10 seconds and Street legal!

This Very Cool 1955 Chevy Gasser called the Orange Krate is owned and was built by Dave VerSchave. The car is at home on the street when not putting down a 10 second run at the drag strip. Dave said that a very memorable experience was at the Route 66 Raceway doing a 100 foot wheelstand when hitting 2nd gear even after the usual “wheels in the air” launch.

Here is the Video:

The Orange Krate is powered by a 1970 496 Rat motor built up using JE 10.5:1 pistons, Eagle rods and crank and topped with Chevy 990 heads. The heads are covered by the classic Cal Custom valve covers. Estimated HP is around 650 at 7200RPM. Fuel is fed by an Edelbrock TR2-X tunnnel ram intake with 2 Holley 750 carbs with a cool looking MPH air scoop on top which shows thru the hood. The engine work was done by Romito Racing Engines near Tinley Park, Illinois. The power runs through a 4 speed transmission with a Classic Hurst shifter.

The suspension includes a new 2×4 boxed front frame ahead of the firewall with Speedway parallel leaf springs using Bilstein 90/10 shocks and a chromoly 2 inch straight axle. The rear has a custom Panhard, ladder bars and QA1 coilovers. The rear tires are Mickey Thompson 31×14.5 on Team III ET 15×12 wheels. The front 5.60×15 Goodrich tires are mounted on American Racing 15×3 five-spokes. The Wilwood brakes are pumped by a Corvette master cylinder.

Inside Dave retained the factory dash and speedometer for the cool vintage look. He added a couple of the classic Stewart-Warner gauges, the dash mounted tachometer and the Moon steering wheel. Dave’s son Al installed the chomoly 12 point roll cage. Dave used aluminum door panels and air brushed them to match the Procar Sportsman seats. Additional uplolstery work was done by Schober’s Custom Hot Rod Interiors in Sandwich, Illinois.

Since Dave is himself a custom painter, he did the gorgeous paint job himself. He used House of Color Orange Pearl paint and added the darker orange vertical stripe with the 427 graphics and finished off with the lighter flame design from the front fender into the doors. No wonder he called it Orange Krate!

Read more about this project at Hotrod.com

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