1959 AMSOIL Street Rodder Road Tour Impala: Putting It All Together

This is year six of the AMSOIL Street Rodder Road Tour and it promises to be yet another exciting one. Street Rodder magazine is consider by many rodding enthusiasts to be the Bible of street rodding. Since the Road Tour was conceived many years ago, spearheaded by Road Tour director Jerry Dixey, participation has grown steadiily

Here's a quick peek of how this year's 1959 Chevrolet Impala looked as it was being assembled in the shop of Hot Rods By Dean. This coming weekend "Leg One" of this year's eight road tours will be kicking off from San Antonio, Texas heading west to the 50th annual L.A. Roadsters Show in Pomona, California. That's one beautiful drive across the Southwest, and it's a great way to start this year's tour.

If you're interested in being part of one of the 2014 AMSOIL Street Rodder Road Tour, here's this year's schedule, along with a link to a form to fill out so you can get registered. It's a great family of rodding enthusiasts creating memories for a lifetime.

And maybe at some point along the way, if you get a chance, ask Jerry what it was like being at Woodstock.

Update on the AMSOIL / Street Rodder Road Tour '59 Chevy

Now at Hot Rod Interiors in Phoenix, Arizona the AMSOIL / Street Rodder Road Tour '59 Chevy is under the careful hands and sewing machine of Glenn Kramer. Building a custom interior will take almost three weeks and the car will be ready for unveiling on May 17 at Hot Rods by Dean also in Phoenix.

Good progress on the first day as the trunk is finished and the headliner is going in. Colors will be Torch Red vinyl and Graphite Silver cloth followed by Blood Red loop pile carpeting spread over ample supply of Dynamat to deaden unwanted sounds and keep out unwanted heat. The front seating will be a pair of Procar buckets with a rear custom bench seat all wrapped in the red/silver combination. All of the interior appointments will come by way of Classic Industries who also supplied the exterior trim and glass while SoffSeal supplied the rubber.

Hot Rods by Dean has dropped in The Shaver Racing Engines 427-inch LS motor complete with Inglese eight stack injection and a myriad of Comp Cams components that are at the heart of this 630hp and 602ft-lb torque smooth running V-8. Nestled behind the potent "small-block" is a 4L80E tranny built by Hughes Transmissions.

All of this potent performance sits on a Roadster Shop chassis that features four-wheel-independent suspension held up by Circle City Racing wheels wrapped with a set of four bodacious monster Michelin rubber tires.

The body is painted in Ferrari, yes that Ferrari, Red and accented by replated chrome and reworked and polished stainless steel all from Sherm's Custom Plating.

The AMSOIL / Street Rodder Road Tour '59 Chevy will travel nearly 25,000 miles crisscrossing the country this summer. Be sure to stop by and take a look you will be pressed.

Spy Photos of the 2014 AMSOIL Street Rodder Road Tour Build

Somehow we got inside Hot Rods by Dean and captured these shots of the latest AMSOIL Street Rodder Road Tour car.... as it happens. How cool is that?

Expect great things in 2014.

Status Update on the 2014 AMSOIL Street Rodder Road Tour Star

Tomorrow Hot Rods by Dean will have the 2014 AMSOIL Street Rodder Road Tour car on display at its 7th annual open house for Goodguys Scottsdale in Arizona. Award winning builder Dean Livermore was selected earlier this year to build the '59 Chevrolet Impala for the 2014 tour.

The RT14 '59 Chevy is in guide coat (last step before final bodywork and paint) and will remain in this condition until around Christmas. There are a number of smaller projects such as exhaust, powdercoat chassis, etc. that need to be finalized before the final paint job can be applied. It will be a gorgeous car for road tour rockstar Jerry Dixey to drive this year. Said Dixey, “I'm really excited about our 1959 Impala Road Tour car for 2014. The 1959 and 1960 Chevrolet body style was a radical change to the traditional automotive styles of the 1950’s. The Hot Rods by Dean built car will be a wolf in sheep’s clothing with a potent Ron Shaver-built LS motor under the hood, the whole package rolling on an independent front and rear suspension chassis from the Roadster Shop. I can’t wait to see the USA in our 1959 AMSOIL Street Rodder Road Tour Chevrolet.”

The open house will be in conjunction with the 16th annual Southwest Nationals, penultimate car show for Goodguys. The open house has drawn as many as 1,500 cars in the past and Dean brings in a catering team to make rodders burgers.

Currently the Impala is sitting on its frame and will have signage alongside during the open house. After the open house plans call for another concerted effort to have as much done as possible by the end of January. Rumor has it that the car might get a little eyeball time during a Source Interlink party during the MPMC show, then moved to the GNRS Show the end of that month. This last bit is all on the hush hush right now, if you know what I mean.

For now, 2014 seems to be shaping up to be another great year for the AMSOIL Street Rodder Road Tour.