Mike, this photo was taken in the summer of 1972 behind our home in Houston, Texas. This is the '55 Chevy I built (same colour as yours).
Note heavy timber A-frame utilizing tree to support one side. My eldest son is assisting me (the little tyke is 40 years old now).
I am setting the 1955 Chevy 210 2dr sedan body onto a 1956 station wagon frame. The '55 had been wrecked and the frame was bent. The body was fine from firewall back except for the drivers side dogleg for the windshield and the pillar that the door hinges bolted to, which I was able to straighten with a screw jack and some timbers. Left front fender, left door, hood, splashpan and grille were taken from other cars to replaced collision damage and I installed tinted glass and dash trim from a '55 Bel Air.
The '56 wagon frame fit beneath the '55 sedan body perfectly. I did have to relocate one body to frame mount on each side just in front of the kickup for the rear axle and reweld it to the wagon frame after bolting the body onto the frame, but that was no big deal.
I rebuilt the suspension and upgraded the chassis by installing '62 409 wagon springs (less 2 coils) up front along with wider 11" diameter X 2-3/4" wide '65 Chevy front drums and shoes along with '59 backing plates. Mounted a front anti-sway bar taken from a big block 'A'-body car. At the rear, the '56 wagon springs were rebuilt and re-arched with an extra leaf added from the '55 sedan springs.
Differential was a '64 Ford Galaxie 9" with 4.11 gears, redrilled axles for Chevy pattern and I ran 11" diameter X 2-3/4" wide '65 Chevy front drums and shoes on the Ford backing plates with longer grade 8 studs and a 5/16" spacer between Ford axle flange and Chevy drum (original Ford rear drum was 11" diameter X 2-1/2" wide).
Transmission was a Borg Warner T-85 with overdrive from a 1962 Galaxie with 390 engine. It was rebuilt and the gearcase, input shaft and front collar were replaced with parts from a '57 Pontiac T-85 w/o OD...... This bolted right up to my '55 Chevy bellhousing. The T-85 OD cast-iron tranny was very large and heavy...... Approximately 6" longer than a long tailshaft '55-'57 Chevy transmission. So in addition to the original '55 front engine mounts and bellhousing side mounts, I installed a Ford transmission crossmember and transmission mount as a 5th mounting point for added support.
1st engine was a 'built' 327, followed by a 450 HP LS-6 454 GM long block with a '67 427 'Vette Holley tri-power induction system.
Happy Motoring,
Harry
Welcome aboard, Mike! Its a small world indeed. Great to have you here and a very nicely done '55 by the way. I had one the same colour in the early '70s. One of my favourite rides ever!