February 2015

NOS 210

56-210_5664This 1956 210 was restored with a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and NOS parts.

Owned by Ronald Van Voorhis #10061825, Hillsdale, MI

Photography by Colin Date

In 1985, I bought my ’56 Chevy from the father of the young man who brought the car to Payne, Ohio from California. At the time, it was painted (by Earl Scheib, I think) black and silver, but it was a very solid car. The interior was shot, but complete. And the 265 V8 barely ran, but at least the major components were solid. I had met Don Trivett (Tri-5 Chevy parts guru) before and had bought some NOS (new old stock) parts from him, so I called him to see what he had for this 210 hardtop. Fortunately, he had almost all of the exterior trim– NOS! I was a carpenter/contractor for many years and worked all the time, but I started saving Sundays to work on the car.

My great friend Andy Armstrong helped me do most of the work. We totally disassembled the car, sandblasted the frame and all the parts and repainted those. Then we did the bodywork and painted the car. We rebuilt the engine and transmission and went through the rear end. Continue reading →

Black Ties and The Law

Colinheadshot-newBy Colin Date

Happy 2015! What I’m wondering is, what happened to last year? They say the older you get, the faster time seems to slip by. If that’s true, I believe I’m aging at an alarming rate! I remember attending our Winter National show in February like it was a few months ago, and here we are again, on the cusp of “that” annual event– the New Year. Speaking of which, if you’re vacationing in central Florida this winter, try to make it to our show. All the details are on pages 40 and 41 of this issue. I’ll be there, camera in hand, looking for potential magazine feature cars. Flag me down, I’d love to meet you! Continue reading →

Distributor: HEI Conversion

techshot2Story and photography by Colin Date

The vast majority of cars produced through the sixties and early seventies were all factory-equipped with a points type ignition. Although not likely to be considered the greatest manager of spark, at the time there was no other option. It was not until the model year of 1974 that GM offered the new HEI ignition system as an alternative. One year later in ’75, it became standard equipment for all, and with good reason.

The GM HEI, which stands for High Energy Ignition, is a breakerless, transistor- controlled, inductive discharge system. It operates in a similar fashion to the conventional points type ignition, but relies solely on a series of electronic signals to turn on and off the primary current rather than the mechanical opening and closing of points. This task is routinely carried out by the switching transistor- located inside the ignition module. In fact, the HEI distributor is responsible for housing all of its components in one highly self-contained unit. In addition to the module, you will find the ignition coil, the pick-up coil, the magnetic pick-up assembly, and the mechanical and vacuum advance units– all nestled tightly under the cap.

Click Here For This Month’s Tech Article

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