of the car," Gunning said. "The brakes had deteriorated from just sitting around. The car has a hydraulic clutch assembly on it, which is real unusual for a Chevrolet, and that also failed; the fluid just turned to mud from the condensation. Mike Yager wanted to stop as well as go, and one thing led to another since I had not planned that extensive of a restoration. To remove the rear brakes, you have to remove the halfshafts. Once I removed those, the Halibrand quick-change had to come out in order to get the drums off. So when I removed that, the transmission came with it - that's just the easiest way to do it.”
After the car was reassembled, it was time to fire it up. More discoveries loomed as the water pump failed. “It's a very short-bodied, special casting by GM,” discovered Dennis. “It's all aluminum and dated