When two brothers have a rift, it’s typically no surprise, but this one brought about Paul Caron’s extremely sharp 1955 Chevy post.
“It’s actually a funny story — my brother and I weren’t talking, but one day, he sent me a photo of this car for sale. We had not talked for a few months, and now he sends me pictures of race cars again,” Paul begins.
The next thing you know, Paul bought the car, and he and his brother, Harold Jr., were back on speaking terms. “It was just one of those things,” Caron tells. “I was focused on my business and not really looking, but if he hadn’t sent the sale ad, I wouldn’t have seen the car; but I immediately pulled the trigger on purchasing it.”
The ’55 Chevrolet is all steel, including all of the body panels and bumpers; it is even all original window glass. The 8.50-certified cage is added to the original front framerails. The chassis was constructed by the late Mark Markow of MRC Race Cars. “This man was an absolute genius and gentleman,” Caron adds. “He was old-school, but a craftsman that perfected any build project.”
The front suspension mimics the stock a-arm geometry with tubular upper and lower control arms. Trick components up front also include a custom fabricated rack-and-pinion steering unit as well as AFCO Racing double-adjustable coilover shocks front and rear.
The square-tube, back-half frame and roll cage are painted charcoal gray on the interior, and hot rod matte black in the engine bay. The four-link rear suspension has an anti-roll bar system and an X-style rear suspension track locator, which are all hand-fabricated.
Powering Caron’s ’55 is a 408 cubic-inch SBC, built upon a Dart Machinery Little M block with Air Flow Research 235 23-degree heads and ported Edelbrock intake. An Accufab 105mm throttle body combines with a Wilson elbow. JE pistons, Crower connecting rods, and Lunati crankshaft comprise the rotating assembly.
A Holley Performance Dominator ECU and injectors feed two Precision 68/70 turbos, a pair of 46mm wastegates, and a 66mm blow-off valve. A Bosch 044 electric fuel pump back up a Waterman Little Bertha cable-drive fuel pump. The Holley ECU also controls Holley’s water methanol pump and two 1000cc water/meth nozzles to ward off detonation.
An ATI Racing transmission flexplate and a ProTorque Gen-1 revolution torque converter follow the twin-turbo small-block. An M&M Transmission Turbo 400 racing transmission with a billet clean neutral valve-body and 2.10 first gear ratio complete the gear changes.
Power next travels through a 4-inch carbon-fiber driveshaft from the Drive Shaft Shop, and then to a 9-inch fabricated Ford housing set up with Strange Engineering‘s aluminum center section, spool, pro gears, and 40-spline gun-drilled axles.
Champion C45 front wheels and Sander Engineering 750-Series double beadlock 15×14 wheels drive Mickey Thompson 315/60/15 drag radials. Stopping duties are handled by Strange Engineering disc brakes and a Wilwood master cylinder.
The interior is a cool mixture of race with stylish touches, including all ivory tweed interior panels and tweed bench seats. The front seat is formed to a Killduff Machine one-off clean neutral multi-lever lighting rod shifter. Lokar Performance Products prove stylish looks to the billet pedals, including a clutch pedal that activates the transbrake. A Lokar 15-inch steering wheel replicates the original-style wheel.
Bob and Whitey at T&W welding modified the turbo kit, and Paul Albino from Total Induction Solutions helped with the headers, exhaust, and turbo piping. Dave Kogan of Kogan Motorsports is in charge of the tuning.
Caron is currently running the 8.50 index class at Atco Dragway. With his brother living near the Atco track, it is a grand opportunity for the two once-estranged brothers to race and be together on select weekends. Caron says the current boost setup is mellow, with 7 psi of starting line boost progressing to 19 psi at the ‘stripe. “We have a lot more left in it,” Paul says. “We will turn it up soon, but we are really having fun with this combination right now.”