Gerry's Stainless Frame

May 2 2004

This is a project a couple of us are doing for a friend (Gerry) here in the Chicago area. Gerry bought this car new in 1981, and drove it as a daily driver in Illinois, road salt and all, for many years. The upside is that it was garage kept at both ends of his commute, so he ended up with a car that is very nice everywhere you can see from above, and an unsafe disaster underneath. Rather than junking the car, after 23 years it was time for a rebuild.

I split the body last fall, hauled the parts over to Gerry's home where he spent the winter moving the parts over. Now it's time to put it all back together, so we hauled the two parts back to my garage (Thanks Rich and Steve!) and, after a few more tweaks (thanks Kerry, Bryan, Reg, and Rich), put it back in one piece. Here's a sneak peak at the project - more photos to come when I get around to it (I always say that).

The frame and suspension parts were provided by Pearce Design Components. He went all the way - full SS frame, trailing arms, and control arms. Suspension by Marty. This is probably the first SS frame car with an automatic transmission. This is NOT a show car, it will be driven, probably a lot. Maybe to Pigeon Forge if it gets past the shakedown stage quickly. So no comments about some of the detail work, that's how it was meant to be. A 60,000+ mile car with a new frame. A very practical DeLorean.

Dave Swingle

Rolling it back into the (Monster) Garage.

Front - note control arms, upper and lower.

Check out the rear arms here.....

And of course rusty frame = rusty evaporator fittings, so this is the current project.

Check back later for more pictures.