Chopped, channeled, and shaved

Photos by Steven Sunshine

Text by Kristen Lombardi

When it comes to engines, street rodders and muscle heads, in particular, revel in power. It's not unusual for these guys to spend upwards of $20,000 to acquire the force that somehow makes cars superior. Some have bored-out engine pistons, or sported a souped-up blower, or even installed nitrous-oxide tanks -- all to boost horsepower and to satiate a seemingly unquenchable need for speed. The powerful engine may help the ego, but it certainly doesn't help the ears. Standing next to this 1940 Ford coupe's Chevy V-8 motor, which has a throaty, rumbling sound, is like placing a tin bucket on your head, and then ordering someone to smack it repeatedly with metal spoons.

Chopped, channeled, and shaved. That's what classic-car buffs do to attain the visually stunning, sleek look of this 1950 pearl-blue Mercury -- a quintessential classic. To enhance a car's flowing lines and rounded body, you "chop" the hood in half, and then "channel" or cut inches from its chassis so that it appears symmetrical. To complete the appearance, you "shave" off the handles, hooking up doors to a remote control instead. As one classic-car owner explained, "It's the look that you're really going for, the whole nostalgia of the '50s."

For many Americans, cars serve as symbols of freedom, status, even male prowess. But for Willie Gajda of Adams, this 1962 forest-green Studebaker Lark represents a modest era gone by. Gajda, who owns seven Studebakers, tries hard to keep the company's name alive, which is no small feat, considering it went bust in 1964. She and her husband, Dennis, have traveled as far as Roanoke, Virginia, to rescue the cars from a premature, ugly demise. Dennis stumbled onto the '62 Lark in Alexandria, Virginia; he was so bent on adding it to the family collection that he returned home, hitched up a trailer, and then backtracked to buy the coveted car.

Call it the Corvette craze. Or, at least, recognize that the hundreds of Corvette owners who flock here subscribe to their own religion: To modify the vehicle that straddles the sports car/muscle car line is to adulterate its integrity. So enthusiasts like John Pigaga of North Grafton are swift to point out the cars' original features -- the knock-off wheels, side-exhaust pipes, and red-leather interior. Pigaga's 1966 red Corvette 427 is priceless, since less than one percent of 427s made in '66 came in a red-on-red combination. Pigaga, in fact, searched five years for the model, a task he was all too willing to undertake. As a young newlywed, his daily routine included gazing longingly at a sparkling 427 on display. Now decades later, he can finally delight in hearing his own Vette engine roar.

Kristen Lombardi can be reached at klombardi[a]phx.com.
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