2017 Good Vibrations March Meet: Do You Really Care That This Chevy II Has Four Doors?


2017 Good Vibrations March Meet: Do You Really Care That This Chevy II Has Four Doors?

When you get cars together at an event like the March Meet, you are bound to see trends. It was no surprise that there were plenty of first-gen Camaros. It was a bit of a surprise to see 1975-77 Camaros as a popular Funny Car body, but they were there in numbers. And in the ranks of Hot Rod, it was the Chevy II bodies that seemed to be quite popular. Pick a color, pick a combination. We may not have tracked every last car by detail, but there was no getting around the fact that there were a lot of early Novas coming to the line at Famoso, so many in fact that they all started to blur a bit.

It wasn’t until I left Chad on the scaffold so I could walk around for a bit that this particular 1966 Chevy II jumped out at me while I was walking the pits. Overall, it looks like most other Hot Rod-class cars, but when I noticed that there was a B-pillar and a second set of doors, I stopped in. It’s well-known that I have a fascination with Australian car culture, and one element of the Aussie scene that I dig is that four-door cars aren’t immediately avoided. Thomas, the car’s driver, actively sought out a four-door Chevy II for his race car. Why?

March Meet 2017_196

Prior to this car, the Bakersfield resident had a two-door car, but he found himself at odds with cutting it up to become a race car. Between that, and a desire to do something different, the four-door shell became something wicked. A 434ci mill built by Jim Brower in Sacramento, California motivates the black sedan. It’s hooked to a prepared Powerglide and ran out via 4.56 gears. Inside, liberal use of carbon fiber has lightened up the little Chevy that much more.

March Meet 2017_204

We dig the little beast, and loved watching it run down the strip. Just because it’s got four doors doesn’t mean that it is any less of a car. Doors do not make a car any faster or slower…so why, then do the number of doors on a race car matter? It’s got the heartbeat under the hood and the guts to run, and that is what matters!


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8 thoughts on “2017 Good Vibrations March Meet: Do You Really Care That This Chevy II Has Four Doors?

  1. BSD289

    Great looking car.. I just can’t abide the massive gap between the rear arch and tyre. I hate that sort of thing, even if it is just to run in class or whatever. It just looks wrong and shouldn’t be allowed

    1. C1BAD66 Malibu

      You’re welcome to your visual opinion, BSD, but the clearance likely eliminates having to drop the rear end to R & R the wheels.

      1. BSD289

        Perhaps, but probably not given the amount of cars that have the wheel/tyre “just” inside the arch and no need to drop the rear end to change wheels. My own included.. But hey maybe they like it that way, whatever.. Still a cool looking car

        1. BSD289

          I should look harder before i comment! It is very, very low on the arch and yes your assumption makes perfect sense..

  2. Chevy Hatin' Mad Geordie

    Another Chevy that I actually like! I wish they were all as neat as the Chevy 2 and then maybe I wouldn’t hate them so much. Nothing wrong with four doors if they’re hung on a car that’s as great looking as this one…

  3. C1BAD66 Malibu

    4-door compact racecars, Bryan? ‘Too bad Chad didn’t get an opportunity to introduce you to the Renteria brothers and their T/S or AA/GS ’65 Valiant!

  4. Gino Ofria

    That ’35 Chrysler Airflow in A/G called “Voo Doo Hemi” has four working doors too. Don and Richard do a great job with that car.

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