By Scotty Lachenauer – Photography By the Author
Brotherly love. Nothing compares to it. The Chowansky brothers understand this well. They not only work together, but they also play hard together. When siblings Rob, Dan, and Steve are not managing their family business, Fusco’s Auto Salvage in Watertown, Connecticut, they can usually be found having fun with a variety of motorized toys kept at the shop. Hot rods, motorcycles, muscle cars, and even snowmobiles have kept the brothers busy over the years, and you never know what you might see them riding on any given day.
However, during a recent trip to the hills in New York, the guys realized something was missing from their lives. “It had been a long time since we had a race car in the family. Steve is an accomplished driver and has won some regional titles. At that exact moment, as we were talking, we saw a car alongside the road. It was a 1937 Chevy coupe. We all thought, let’s build a hot rod together instead. We all agreed it was a great idea, so later that day I went back to talk to the owner,” Rob states.
Well, sadly, that talk didn’t go as planned. “I chatted with the owner of the car but he had no interest in selling his cherished Chevy to us. Unfortunately, I had to go back and tell my brothers the bad news. But that minor setback didn’t deter us from building a hot rod,” Rob admits.
Once back home, the brothers went online to search for 1937s for sale. Then they found one. There was a solid, buildable 1937 Chevy Master DeLuxe five-window coupe for sale in Tennessee and the guys were eager to make it theirs. Rob acted quickly and drove from Connecticut to Tennessee through the night, towing the yard’s flatbed. “When I got there, I checked it out and decided to go ahead with the purchase. I just loaded it up and headed back. We were now ready to build ourselves a hot rod.”
Once home, it only took a few hours, and the powertrain magically came out of the Chevy. The next step for them was an easy one. “We called race car builder, hot rod fabricator, and good friend Bob Cuneo of Chassis Dynamics in nearby Connecticut and asked him to stop by,” Rob states. If that name sounds familiar, it should. Cuneo is a master race chassis designer, strategist and fabricator who’s worked with people like Geoff Bodine and Paul Newman and is a guy who also used his knowledge to design gold medal–winning bobsleds for the USA Olympic team.
After inspecting the project car and getting some feedback from the brothers, Cuneo agreed to help work on the needy Chevy. “The guys brought me a completely stock car, that was in good shape, which made it a great starting point,” Cuneo states. The first thing he did was cut a V-wedge out of each side of the body, 3 inches at the nose tapering back, and then TIG welded it back together, slimming out the profile of the fuselage. Next, he increased the angle of the grille, moving the bottom forward and laying it back 3 inches, then fabricated the metal to fill it in.
An Art Morrison Enterprises (AME) chassis was ordered up and then Cuneo did all the necessary modifications to it to dial in the ride and stance the brothers were after. “I laid out what I wanted from the crew at AME and they delivered by fabricating the rails and the front clip. Next, I picked up an independent rear suspension from Roadster Shop and Rob modified it to fit the chassis. It came out perfect,” Cuneo continues.
Things progressed steadily for the brothers. A quick trip to their local Chevy dealer led to the purchase of a GM Performance LS-1 with 525 hp stock for their new hot rod. Cuneo installed the powerplant and the 4L70E transmission they also purchased, along with the cooling and exhaust systems. “To fit the car back onto the chassis I had to cut out the floors and fabricate new ones. I made the bulkheads as well, which hold all the electronics,” Cuneo says.
But the modifications were not finished yet. “Looking at the Chevy’s proportions, I felt the trunk was too long. So, I shortened it until it resembled the tail end of a 1937 Ford. A set of Bentley exhaust tips was tunneled into the body, and the front fenders were smoothly filled in.” Cuneo also began incorporating the long torpedo headlights into the fenders and added larger rear sedan fenders. “The brothers just wanted more and more fabrication and wanted it better and better. I appreciate that, but I’m not a body guy. I’m a chassis fabricator. They had mentioned that they wanted Rob Ida to design and execute the interior. We have worked together on many projects. I told them, “Let Ida finish off the metalwork; that’s his area of expertise!”
Without missing a step, the Chevy was sent down to Ida Automotive in New Jersey for the next phase in its evolution, morphing from a sedate, stock Chevy into a full-blown, high-powered street rod. First impressions are important, and Ida thoroughly looked over the project before jumping in. “I really liked a lot of the improvements Cuneo made on the car. My job was initially to design an interior and do some of the needed sheetmetal work. However, I also ended up making some suggestions for other modifications I thought would help the build aesthetically,” Ida states.
First off, Ida went to work on the Chevy’s cockpit. “We fabricated the dash and console, 3-D printing the gauge cluster surround and the steering wheel. Sean Tucker did all the CAD work and printing,” Ida states. This particular setup is much trickier than what you see at first or even at second glance. “It has invisible turn signals built into the wheel. They are touch-sensitive and activated by just moving your finger over the sensors. The signal turns off when a laser sensor beam hits its cut-off point during wheel rotation. The same applies to the horn, as a touch sensor on the steering wheel will activate it. All CAD and printed by Sean,” Ida states.
The steering column is electric, and the shifter knob and vents are custom pieces, once again 3-D printed. These items were designed and assembled by Ida, while Sean Tucker produced them. The gauge cluster, designed and assembled by Ida, is easy to read, has a sleek design, and is made by Sean Tucker. “The cluster moves with the steering wheel, so you always have a full view of the electronic gauges, which are finished in an art deco motif.” The seats are covered in genuine leather from a Cadillac CTS and have been modified by Ida. Mikey Seats out of New Jersey did all the incredible leather upholstery on the Chevy in a dark red hue. Ida made the Chevy badges on the seats in his shop, and he also fabricated the seat surrounds out of sheetmetal.
Once the work was finished on the cockpit, Ida made some suggestions about the exterior of the car. “Initially, I was just going to do the interior, but I started adding some modifications to the body.” The list turns out to be quite extensive. “I liked what Cuneo did to the decklid, and I continued on the theme and shortened and narrowed it a bit more. I recessed the license plate holder and added a flush lens. One other thing I did out back was with the rear fenders. Bob had added the larger fenders out back. I liked that and made them even wider and fabricated the taillights.”
Up front, Ida continued with the upgrades, first finishing the integration of the headlights into the front fenders, then making the headlight rings and adding the Harley-Davidson V Rod lights. “The headlight rings that came with the lights were too small. I made them larger, which made the headlights appear much bigger.” From there, Ida redid the hood side panels and added the side bezels that go with it.
Ida also relocated the engine bay vent and did the trim work. He also designed and built the trim and shrouding around the grille and fabricated the hood latches. The Chowansky brothers then ordered a set of their own custom-designed EVOD wheels for the coupe: 18×10.5 in the front and 19×13.5 in the rear. They are fitted with Michelin Pilot Sport tires, 275/35ZR18 and 325/30ZR19, respectively.
Lastly, Ida handled the final bodywork and applied flawless paint on the Chevy. “Originally, the brothers were going to do the final bodywork and paint in their shop, but since I was finishing all the body modifications, they figured why not just have me finish the build. So, we got it laser straight and applied a layer of Spies Hecker Blue Black, which came out smooth as silk,” Ida states.
Finished to perfection, the Chevy was delivered to the Chowansky brothers at their shop. The highly modified hot rod received a heavy dose of adulation from the trio of siblings from the start. Rob puts it this way: “It looked awesome. All the fabrication that was done by Rob Ida and Bob Cuneo was spectacular, from start to finish. It’s a cherished piece here at the shop and we only drive it on special occasions. Yes, it’s a trailer queen, but it’s our own trailer queen!” MR
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