Brent Stackhouse's Four Hot Rods

Hi All… I have four hot rods or should I say that I’m blessed with four of my all time favorites. When I was 16 in 1967, I went from the DMV and my new drivers license straight to De Anza Chevrolet and on the showroom floor was a 1967 Chevelle SS 427 Convertible Blue (the color of a Schwinn bicycle, special order) with black buckets and a 4-speed. I believe the car was special ordered and the invoice price was $4,300+-. In any case, That was $4,200 higher than my budget. You see I just sold my Grand Champion FFA Pig for $95. So, I bought what the budget could afford a ‘54 Chevy Wagon for you guessed it $95 bucks. Would have liked a Woodie but that was $400 higher than I could afford.








Now, I have the Woodie, a ‘46 Ford w/350-350, A/C, PDB. After chasing the SS 427 Chevelle Convertible (always out of my price range) you see they made a limited number of SS 396’s, fewer convertibles, and only a handful of SS 427’s and the Convertibles were special order only (known as COPO’s). I’ve been told a mere 5-7 of those exist as “numbers matching”. One documented numbers matching SS 427 ‘67 Convertible just sold at Pebble Beach for a whopping $170,000! So, I’m building my own. I consider myself fortunate to find a new old stock ‘69 Corvette aluminum-head-open chamber 427. The pictures depict the motor on the dyno or known as “The Chamber Of Truth”. Yes, it pulled five-hundred and three horses (503 HP) and 411 ft-lbs of torque. The two other Hot Rods & Customs are a one owner. We are the 2nd owners, 1965 Buick Riviera, the wife’s driver and a 1957 Buick Caballero, the River Runner boat-tow vehicle, I don’t have a picture of the Buick’s, what’s up with that! The pictures of the ‘47 Cadillac and Chic was just a chance “Kodak moment” at 2003 Wavecrest-Woodie meet, she just happened by and was not associated with the car! So, goodbye for now! Brent!

January 2006: Update I cant believe its been 2 years since I last sent pictures of this project. The project itself has taken 6 years…I have to admit its not been all fun and “ha ha s” more like what labor pains must be like…but then the babycomes and you forget about all the pain…I hope…besides the 427 “bad boy”is everything I hoped and dreamed about since my sixteenth birthday when this car was new (refer to my e-mail from 2 years ago for part one of this story) well I can assure you 427’s are as evil, wicked, mean, and nasty as legend has it. Wanna go for a ride little girl? There were some really good friends helping a lot, as you will see in the garage scenes. Friends that offered their many years of experience, garage space, and time of course that wasn’t free yet very much appreciated. Note the different personalities of the garages themselves, I especially liked the “old school” ingenuity shown in the wooden autolift, this is Bills place, his garage is simply amazing like a 50’s time capsule…many young pro’s could take lessons from Bills integrity.Note Dave’s garage if you want a clean, meticulous, chassis, and engine compartment take note of your mechanics garage. If you want a “go fast” motor, work only with an engine builder that owns his own dyno like my very good friend Bob. Bob puts out nothing less than the scariest and wicked fast with solid durability. Bob turned me on to his new old stock, factory installed aluminum head, 427 because he knew I had been chasing it for over 35 years….. wow I just said it a dream finally come true after 39 years Maybe many of you can identify with waiting for so very long. All I can say is be careful who you select to work with! This hobby of ours should be fun not painful. All I will say is “shame on the Pro-shops that inflict their bad attitude, poor workmanship, and unwillingness to correct their mistakes on those that are trying to enjoy their dreams at a fair price….There I said it, I got it off my chest…now maybe I can go on and enjoy my new baby… Thank you for your great web-site…and thanks again for helping me sell my 3 woodies, the 46 Ford,49 Mercury & 50 Ford. Note the picture of the 47 Ford woodie with Jaguar suspension! and of course the Chevelle are going to be lifelong keepers . Just another car guy tryin to have fun, Brent Stackhouse.








We Thank Brent for his story, which many can relate to, and for taking and sending us his great looking pictures! We wish him good luck and hope he has a lot of fun with his convertible & 47 Ford Woodie!

By hrhwp