a holla. All right. While we are not at the point of firing up just yet, we have to be prepared for our desert adventure and having our peak wagon ready to go in all circumstances. So, I am a longtime Peak Squad member. Peak fan. So, they have probably more stuff than you even realize that they have, including sealed beam headlights. Now, I can actually attest to these. My 55 Chevy that I have at home, I went from the stock standard bulb headlight, and it was just yellow and dark, and I had to light a match, basically, to see if the headlights were on. Swapped over to these. They were great for drag week, which makes me fully confident that these are going to be great for the peak rescue wagon to cruise through any circumstances as it goes through power tour and drag weeks and things like that. Up next, wiper blades. Yeah. Uh-huh. Wiper blades for all applications. The wagon is going to get them as well. I can also attest to these. Have them on all of my vehicles at home. So, we're going to put them on this because if you're going through somewhere, maybe not the desert with rain, but if you're going through somewhere that has rain, you'll want to be able to see. Next up, speaking of stink, do you guys hate a dirty windshield? Because so do I. No, actually, seriously, it is one of my pet peeves. I get in the car and wash my windshield and then wash it again five minutes later, and then if a bug hits it, I wash it again. Really. Big pet peeve. So, we can't fill this up right now because we don't have all of our reservoirs for all of the peak fluids, but let me tell you, they got you covered. And then, of course, the last one, which you're most familiar with, antifreeze and coolant. So, that is going to go in here once we get a radiator in. But in the meantime, one thing that I can do is put in some new headlights. So, let's get to it. So, how tired are you right now? I'm not too tired, but I am tired of not finding the fitting that we need. I'm tired of looking. You know the one thing you can't find in the catalog? More hours on a Friday. That is a great point, which leaves us right here. You remember how Lucky mentioned the fact that we can't find that rear trim for this car? It's made of unobtainium. And so are Dash 6 ORB fittings when every shop in the city that might have them is closed. What's good? It is Friday. It is Friday, and we are legitimately down to one ORB fitting away from actually being able to finish this fuel system and starting with that. Just need to feed a little fuel to the pump. That's all we need. Is that too much to ask? Actually, it is. On a Friday? Yes, it is. Yeah. So, we are going to finish that out. We'll connect to that. But we can say we have made a lot more progress this week than we would have if we were piecing this all together and fabricating it on our own. Yes. With help from Roadster Shop, we were able to install rack and pinion steering, four-wheel disc brakes, completely articulating four-link rear suspension, adjustable transmission crossmember, front suspension with upper and lower control arms, everything powder-coated. Yes. And with the help of Blueprint and their crate engine, we were able to already have all of the pulley system installed, all of the bellets on, we have the fuel injection on, we have all of those little fittings that take a lot of time already found, installed, sealed up and ready to go. And with help from Gears Power Transmission, we were able to install a drive shaft and connect all that horsepower to the rear differential. And it was all super simple. Now, the rest of that, we had to cut the floors up. We have most of the patch panels done. We've got everything pretty much fitting. We're just missing a few things like cooling system, which we'll have done very soon. And we need to connect a couple wires, connect the AC because we are going on a desert cruise. You can never be too cool. That is a fact. So we just have a couple of things to do, but I think our Friday is up at the moment. Yes. I'm happy Friday is over right now. Thank you. All right. So the next time you see this wagon, we're going on a road trip. So pack your snacks. Count me in.