E’ville Jimmy’s Speed & Custom

11/27/2025

Hey! We made Street Scene magazine’s coverage of the Northeast Street Rod Nationals in Burlington, VT.

11/14/2025

Update on the ‘54 pickup… a crazy busy summer kept progress pretty slow. Most of that was finalizing a plan for what’s in store for this old truck. What I bought last year was a partially restored body, an original chassis, and a truckload of loose parts. I resisted the urge to begin assembling what I had and instead started gathering even more parts for what I really wanted to build. The 1954 Chevrolet Crew Cab that Chevy never made.

I purchased a second ‘54 cab, along with a third set of doors. The extra set will be chopped up and used to create the “square” rear door shape. Modern crew cabs have rear doors slightly shorter than the front. I played around with dimensions and decided that I’ll also need to shorten the rear doors by 4” in order to keep the proportions of the cab looking good. To keep the finished truck from looking too long, I’ll take around 9” from the bed length. All this means I’ll have to stretch the chassis approximately 21”. Easy? No.

The first, and most nerve racking step, was to split this cherry body right in two. From here, I’ll use parts from the second cab and some reproduction parts to build the rear door frames. Once the rear doors are hung, it’ll just be a matter of reattaching the rear panel, building a new floor, and filling all the gaps.

I’m looking forward to making some steady progress this winter. Stay tuned.

11/06/2024

In other news… parts gathering has begun on the ‘54. The body has been removed and stripped of all the original parts. I made a body jig to keep everything square and allow me to roll it around the shop. I can also tip the whole thing on its nose for when it’s time to build the floor.

The engine/trans will be a 5.7 Vortec and 4L60E 4-speed auto. I’ve already had the transmission rebuilt and I’ll be tackling the engine myself. This one will stay on the mild side. It came with all the factory accessories and I’m hoping to transplant everything into the truck. Air conditioning AND power steering! This is uncharted hot rod territory for me. Aftermarket fuel injection, independent front suspension, and four wheel power disc brakes are also in the works.

I also scored a 10-bolt rear end from a ‘66 Chevelle. It’s the perfect length for these trucks. The 3.08 gears may end up being a little tall with the OD transmission, but I’ll give it a try. This should be a great highway cruiser.

Almost time to close the garage doors and get to work.

10/30/2024

Load-In Day! One more amazing opportunity this year! The coupe will be part of a special display at the entrance of this weekend’s Albany Auto Show at the MVP Arena. Thank you to the Saratoga Automobile Museum for letting me take part.

The Albany Auto Show takes place this Friday-Sunday.

08/24/2024

Another cool opprtunty today to be part of an inside display at NAPA Auto Parts in Ballston Spa.

08/19/2024

Found a clean ‘54 3100 for my next build. Big plans for this one!

07/26/2024

Here’s a cool shot of us at last weekend’s Syracuse Nationals show. From Rodder TV’s YouTube coverage.

https://youtu.be/If0xpfuHZMU?si=W6kUdSIel7ioJNrE

09/10/2023

What a great weekend! Dodged a few storms at night but it managed to stay nice during the show. The cruises on Friday and Saturday night were packed with hundreds of hot rods and thousands of spectators. We got to meet Joe and Amanda Martin from “Iron Resurrection” and Dennis Gage from “My Classic Car” TV shows. I even got to do interviews for “Rodder TV” and The Post Star newspaper. Crazy! Made it home and all is back to normal.

09/03/2023

It’s almost time!

07/23/2023

Hot off the press, this year’s artwork for the Adirondack Nationals!

There it is!!!
2023 Artwork....

01/23/2023

Thinking of warmer days and top-back cruising.