The BLACK WIDOW story


Dr. William A. Woods purchased this car from John W. Moore of 208 West Olive Street in Redlands, California on April 4, 1970.  The odometer reading on the day of purchase was 30,300 miles.  Bill moved to Ukah California and began his Oral Surgery practice there in 1975.  He drove the car infrequently.    On June 21, 1975 Margaret Schwarm accidently struck the right rear of the chevy and slightly damaged the area around the wheel opening on the back passenger side.   His last entry in his car log was dated March 17, 1979.  The reading was 34,296 miles, so about 4000 miles in those 9 years.  At this point there was an electrical problem as indicated by the parts he purchased but never installed.  The car was stored outside until Dr. Woods built a 3 car garage.  During this time the car developed some surface rust.   The car was then stored inside the 3 car garage until July 16, 2006 when I purchased the car.  Dr. Wood's intention was to build a street rod out of it, however because he was an oral surgeon, he did not want to risk injuring his hands by working on the car.  It was not running when I bought in on July 16, 2006 so my friend and I brought it to Lodi on his trailer.  At that point it was taken to Bells Classic Auto Works and the project began.  The project was completed after 2 years on July 1 ,2008.  The milage was 34,492 on July 1,2008.

It was originally a 1956 210 2 door with a 265 with a 2 barrel and a 3 speed transmission with overdrive.  The color was light blue.  It had a radio, heater, tinted glass with no other options.

The engine Dr.  Woods had put in it was a 300HP 327.  We had it rebuilt it with the aluminum pistons Dr. Woods had gotten for it.  He had stockpiled other parts for the car as well including two muncie 4 speed transmissions and 3 positraction 4:11 rear ends.  We put the best of those in the car with a Mr. Gasket floor shift.  Harry of HP Engines in Victor California  built the engine.  He put in new aluminum angle plug heads and edelbrock  1805 Thunder series carb and aluminum manifold.  An electronic ignitions system and Hooker Headers and exhaust raised the horsepower well over the original 300HP.  The cam shaft has a grind which gives peak power between 3000 rpm and 7000 rpm.  The engine is balanced and revs up to 7000 quickly.  We used a moon tach and stewart warner analog gauges in keeping with the old school theme.  

The tires are TA Goodrich radials and on front are 155/15 on stock 5 inch rims and the ones in back 225/15 on seven inch rims with the stock small hubcaps.  We lowered the car 2 inches in back and raised it 1 inch in front to give it the dragstrip look.  It has traction bars on the back and lake plugs on the front.   The paint is Hot Rod Black Flatz.  The interior was redone by Luna Brothers in Lodi with the Black Widow theme.

Why a Black Widow theme?  Black Widows are deadly, they bite to kill.  This car has a bite that eliminates the competition in the quarter mile.  Back in 1957 Chevy sent out about 12 stripped down 150 coupes  with a black and white color scheme.  They were equipped with potent 283 fuel injected engines.  They beat all the competition on the NASCAR circuit in 1957.  The corporate powers agreed to stop racing and withdrew official sponsorship of these fast cars.  People continue to build and race them even to this day.  My black widow is a tribute to that type of car.  It has no power steering, no power brakes, but does have disk brakes on front.  There is no air conditioner but we did put in a new radio.  The interior is black with black widows decorating the seats, the engine is black with a black widow on top of the air cleaner.The paint is black with a REAL black widow spider as an emblem on the front of the hood.... you get the idea.