Will the Chopped 1954 Chevy Bel Air Survive - First Drive!

This 1954 Chevrolet was built over 20 years ago and sat. the 283 small block chevy powered 4 speed shifted chop top custom is Now its getting a power brake upgrade, a new 10 bolt rear end with highway gears, a new charging system, a new set of wide white wall tires and steelies... and then its got to get on the road
New Rear end
New brake system
new charging system
new wheels and tires ....
'54 chevy kustom first drive will it run and drive and make it back home
LETS GO!!! Can we finally get to the car show
Consider SUBSCRIBING while you are here...its FREEEEE and Helps the Channel more than you know...one little click goes a long way... and I won't call you at dinner time
@oreillyautoparts
#hotrod #kustom #custom #classiccars #traditional #diy #garage #barnfinds #firstwash

[@antoniocovarrubias7831]

The 54 is real nice, now chopped down 3 inches your rear seat,the white walls are perfect that’s what I run on my daily driver is a 53 5 windows Chevy truck floor shifter original 235 split six dual pipes. Greetings from California.

[@paullee2177]

Cool look. Back in '62, while in high school, I ran black wheels with chrome rings on my grey and blue '54 Ford Crestline.

[@betweenthesharksgarage]

I bet it looked great. The 54 fords don’t get enough love these days

[@haroldrogers6083]

You can see the love you have for this sexy car , i wouldn't change a thing on it !!

[@betweenthesharksgarage]

thanks man

[@timothynewkirk2654]

Hey Brother, Descovering your Channel: PAID OFF! If nothing else, I'm more motivated to work on my 49' International Harvester Flathead 6 Project! So Cheers to You and I'll drink Birthday Adult Beverage in your Honor tonight! HBD to me...72 Y.O. DAMN ! ...Newk from Kentucky

[@betweenthesharksgarage]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Cheers to you Newk

[@AJStarch]

Gotta be a great feeling to be cruising it again! congrats!

[@betweenthesharksgarage]

thanks dude... its so nice to look at it and not think "god... i gotta get that thing back on the road"

[@randallhutchinson9676]

Dude! I’m watching your channel for the first time and I’m in! I’ve never subscribed to any KZbin channel but you hooked me. I will admit when I first started watching you wash the 54 I was pissed. What the hell is a perfect 54 doin with dust on it? Then I listened to you talk and you speak my language plus. I’m 64 years old and was blessed with a “car” dad. I helped him with repairs on cars from way young.

[@betweenthesharksgarage]

man i appreciate the hell out of it... but i really appreciate the subscription even more so because i am not much of a joiner myself. But it really does help the channel out, its how the youtubes works, and for me it feels like a good solid "atta boy" for the effort. Fair enough being pissed... and thank you kindly for calling it a perfect 54, (i won't let it go to my head) but yea man, time passes, neglect happens without intent, then one day.. you get out there wipe off the dust and give it hell. anyway, thanks a lot, I really do appreciate it

[@Ruststored]

I hit car shows here and there. But you're right the small ones are the most fun..

[@betweenthesharksgarage]

I feel that way about most crowd events...car shows, concerts, festivals

[@farfromdonemotors6796]

Awesome that you broke the thousand subs mark. Keep it up

[@betweenthesharksgarage]

Thanks! I m working hard at it

[@mattewiegand9896]

Really dig this car!

[@betweenthesharksgarage]

thanks man

[@joellekarma]

WOW! You got her looking good. Keep up the great work. I so enjoy your videos. I love the look of steel wheels, I put factory pickup Rally wheels on my van. I'm going to paint them white I just ordered black bullet lug nuts for it. I'm thinking of stealing your red edge on the wheels look.

[@betweenthesharksgarage]

That red edge makes it pop for sure... I agree with you about steel wheels. I bet the rally wheels look great on it. stay tuned van videos soon

[@randallhutchinson9676]

Yeah I grew up not recognizing what these “old pipes” were that hung on the wall of my dads garage. It wasn’t until years later that I realized they were homemade lake pipes he had made! Don’t know what they fit but….

[@betweenthesharksgarage]

Man that’s neat

[@tomellis5462]

Really cool car, happy for ya to have it back in the road. 😎

[@betweenthesharksgarage]

thanks a lot. the work really paid off

[@IowaMercMan]

Hey man. Chevy looks great, sounds great! I like those Plymouth wheel covers. **Might not wanna use Wesley’s on your tires real often. The bleach will yellow the whitewalls over time. Best thing for your whitewalls is an SOS pad, the kind with soap in the pad. Try it.

