A 1936 Chevy Deluxe had an excellent pre-war style to it, but it left the factory with modest power and limited engineering because the car was built during an era when the automotive industry was still somewhat new-and the North American economy was in big trouble.
The net result was a car that was a solid candidate for hot rod and custom upgrades if it avoided the crusher and was still around many decades after the ’36 Chevy was sold to a Great Depression buyer who still had a steady job at the time.
Jim Sutherland
The dawn of the 21st century in 2000 also marked the year Kent Madsen began his 1936 Chevy two-door sedan’s conversion into a classic custom hot rod. Ultimately, Kent was able to drive his project car to its first show in 2005.
Traditional hot rod/custom builders follow a tried-and-true path where they tackle a project with donor vehicles and their own donated time. Kent is fortunate because he has enough mechanical and body skills to answer the bell for his own project, even though he is in another trade.
Kent’s game plan included a 1985 Pontiac Trans Am donor vehicle that offered a suitable powertrain for his project, including its 305 small block engine and 4-speed automatic transmission. Kent rebuilt the engine and added a sturdier crankshaft, along with cast iron cylinder heads to ensure its durability over the long haul.
He also added a narrowed S-15 rear end out of a four-wheel drive truck to lower the gear ratio from 2:77 to 3:44 because Kent found the higher gear ratio to be sluggish in terms of acceleration. The lower gears are a solid balance because they allow the Chevy to accelerate faster and still maintain lower RPMs at highway speeds because of the extra gear in the automatic tranny.
The result is a 300-horsepower hot rod that is “perfect at faster speeds”, according to Kent, and still delivers 18-19 MPG along the way.
Kent was careful to include safety into his project and boxed the ’36 Chevy’s original frame for added strength, along with installing a genuine Mustang II front end and disc brakes on all four wheels on his resto mod.
The front seats were also donated by the ’85 Trans Am and redone in leather to provide solid comfort and style for Kent’s ’36 Chevy.
A major component of the project was the body work challenge because Kent found the Chevy stored under a tarp where it had major door issues due to the fact most ’36 Chevys had wooden frames that rotted away over the years.
However, Kent is a problem-solver who researched the 1936 Chevy and discovered they were built with metal door inserts later in that production year. Even better, Kent was able to locate donor doors with this feature and used them as replacements.
MyStarCollectorCar mentioned the highway capabilities of Kent’s ’36 Chevy resto mod for a good reason: Kent loves to drive his very cool custom whenever the opportunity arises for him. Consequently, Kent added AC, power steering, power windows (and even power doors) to his Chevy resto mod project because he wanted to be comfortable whenever he hits the road in it.
Mission accomplished because his retro rod is a solid blend of past and present for Kent whenever he drives his very cool custom ’36 Chevy sedan.
Jim Sutherland
BY: Jim Sutherland
Jim Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer whose work has been published by many major print and online publications. The list includes Calgary Herald, The Truth About Cars, Red Deer Advocate, RPM Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Vancouver Province, and Post Media Wheels Section.
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