Hillsborough, NB’s Gary Steeves wasn’t really look for a new project when he rediscovered this ’53 Chevy coupe in 2003.  “A close friend of mine, Roger Steeves, owned this car in the early 1970s,” says Steeves, who owns an insurance company which, among other areas, specializes in classic car insurance. “We were really close. We rebuilt it, changed the frame on it — put a ’54 Chevy sedan frame under the coupe. He sold it in the mid-1970s and it went through lots of hands and I lost track of it.”
     When Steeves heard about the car in 2003 he got a little emotional. Sadly, Roger had passed away a few years before. “I bought the car with my heart, not my head,” says Steeves.  Though finding the car, then owned by Roy “Yackey” Reynolds was unexpected, it didn’t take long for Steeves and his son, Trent, to come up with a plan for the coupe.  “I had a dream inspired by small Hop Up mags and the model cars I built in the late 1950s,” says Steeves.
     “I used to hitchhike into the city when I was young to buy the latest kits.” Those early memories and magazines set the framework for a custom that a young hot rodder would have built in 1959. “In those days a cheap engine was usually a Ford flathead or a Chevy six cylinder. Even though I could afford to build a car, I wanted to build it somewhat old school.”
     The Chevy is powered by a bored out 1962 235 c.i. six cylinder. It sports an Offenhauser dual carb intake with two Rochester carburetors and Fenton cast iron header. It’s mated to a 700R4 tranny thanks to a Mr. Stovebolt transmission adapter. An S10 4x4 rear end with 3:42 gears puts the 235’s torque to the pavement. The front suspension features drop spindles and for safety’s sake, early ’70s Chevelle power disc brakes.
     As another ode to the days when he and his buddy were roaming the streets in their hot rods, Steeves installed a Line Lock just in case the tire shredding spirit struck him. “I would have done it when I was younger,” he says.
     With the driveline worked out, Steeves and son decided on some straightforward ’50s era custom mods. Before the mods, a portion of both rear quarters had to be replaced, then Tim Parker at Beach Hill Autobody in Hillsborough got the nod to do the paint and bodywork. He frenched the headlights and nosed the hood and decked the trunk. Steeves  wanted ’54 Chevy bezels with Mooneyes ’54 Chevy lenses and they look great.  Four more teeth were added to the ’53 Chevy grille which was also moulded into the body.
     The bumpers were also shaved. The gloss black exterior was tricked out in scallops and pinstripes by Brian Hansen of Moncton. The coupe’s confines were handed over to Garth Lewis at Can-Do Upholstery. Lewis stitched the rolled and pleated red and white naugahyde on the stock bench seats and door panels. An ididit column replaces the stock Chevy unit and the steering wheel is 1955 Chevy which is the same for all the switches on the dash. The ’53 gauge bezel remains, but Dauphin gauges look slick in place of the original gauges.
    The end result is a time machine that is not just an ode to another time but a living memorial to a good friend gone too soon.