Words & Photos: Chadly Johnson

Many car enthusiasts have automotive visions stuck in our heads that drive us to find or build a particular year or style of car.  Sometimes we do not know where these visions come from, but sometimes we do – perhaps an older brother owning a specific car, the vision of a brutal drag car doing a 100 ft burn out, or the sight of a forgotten relic lying in a driveway on the daily walk to school.  These visions tend to unconsciously lead us toward a particular build, whether we realize the driving force behind that desire or not.  In the case of Mark Scheuber, it was the deep imprinting of spotting a candy painted, ’60s custom, tri-5 Chevy gasser as a child.  The vision of the gasser forced itself into the forefront of Mark’s mind until the desire to build one had to be fulfilled.

Mark and his father, Jim, decided to tackle the build together as they had often done in the past.  The pair knew they wanted a tri-5 Chevy, and when the less common of the 3 years, a ’56, became available locally, the pair grabbed it.  The ’56 was a solid old drag car with a fiberglass tilt front end, which was a positive, but the old gasser had also been cut heavily in random spots in an attempt to make the car lighter.  It was also apparent that someone along the way had attempted to put the old drag car back onto the street, but had given up shy of obtaining that goal.  In summary, the ’56 was solid, but rough… and really, really ugly.  The Chevy was so ugly, in fact, that when Mark arrived home with it on a trailer his wife demanded that he get inside quickly before anyone in their neighborhood spotted it.

Mark and his dad immediately blew the project apart.  The engine block was sent out to be hot tanked and inspected, the body was sent to Bob Cardwell at Joliet Collision, and the chassis was sent to former Riddler award winner Tim O’Connell at O’Connell Specialties to have the Speedway front axle set-up properly.  Once the engine block was given the green light, Mark and Jim got busy rebuilding it with a host of internal and external goodies, resulting in a stout 11:1 compression 355 small block.  Jim personally ported the 2.02 camel hump heads, allowing for a smooth flow of fuel from the dual 1962 Corvette Carter AFB carbs.  Spent fuel exits through Doug fender well headers and Smithy Mufflers, and the whole combo is joined to a Muncie 4 speed transmission with Hurst linkage.  Out back, a Richard 10 bolt posi rear end with 3:73 gears is bolted to a set of homemade traction bars built by Mark that help put the power to the pavement.

Unfortunately, about the time the engine was being buttoned up, Mark’s father and mentor, Jim, passed away.  Jim’s passing created an obvious pause in the ’56’s build, but slowly Mark began picking away at it again until the build was once again going strong.

Mark and his father had originally envisioned building a nice gasser that they could take drag racing, but as with many builds, as certain aspects of the process began to turn out really nicely, the whole project snowballed into something a little too nice to take to the track.

The ’56’s body spent a couple of years at the body shop being massaged to perfection before it was sprayed in House of Kolor Candy Apple Red.  The original fiberglass front end was too rough to be salvaged, but fortunately for Mark, Glasstek manufactures a beautiful version of the ’56 flip front end and was located only 25 miles away.  Once the freshly painted body was home, Mark took over the process of wet sanding and buffing the paint to a mirror finish.  Mark then wired and assembled the car before sending it off for upholstery.  Just as Mark always knew the gasser would have candy paint, he also knew it would have a snow white interior.  Dave Schober of Schober’s Hot Rod Interiors was given the task of wrapping the interior in white tuck-n-roll, and he did an amazing job.  Some interior touches include ’62 Impala bucket seats and a ’61 Impala steering wheel.

Mark played with the idea of cutting the rear wheel wells multiple times; he would apply tape, then stand back and take a good hard look, but was never pleased enough to make the cut, so he left them alone.  A set of Wheel Smith chrome reverse rims were chosen to perfectly compliment the ’56’s paint, and are wrapped in Goodyear Super Cushion 6.70-15 tires up front, and Hurst 30x10x15 cheater slicks stuffed into the virgin wheel wells out back.  The final step of the build was the killer pinstripe work, laid down by Mike Zelinski of Joliet, IL.

When it comes to pulling off a build that mixes styles, balance is often the key ingredient, and Mark nailed it.  With subtle custom features like the ’56’s tube grille and taillights mixed with wild candy paint and a white interior, the car screams early ’60s show car…yet its nose-high stance maintains its raw, brutal gasser appeal.  The car is a home run in every regard.

Mark has shown the gasser a bit, and cruises it plenty where is always gets a ton of attention, but Mark states the ultimate compliment is when an old timer who lived through and truly knows the era comes up to him and says “man, that thing is straight out of the early ’60s.”  To Mark, that is as good as it gets.  Oh, and regarding Mark’s wife – she doesn’t mind so much any more if Mark leaves the ’56 parked in their driveway for the whole neighborhood to see!