(Words and Photos by Matt Graves) – Last we left you, the 1982 Cadillac project known as the Chicken Coupe was dropped on your lap with a rendering and a couple photos of the actual car that Matt Graves was to be working with. As a reminder, this is a project being built as a “what if” type machine. The “what if” in this case is, “What if the Bandit retired and he built a bitchin’ car to continue to harrass the highways and byways with?”. Matt and his cohort Jon Clark are staking their claim as the the forefathers of the yet to be actually created “Pro Lux” movement. The two lunatics are just soft enough to actually pull it off.
In this installment, you’ll see more of the car, some of the challenges the guys face in this build and some random photos of food. Seriously.
Here’s Matt’s update:
I finally got the Caddy squeezed into my shop. 19ft tip to tail makes working in a 40ft long shop tight. Now we begin the tear down process and doing some rough fitting of the engine and transmission. There seems to be enough room in the engine bay to fit two LS engines. The Warhawk looks like a AA battery in the cavernous engine bay. I began the smelly removal of the interior and to my surprise the insides other than the smell was in great shape. The awesome wood grain dash still has a nice sheen. Once the carpet and condoms were removed, I cut the super tiny transmission tunnel. For such a large car it has really small trans tunnel. Not even close enough to fit a TREMEC Magum. Check out the pics for more! Stay tuned.
Scroll down to see where the Chicken Coupe build is now and where it’s heading!
Tight fit!
Woodgrain goodness
Interior is very clean after the disgusting carpet was burned
TREMEC Magnum 6-speed in a Caddy??? Oh YEAH.
Front end off. Much easier to work on without 7 feet of front grill in your way.
Fried chicken from the Chicken Coop (Powertour find this year, bonus round for any long haulers. Can you tell me what famous parts house on the Powertour stop that the Chicken Coop joint is near? Hint its not Summit or Jegs) First person to answer gets an American Powertrain shirt.
Next installment- Vinyl top removal….Stay tuned
We just registered http://pro-luxury.com IT IS ON
Oh my.
I need more of this in my life.
Please tell me you’re going to keep the Coupe De Ville emblems and put them back on the roof after the fabric comes off…..
Jesus that thing is clean and rust-free.
I have been wanting to do this EXACT project. i have TWO candidates just waiting