I actually drove the car for about a year prior to changing anything, then it all started. I entered the “I want something different” phase. Not just a different color phase; I wanted something that would create that “wow” effect. I envisioned an all-metal tilt front end, but I also wanted the hood to continue to work normally. I visited a few restoration shops and mostly got the “you want to do what?” question. I finally found a shop in Plano, Collision Pro, to take my vision and make it a reality. Together, we sat down and created some conceptual drawings for guidance. With only these drawings as a guideline, we worked through eight or nine different iterations of the how-to phase. We finally hit pay dirt when Paul, the owner, suggested taking it to a friend of his up the street at Keith Craft Motorsports. Keith Craft was not only able to come up with a working front end within weeks, it worked by remote control.

It was about this time that I read about, then joined the Dallas Area Classic Chevys car club. I was pleased to meet many other car enthusiasts with the same hopes, dreams and visions for their Tri-5s. I started entering the car in some small local car shows and did satisfactory; but the engine compartment and the paint job didn’t compete well even at local shows. I went back to Rob at Keith Craft, and we started developing a list of things we should do – and what a list! They had the car for just over a year while stripping it down to bare metal, doing the body work, removing all of the emblems, recessing the license plate, obtaining new chrome on certain parts, adding the A/C, installing the rack and pinion steering, adding bucket seats, fabricating a console, and applying the finishing touch - the incredible paint job.

I took it back on the road, dropping in to those local shows for about four months now. At the very first show, the Classic Chevy Show at Reliable Chevrolet in 2008 - we received the “Best ‘57” award.