{"id":312663,"date":"2015-08-27T01:39:52","date_gmt":"2015-08-27T08:39:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bangshift.com\/?p=312663"},"modified":"2015-08-26T13:55:25","modified_gmt":"2015-08-26T20:55:25","slug":"car-feature-the-big-iron-1956-chevy-gasser-is-about-as-bangshift-approved-as-they-come-killer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bangshift.com\/bangshift1320\/car-feature-the-big-iron-1956-chevy-gasser-is-about-as-bangshift-approved-as-they-come-killer\/","title":{"rendered":"Car Feature: The Big Iron 1956 Chevy Gasser Is About As BangShift Approved As They Come – Killer!"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Words and photos by Doug Gregory) –\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Some of us who long for the more-simple, older days of hot-rodding wonder if younger generations \u2018get it\u2019. \u00a0Ryan Pope is a 28-year-old from Southern Ohio that does and has \u2018got it\u2019 for a long time. \u00a0Ryan has had this \u201956 for eight or so years since he picked it up as a roller. \u00a0Ryan is big into old-style hot-rodding, drag racing, and older music. \u00a0It was a song by Marty Robbins that inspired him to name his retro-Chevy \u2018Big Iron\u2019. \u00a0The song talks about a lawman coming into to town to take back a notorious gunfighter \u2013 dead or alive. \u00a0For a twenty-something to even know who Marty Robbins shocked me.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back to the car. \u00a0The parallel leafs and straight axle you see in the photos has given way to a buggy spring, radius arms, and a Model A axle. \u00a0The motor is a relatively-simple 11.5:1 compression 355ci small-block Chevy sporting iron Dart heads with mild porting. \u00a0Backing that up is a Centerforce dual-disc clutch concealed in a Lakewood bellhousing. \u00a0The trans is an Autogear M23 4-speed sending power back to a 5.00-geared 9\u201d with a spool and 35-spline axles.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0The car is known for some hard launches and he shifts around 7,000rpm to a best ET of11.98 at 113mph. \u00a0Those hard launches do take their toll and at the Meltdown Drags this year the input shaft was twisted and 1<\/span>st<\/span> gear was totally stripped. \u00a0The wheels are NOT repops. \u00a0Those are real, vintage Americans with the rears being 15×10 wrapped in M&H gumballs. \u00a0The fronts came with the car and are actually Palamides wheels. \u00a0Joshua Shaw gets the credit for the throw down on the graphics and lettering. \u00a0Ryan tries to run as many nostalgia and stick-shift events as he can each year which really gets the car out in front of a lot of people. \u00a0It\u2019s definitely a crowd pleaser.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Pope also has a \u201930-\u201931 Model A with tons of custom work that he\u2019s hoping to complete by October. \u00a0It sports a \u201970 LT1 SBC, T-5, and a 9\u201d. \u00a0The hood, bed, grille shell, and splash aprons are all fabricated from aluminum. \u00a0Very cool. \u00a0I\u2019ve included a couple shots of that for now and when it is done we\u2019ll get some feature photos.<\/p>\n

Ryan would like to thank Mike Wagner at Cornfield Customs, Studebaker Lewy, Jace Jordan, John Gilligan, Dave Hentz, Jason Green, the Milan boys, the Meltdown crew, and his father for all their assistance because we all know stuff like this doesn\u2019t happen alone.<\/span><\/p>\n

CHECK OUT THE GREAT IMAGES OF THE BIG IRON 1956 CHEVY HERE –<\/h2>\n

\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t