Hello Rustlovers! Welcome to th- BWWWHHAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

The WAGONATOR!!!!

Excuse me. Welcome to the Free model T.

Today in my garbage garage I have a new thing! A couple of weeks ago my friend Stephan from BWC customs texted me a picture of this monster and asked if I wanted it. He was there next to it with his truck and trailer and decided he didn’t want it. He also didn’t want to waste time and diesel so he said a number and I agreed.

When I got home from work it was already there, delivered right to my orchard: a 1963 Pontiac Catalina Safari wagon monster truck on 38″ super swampers. It’s sitting on a shortened suburban 2500 frame with a Dana 44 axle up front and a GM 14 bolt in the rear. Beef-tastic. The trans and transfer case are there, it just needed an engi- BWWWHHAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

Small block Chevy!!!!!

Certainly the most popular hot rod motor in history but a first on the Free model T. I used to buy and sell these things for $50. One time I tied one with a little ridge to my bumper and used it to plow my back field for some grass then sold it for $100. I’ve been out of the chevy game for a while and it seems that now the LS reigns supreme and the small block 350 is a precious commodity.

After sifting through a bunch of greasy short blocks on Craigslist in the $1200 range, I came up on this “hear it run before we pull it out” small block that someone needed gone for $600. It ran well and came with everything. All the accessories, an Edelbrock intake, Holley carb, HEI, even a clutch and bellhousing. It was a steal.

I picked up the car for $400, the engine for $600, paid $410 in back registration fees and paid $30 for a heavy duty flywheel to bolt up to the existing turbo 350. So with $1440 into the vehicle I want to kick off my “Building a budget 4×4” series! Yes I’ll still be posting on “Fatty Patty the Cummins Caddy” as she progresses (spoiler alert, I bought tires yesterday) but I’ve wanted to do a short series on budget builds that are still cool for a long time.

Also I bought a geo.

Thanks for stopping by Rustlovers!