Lap Of Luxury
No all-race-car theme here. This is supposed to be a street car and one with at least the rudiments of comfort. Dale underwrote the process with a Painless harness, amended the engine/transmission monitoring system with a Painless loom, and braced the instrument panel with Auto Meters, including one for positive manifold pressure. Ron Mangus' Custom Auto Interiors in Rialto, California, did up the seats and panels in leather. "I just told him to do something cool, clean, and gray. Ron never lets me down."
Friction
Dale got with the program. He shucked the ancient minuscule (read dangerous) drum travesty for a Wilwood forged Dynalite four-caliper drag race ensemble at both ends (11.75 and 11.44-inches, respectively) of the pocket rocket. Would it look right with anything other than Weld hoops? Up front Pro Star 15x3.5 with no-name 165 skinnies; in the rear, 10-inch Pro Star's wrapped with fat BFG P325/50R15 Drag Radials.
Skin
The one thing that Dale was willing to discuss about his recalcitrant painter was color. It had to be some strain of yellow. "He showed me something called Toner Yellow. I just told him to go for it. Why not stand out for Jenna?" Other than the minimal cowl hood, the sheetmetal remains subtle and original.
Support
You can't be putting down this kind of grunt with an undercarriage made of toothpicks. Glenn Dick in Mentone, California, did all the rear chassis work mentioned and incorporated coilover dampers to set ride height and adjust bite. As the TCI front assembly was already in place, it afforded tubular control arms, new coil springs, and 2-inch drop spindles. Dale corrects the shoebox's trajectory with an ididit steering column paired with the TCI quick-ratio rack. All the attendant components are lighter and infinitely more useable than the original bean-counter garbage. Ready to rock, Tweety displaces but 2,959 pounds.