Kris Shields brought over...
Kris Shields brought over his stash of '65 Chevelle grilles and allowed us to pick the best from the rest. Our original piece looked like it had been customized by a dump truck.
After enduring the heat of the desert through Las Vegas and into Utah, the cooler temperatures of Colorado found us in Grand Junction by the end of the first day. After replacing the cut tire caused by an over-exuberant U-turn, we headed for our pal Scott Gillman's house for a half-day respite and a tour of Crested Butte at 9,000 feet. Leaving the next day, we cleared the peak of Monarch Pass on Highway 50 east of Gunnison with our little 350 wheezing through 11,300 feet but still running fine. We stayed overnight with family friends Gene and Crissy Christensen in Castle Rock, Colorado, before finding I-80. From there, we stopped overnight in Lincoln, Nebraska, where we shot an ex-Baldwin Motion and Car Craft All-Star Drag Racing Team Camaro before again laying down the miles for Iowa. By Saturday afternoon, Graham had parked the El Camino in his mom's driveway and had begun inviting all his friends over for a ride.
Our arrival also meant the end of the effort, and while it was rewarding that the car survived, it was also bit of an emotional letdown for us after the thrash of the previous two months. But this takes nothing away from what this small circle of friends and car crafters accomplished. While the build-it-in-a-week TV shows fire up the engine and call it complete, we built a bleached-bones roller from scratch in less than a week and then drove it 1,900 miles. And if you double-dog dared us-we'd do it again.
 A previous owner had decided...  A previous owner had decided to convert this cruiser to factory A/C and then retreated to a quick sheetmetal cover-up. Properly restoring the offended firewall would have required days we didn't have. Instead, American Graffiti came to the fiberglass rescue with a trick cover that allowed us to use the stock heater box. |  The TH350 trans and stock...  The TH350 trans and stock converter came from an earlier project and bolted up easily enough along with stock, cast-iron manifolds donated by Jim's free-range, organic iron manifold farm. |  One of the biggest investments...  One of the biggest investments was in a complete new bumper-to-bumper wiring harness from Year One. Gene Callahan spent the time to string the wires, and we only had one hiccup when a missing dash screw prevented properly grounding the wiring harness. |
 Luckily for us, Frank Saenz...  Luckily for us, Frank Saenz spent most of his time underneath the dash tracing wires and instrument-panel lights. Frank also mounted the vent wings, all the new weatherstripping, and the door panels, handles, and armrests. |  It was still morning when...  It was still morning when we discovered no oil pressure during a prelubing exercise. After pulling the motor, we discovered that in our haste to assemble the engine, we had bolted in a rear galley plug with a hole in it and then spiked the offense by omitting all three front oil-galley plugs. This required yanking the front dress, oil pan, timing-chain cover, and the timing chain and gears. It set us back at least four hours including the run to two auto parts stores to find the correct-size plugs. |  Our next challenge occurred...  Our next challenge occurred when the driveshaft we had rebuilt weeks before didn't fit. After much gnashing of teeth, Frank clued us in that the late-model slip yoke was too long. We found an old one stuck in a Muncie four-speed, and we were soon connected to the stock 10-bolt. |