1933 Pontiac Coupe Street Rod

With the frame and body apart, the suspen-sion build could begin. Steering is handled by a rack-and-pinion bolted to an ididit telescoping steering column with cruise. With a turn of the ididit banjo-style wheel, a Fatman independent front-end points 215/70-15 BFG Silvertown wide whitewalls wrapped around 15x6 Wheel Vintique Series 73 wire wheels in whatever direction you need to go. Out back, a Pontiac rear-from a donor '73 Firebird-with 3.08 gears responds whenever Edward is pulling the '73 Turbo 400 trans out of Park and into gear. The rest of the rear suspension is made up of custom coilovers and leafsprings. A tap on the brakes sends front discs and rear drums into action, while stepping on the gas could send the rear 255/70-15 Silvertowns wrapped around 15X7 Wheel Vintique Series 73 wire wheels into a white fury.

When it came time to find an engine that could burn that sort of rubber, Tom Snyder of Hydavilla Machine Shop in Hydavilla, Pennsylvania, scared up a potent combination. Starting with a 350 out of that '73 Firebird donor, the block was bored 0.030 over, and the rotating assembly was balanced. Tom retained and polished the factory crank, and the cast rods were refurbished and mated to TRW forged pistons. Hydavilla dressed up the underbelly with a chrome oil pan and a pump with a 60-pound spring. Crane's hydraulic cam takes care of business with 204/216 degrees duration at 0.050 and 0.427/0.454 lift when combined with the 1.50 ratio of the Harland Sharp roller rockers. Aiding in producing a compression ratio of 9.54:1 are the 72cc chambers of the No. 16 '68 400 heads that received a valve job and 2.11/1.77 valves.

A '66 GTO Tri-Power unit mixes the air and fuel, while a stock Pontiac points-ignition system keeps the fires lit. Ram Air Restoration Enterprises exhaust manifolds connected to 2-inch stainless steel pipes and Midas mufflers send the spent gasses out the rear.

With all the major details ironed out, Stumps Upholstery in Leola, Pennsylvania, was contacted for the interior recovering. Weaving their magic across the still-intact cabin, the company remade a near perfect representation of what it had been some 72-odd years ago, down to the color and texture of the Dorchester Medium Beige Mohair. Rounding out the cockpit of the '33 is an AM/FM/CD in the roof, Vintage Air A/C and heat next to the firewall, and Classic Instruments gauges in the dash. For safety sake, an additional modification-seatbelts-have been added to keep everyone seated in case of a sudden, unsuspected stop.

With the last bolt turned and the final tuning completed by Tom at Hydravilla, the '33 was declared ready for the road. What does Edward think? Well, if mileage equates to satisfaction, we'd say he found the right Pontiac. He has already racked up 14,000 miles. If that's not rhapsody in blue, it's got to be close!