[@betweenthesharksgarage]

thanks for the tip. my old ones were pretty yellow. I ll give the the sos pads a try. I have also never used wesleys i ll have to look it up.. anything to make them last man ... they are not cheap

[@AtomicReverend]

Next time you take the car out jump on the freeway I want to see how it cruises with the new gears. Great job BTW

[@betweenthesharksgarage]

I am real curious myself. I ll do a longer shakedown run soon

[@AtomicReverend]

@@betweenthesharksgarage I have my 1973 Lincoln Continental that I bought when I was a poor young adult at 20 years old it was pre-smog which for me living in California was a pretty big deal since at that time since I couldn't afford nor would I have driven a late model (a late model back then would have been 1980s or '90s yuck) and older cars (1950s) were generally wore out And I didn't have the budget to make one nice. Anyways the Lincoln has 2.73 gears in it's 9", 460 engine and a c6 (the drivetrain is why I bought the car originally), it is real happy on the freeway And isn't breaking much of a sweat at 75 mph, when I was a kid I wanted it to be fast off the line which a 5500 lb Lincoln definitely isn't a rocket ship off the line (and never was going to be) but it was fast enough for what it is or was now looking at it I am pretty content with its gear set. It's all about being a cruiser, Just like you I'm more about the journey that the destination, the destination is just the goal post so to speak. My Lincoln never got better than 12mpg (but it's consistently bad), I would imagine changing the gear set probably would have gave me 10 lol. An overdrive would be awesome But I'm pretty sure I would have to cut up the floor to get a bigger transmission to fit underneath there and I don't want to do that. Anyways my point of that story was I would imagine you're Chevy is going to be very similar now and it's going to be a real happy camper that modern highway speeds and around town It will still be fast enough You may not be beating brand new hemi chargers but I would imagine you will still out accelerate a late '90s 4 banger which is all you need in a cruiser.

[@Smokymtnats]

Congratulations on over 1k subscribers.

[@betweenthesharksgarage]

Thanks I appreciate it

[@clarkmarkey1498]

Looks bitchin' ! Thanks for sharing your hot rod experience.

[@betweenthesharksgarage]

thanks man

[@haroldrogers6083]

This generation of tuner cars don't really know the great chest thumping V-8 sound and power !!

[@betweenthesharksgarage]

no they don't but they can smoke me like i am standing still...

[@carlv8168]

Nice modified '54. I like the mild chop on the roof and lowered suspension. What's up with the big gap in the driver's door upper? Is that on your list of things to correct?

[@betweenthesharksgarage]

The gap is the for not being closed all the way. The hinge pin and or bushing on the drivers door is worn out. So to get it to close properly just takes a good lift and slam. Which I rarely do

[@carlv8168]

@@betweenthesharksgarage Okay, thanks for the explanation. I'm relieved to know that it was a simple cause & solution, and not from poor fitment from a bad chop. That's a cool car.

[@youtubedev0]

Do you know how many inches the top was chopped? I just started chopping and i have cut 4" from the windshield. I don't have glass in it yes I was wondering about yours. Its the perfect chop

[@betweenthesharksgarage]

thanks man I appreciate it, I worked real hard on that chop. i think it came out to 3 3/4 in the front and 4 in the back... I did it 20 years ago but right about that time cole foster at salinas boys had done a hardtop for himself and a 2 dr sedan for mike ness of social distortion. I thought and think he nailed it, better than moon glow or any other chop i had or have seen I studied the hell out of it, even reached out to him for advice... I was a dumb kid and he still got back to me. good dude

[@vintagewestern2565]

I would not leave my 54 chevy parked with regular ass modern cars...

[@betweenthesharksgarage]

Sometimes ya gotta do… the car show was a mess

[@fredfranklin1965]

No offense. Learn how to wash a car sir.1 rinse top down 2 wash with soap top down 3 rinse top down . You killing me rubbing that dirt in . My daddy would have smacked me bottom IM JELLY NICE RIDE SIR

[@betweenthesharksgarage]

You are not wrong sir. Washing cars and or detailing is something I am neither good at nor is it something i do with any regularity lol

[@fusestation2839]

this cars many appears in many retro poster and t-shirt print that made from China...look really iconic and really famous.

[@betweenthesharksgarage]

wait what? post a link I ll buy one

[@fusestation2839]

@@betweenthesharksgarage your reply already make me not able to breath now you asking to provide you link?....

[@betweenthesharks7057]

Yea man. Thanks for the comment but I would love to see the shirts in China too