Rust never sleeps: investigating a pinball wizard's 1937 Chevrolet

[Hagerty]

According to Neil Young, rust never sleeps. The Canadian-American singer songwriter coined the phrase as a personal rebuke. The former folk rocker was telling himself he had to adapt his style to the music scene - specifically punk rock - or become irrelevant. Wait. Neil who? Point taken?
https://www.hagerty.com/media/car-profiles/rust-never-sleeps-investigating-a-pinball-wizards-1937-ch...

[4RenT]

A daily driver,
as they all should be...

[Studenorton]

There is no "Studebaker Owners Club."

[olde_blue]

But. . . will Hagerty insure it?

[merlebalke]

Don't see why not.

[Stepwilk]

Neil Young's "Rust Never Sleeps" came out in 1979. First time I heard the phrase was about five years before that, when i was at Car and Drive and Pat Bedard used it. "Hey, rust never sleeps" he said to me, though damned if I can remember why.

[Swamibob]

I believer that was a tag line for Ziebart of Rusty Jones, or possibly some other spray on rust preventative company, in the early 70's. Good marketing. 🙂

[Pegleg01]

Had my MG Ziebarted way back in the 70's. The undercarriage was then a sea of black icicles. But especially with an MG 'Rust Never Sleeps', in fact it's wide awake
for the life of the car. The interiors even rust on MG's.

[merlebalke]

Patina? Or just bad paint and rust? Why no pictures under the hood or the interior? Anything done to the suspension and brakes to actually make it safe to drive?

[Pegleg01]

Must have a newer chassis with the steering box poking out the front.

[DeeJayNOLA_007]

I was thinking the exact same thing. At least a picture of the Tahoe motor that was stuffed under the hood.

[Billyr62]

Front section of an S-10 frame (also widened) grafted on to the original frame, rear leaf springs from the S-10, 57 Chevy rear end. Power booster, master cylinder, proportioning valve, brake pedal assembly tilt steering column and seat from the S-10, "paint" on most of the car is original (there is poorly done repair to the body on the right rear quarter panel that appears to have been done early in the cars life), so the car has power brakes, power steering, computer controlled fuel injection and computer controlled auto trans with overdrive. Drives like a modern car, will have AC soon

[Tinkerah]

I think it's gorgeous!...But I'm a rat rod guy. Quite a stretch calling it "rusted out". In the pics it looks plenty solid with surface discoloration. It's what I think of when I hear "patina". Here in New England it's not rusted out until there are holes in it.

[FloridaMarty]

Drive what you like. If others don't like it, tell them where they can file their complaint.

[JGeske]

Agreed, unless someone is driving a Carolina Squat, don't encourage those people.

[Tinkerah]

"Back in the Day" (<-- an extensive category from which I pull many comments) we'd tell complainants "Go get yours and I'll race ya".

[Gary_Bechtold]

Other than the overused patina line, I like the car. I would have liked more mechanical, interior, etc. pictures. Pinballz is cool.

[twood]

Interesting ride. I just bought a 37 coupe, older total build with a chevy fast burn create engine with mod's. T350. 67 chevy r.end, mustang 2 front end. Cutom interior, gauges. AZ car, no rust that I could find. Takes me back to 38 coupe, late 50's early 60's. Really felt good to be back. Way back.

[TrustyRusty]

Years ago, a friend of mine became "homeless" and used the very long trunk of his 1937 Chevy coupe as a "camper". His coupe had no back seat, but rather a package tray that ran from the rear window to the top of the seat back. He modified the package tray so that it opened with hinges and used it as a trap door to sneak in and out of the trunk. This way, no one saw him open and close the trunk lid to access his special place. He lived that way for several months and no one became aware of his "motor home". The car was powered by a highly modified 292 cubic inch GMC inline six. FAST and Stealthy.

[Pegleg01]

One resourceful dude.

[Pegleg01]

Some mfr named their first all-steel top "Turret Top" well in advance of the war years, can't recall which one, though.

[buellerdan]

And I always thought that Pro Street has more to do with the drag racing look, not stock car style.

[bikefoole]

I would have a blast with this car. Perfect, extremely cool driver.

[Brandx]

For those uneducated about the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, those sturdy singers Da Yoopers have a great song called "The Rusty Chevrolet"

[Studenorton]

A north central thing: that car is rusted, not "rusted out." Rusted out involves holes in the body (which means holes in the frame). Few places in the South, and most of the West, you can achieve that, as "a look." For the rest, it's terminal.

[DeeJayNOLA_007]

I'd beg to differ. All along the tropical southern rain belt e.g. Louisiana, TX, Alabama, MS, FL, AR, parts of GA etc. I've definitely seen and almost purchased a few "rusted-out" vehicles. I mean where you can see clean through and sunlight pouring in from many angles.

[TG]

There's a guy at work who does this with 50's era pickups. They usually wind up with S-10 frame/drivetrain but all patinaed pickup on the outside

[eighthtry]

Would have been nice to scope out the interior. It seems Hagerty is always one picture short.