Think Pro-Touring meets old-school Custom, think Cruiser meets Drag Car, think “Holy crap, that 1966 Bel Air Station Wagon just kicked that 5-series BMW Wagon’s ass!”, and you’ll have some sense of the fun we plan to have with our newest project car, Wicked’s Wagon. Performance wise, we don’t think that we will have any major hurdles in exceeding the performance numbers of an E39 BMW Wagon. Comfort and all that? Mmmmm we may have to make a few concessions for the fact that our wagon will be cooler than the BMW. And we’re going to take you along as we use all the cool hot rodder tricks to make Wicked’s Wagon haul ass. We’re talking horsepower, EFI, Nitrous, a bullet proof drivetrain, comfort, style, and more, and we’re taking you along for the ride whether you like it or not. While this 1966 Chevrolet Bel Air station wagon has been calling space at the Reynolds household home, and was even Chad’s daily driver for some time, it’s time to get a new lease on life as a hot rod rather than just a family truckster. Introducing Wicked’s Wagon.

We’ve got a lot to show you, and a lot of stuff left to do but, like your projects at home, this one is going to be a living breathing being in the Reynolds household as it grows into it’s big girl pants. We don’t have cubic dollars to throw at a project, nor the time to thrash on it non-stop, so we’ll be doing it like normal people. We’re not going to pretend that we don’t have great companies helping out with some parts, advice, and technical assistance, but we’re certainly not turning this thing into a street terror over night.

What are we going to do with it when we’re done?  Daily drive it, cruise it, autocross it, drag race it, vacation in it, and ultimately just have fun with it. That’s what hot rodding is all about, and thanks to great parts in the aftermarket we know we can build a 1966 Chevrolet that runs and drives as good or better than the newer Ultimate Driving Machine. And along the way you are going to see Daphne do a TON of the work herself, along with our son Cole who will be working on some things for the first time. You’ll also get Daphne’s take on some of the tech, some of the work, and then all the fun driving.

The Back Story

Here is the history, and a tease of what’s to come and what’s been done. You’ll get all the details over the coming weeks, until we run out of time, patience, money, or stuff to bolt on.

Like most interesting projects, this one started out with a lie of some sorts. You see, I bought this car several years ago while David Freiburger and i were doing CarJunkieTV, and in fact the purchase actually included money from myself, David, and our buddy Todd Ryden. After finding the car on the streets of Burbank, and wanting it bad, we all decided we wanted it and although all three of us knew that buying it wasn’t the “smartest” move, going in together would make it at least a little smarter. Plus, we knew that if pressed by the other two we’d pay up and own it in a heartbeat. Where’s the lie though Chad?, you ask. Well, when I found this “mint” wagon I pulled the full on sales pitch on Daphne, my girlfriend at the time and now wife, by telling her that it could be her car and that it would be fun, etc, etc, etc. You know, all the normal things you tell your better half in order to get their blessing on a new project car. The difference here was that this car ran and drove perfect. It was near mint, with a couple minor exceptions.

In the first 5 years that we owned the car she drove it exactly once, while I put literally tens of thousands of miles on it. It then sat for a couple years due to oil leaks from every gasketed surface, before getting pulled out and ready to roll for Drag Week 2014, and to begin the life of Wicked’s Wagon.

Why are we calling it Wicked’s Wagon? Well, the truth is Daphne and the kids refer to it as Betty, or Betty White, sometimes, but cant’ really make up their mind on a real name for the car. Since Daphne goes by SlightlyWickedChick online in BangShift’s LIVE Chat Window and such, she is often referred to by loyal BangShifters as Wicked. Hence the name, Wicked’s Wagon.

When I bought the car, I became the 4th legal owner, although in truth the first two were the same person. Prior to me purchasing the car, it had never left San Fernando Valley. Ever. It was purchased new by a Venetian blind company and served as a delivery car for decades, before being retired. At that point the owner of the Venetian blind company transferred the title out of the company name and into his own name. Years later he sold it to a gentleman in burbank who did nothing more than give it a quick wash, stick a folded up blanket in the giant hole in the front seat, and then covered the front seat with another blanket. It was love at first sight, and I had to have it.

Besides leaking from every orifice and gasketed surface, the suspension on the wagon had seen much better days after me driving it back and forth to Burbank every day which was almost 110 miles per day. In fact it was too badly worn and jacked up to even drive across SoCal, let alone cross country. So I had to come up with a plan. The plan changed 14 times, and will probably change, in some respects at least, another 14. Big block? Small block? LS? All those questions went through my mind a bunch of times, and I even looked at a used up Cadillac one time with thoughts of a 472 and Turbo 400 sitting between the rails. I dig Caddy motors. Anyway, cooler heads prevailed for the most part and here’s what we’ve come up with.

The Plan

The Edelbrock 5 spokes are 17’s, which is the perfect size in my book, and they came off one of Freiburger’s many toys and look cool so they are staying… for now at least. A little more back spacing up front would sure make the tire to fender relationship just a touch better, but they look cool and we have them so that’s what we’re rolling with. There was NEVER any question as to whether it would have air ride on it or not, and that means Ridetech’s great stuff will make it ride smooth, handle well, and haul whatever Daphne decides should be out back. Possibly even a car trailer with some other hot rod on it!

For now a mild 383 small block stroker will motivate it, although other engine options are already being discussed thanks to my friends who like to build horsepower and don’t know how to leave me alone so I don’t spend money. Holley Terminator EFI, NOS Nitrous, Weiand Intake, Edelbrock heads, GM HT383 short block, hedders from Hedman, a Milodon oil pan, MSD ignition parts, and more will go into making power on this thing, and we’ll be covering each of their installations, tuning, etc in detail.

Backing up the 383 will be a TCI 700r4 built to take over 650 horsepower, along with their converter, cooler, etc. We talked about running a stick in this thing, ultimately because nobody thinks about putting one in a wagon, but for cruiser comfort we decided that we’d roll with the overdrive automatic instead. Plus it’s much easier to drag race that way, especially with the nitrous, and we plan to wear out some drag radials on this big fat bastard.

The car came with a 10 bolt rear end, but by dumb luck we picked up a 12 bolt for this car at least 10 years before owning it, or any other full size Chevy passenger car.  Thanks to the guys at Moser, the 12 bolt will be bulletproof thanks to some cool tricks, cool parts, and planning ahead.

Stopping is also a big deal, especially when were talking about the car that hauls my wife and kids, so I called Baer to see what they recommended and we’re putting together a simple, clean, and stout breaking system that will haul this wagon down to zero with no trouble, regardless of the speed.

Comforts like A/C, some new interior bits, a totally reworked front bench seat, and a whole lot more are going into this thing. And some stuff has already been installed and is currently being tested. We’re not going to pretend that we’re just doing all of this now, because a ton was done in the last two months in order to have it go on Drag Week, but we’ve still got plenty to do.

We’ll write the stories, tell you all about the tech, and hopefully inspire you to get out in the garage over the winter and thrash on your junk too. We’re also going to do some testing and see how it stacks up to a 5-series BMW wagon along the way. And is it a coincidence that we’ve got two big white Chevy projects here at BangShift.com? Or that they are on complete opposite ends of the country? Daphne will say that hers is much “prettier” than Brian’s Buford Caprice and, that despite being older by over 20 years, that the old girl has some good life in her. Maybe we’ll figure a way to do some shootouts between the two in a battle of white whales and East vs West.

Here are a couple more teaser photos. Check them out and stay tuned for the first technical installment next week.