[bkswede]

Hi all,

My name is Brian Knudson and I’ve been a long time lurker here on the forums reading about all the great cars you all have been building over the years. I grew up around cars as my dad was a big car fan in his youth - mainly drag racing and street racing back in the ‘60s. He was a big fan of ‘56 Chevys and owned and built several in the early ‘60s before focusing on the muscle cars Detroit was pumping out in the late ‘60s. He ultimately special ordered a 1969 Plymouth GTX with a 426 Hemi, 4 speed, super track pack, etc, which he owned and raced for two years before selling and moving on to building a house and starting a family... he sure wished he had hung on to that GTX!

As I was growing up, he got the itch again and bought another 1969 GTX - this time a 440 4 speed car that needed a lot of work. That started my love of cars and I worked alongside my dad on that GTX - completely rebuilding the 440, fixing wiring problems, rebuilding the stock suspension, doing bodywork, etc.

Fast forward 30 years and I’m finally at a point in life where the kids aren’t taking up 100% of my time (maybe 90%, lol) and I’m reminiscing more and more about how much I enjoyed working on cars as a kid. I’ve always loved the idea of pro-touring cars - old school cars with modern suspension and engines, capable of reliably driving whenever and wherever, including the occasional auto cross - which is why I’ve always enjoyed following builds on this site.

I finally bit the bullet last spring, and bought a partially complete car from Metalworks - a great shop in Oregon and I believe a sponsor here on lateral g. It’s a ‘63 Chevy II 2 door hardtop - a true SS car. It had full DSE suspension (front subframe, rear Quadra link, subframe connectors, DSE mini-tubs, 9 inch Ford with aluminum center section, 3.90s, double adjustable shocks all around, etc.), and Metalworks did all the custom fabrication work necessary to install the suspension, mini-tubs, a custom tunnel for a T56 6 speed transmission, and a roll bar. They also did all the metal work on the car, which wasn’t a ton as the car was pretty solid to start with - the only significant metal replacement was the passenger quarter panel. I bought it from them as a roller.

I’m currently working with Kurt Anderson from AutoKraft, who is located in Eau Claire, WI (I live in the Twin Cities, about an hour and a half west of Eau Claire), to finish the bodywork and paint the Nova. Some may know Kurt who was active on this site years ago when he worked with Scott Gulbranson, the founder of lateral g, to paint Scott’s red ‘69 Camaro that was the inspiration for this site.

Beyond the paint and bodywork, I’m not sure how much I’ll have Kurt work on additional assembly for me. I’d like to do as much assembly as I can, but recognize that I have limited free time and would like to enjoy the car as much as possible, and if I do assembly on everything it’s likely to take me years to finish this (between work and kids, I still have a ton going on). This car is meant to be enjoyed on the road - mainly on the streets as a fun driver and occasionally on the track for autocross and drag race action.

Over the next few days, I’ll try to add some posts and pictures to show my progress to date - which hasn’t been a ton as far as the body goes as Kurt was really backed up when I first brought the car to him. So, I’ve been focusing more on drivetrain work and accumulating parts while it’s in paint jail. I’ve really enjoyed working on this for the last few months and look forward to what will likely be a lengthy build, due to limited time. Maybe when I get it home and can start to work on it myself, my son will take a liking to it like I did with my dad’s GTX when I was his age....


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