Vehicle Description
Sorry, this vehicle has been SOLD. If you were interested in this
car and would like us to help find or build you a similar one,
please contact us at 847-487-2272. Custom built, one-off,
spetacular 1933 Chevy built for Carl Sprague, owner of Custom
Autosound in California. Carl commissioned Barry White at Barry's
Speed Shop In California to build his dream car and personal Custom
Autosound show car, which is what you see here. This car was a top
6 Contender for the 2007 "Most Beautiful Roadster" award. With
estimated costs to build this car at over $440,000.00 its time for
you to grab onto a very unique car with a pretty cool history
behind the build at a near fraction of the cost of you building it
yourself. Sound Machine - Custom Autosound Cranks It Up "There was
a time in our history, and not too long ago at that, someone could
come up with an idea, and through a need for that product, become
successful. Call it the "better mousetrap" syndrome. People like
Carl Sprague, owner of Custom Autosound, are those who took an idea
and ran with it. In Sprague's case, it was in 1977 that he took a
newer AM/FM-cassette capable radio and adapted it to work in his
AM-only-equipped 1963 Corvette. And as these usually happen, it was
through prodding from friends and others who wanted him to upgrade
their cars that he saw an opportunity to make a nitch for himself.
He soon was producing vehicle-specific units that looked like the
stock unit, and fit in the stock location, but had all of the
latest features that any driver really wanted in their sound
system. And the rest, as they say, is history. Sprague has always
been a Corvette guy. From his earliest days, the iconic Chevy was
the car for him, and he has had quite a few. So when he thought
about building a hot rod, he knew that he wanted a Chevy, and he
wanted it to be a roadster: he likes the breeze when he drives. So
he put in a call to Barry White at Barry's Speed Shop of Corona,
CA, who said he could build what would look like a 1935 Chevy
Roadster, but would be full on. Sprague liked the sound of that and
agreed to go ahead with the project. If the body looks familiar, it
should. It is a Coast to Coast Street Rods Impact II 1933 Ford unit
that Tony Correia of Speed Shop Custom Paint of Corona, CA,
modified to appear more like a 1935 Chevy. In another effort to
give it a Chevy look, Marcel's Custom Metal Shaping fabricated a
new hood. Correia also installed the Corvette dash into the car
with original speedo and mileage, but only after he chopped it into
pieces and tossed out the center section. The crew at Barry's Speed
Shop fabricated a new grille with surround that also plays into the
'35 Chevy theme. For those who know, orange seems to be White's
signature color and it works perfectly with the '35. The paint in
question is actually a PPG-based special mix that Correia blended
especially for this car. It has a healthy dose of pearl added to
give it that pop, as if the car needed any more help. To give the
body (and Sprague) a good mount, Barry and his crew constructed a
custom frame. Included in the job were some very cool suspension
components by Kugel Komponents. One of Jerry Kugel's incredible IRS
rear ends as well as a KK IFS system now adorn the car and not only
give it the perfect hot rod look, the KK units work very well and
give the car perfect handling characteristics. Since this car is a
convertible (Convertible? There actually isn't any top! -Ed.), the
interior needs to be great looking as well as comfortable.
Accomplishing these two requirements has never been a problem for
the crew at Gabe's Street Rods Custom Interiors of Paramount, CA,
and the job they did on the '35 is up to their normal high-quality
standards. From fabricating the seats and door panels out of
high-density foam to covering them with leather, they did it all,
including wrapping the Budnik steering wheel. Including laying the
Mercedes carpeting. Their fine job extends into the trunk as well.
As stated, the dash is out of a Vette, but the gauges are by
Classic Instruments, while the stylish floor shifter is an Auto Max
unit that extends through a Correia custom made unit that he calls
a "waterfall" but the rest of us call a center console. You know,
artists. Keeping the occupants well settled into the seats are
Custom Accessories 3-point harnesses. And while the rest of us get
by on a single stereo, the official Custom Autosound Chevy gets
two. Yep, twin Secretaudio units have been mounted in the door
panels (well, there are two of them too, you know) and send out
their electrical impulses to the 5-1/4-inch Brand X speakers. Brand
X is another of Sprague's many companies. Last but not least, let's
talk about the power plant that propels the car. Looking vintage is
no mere effect here; the engine is a 1963 Chevrolet 327-cid engine.
[When the car was first shown it was outfitted with a refurbished
mechanical fuel injection system from a 1957 Chevy. Any of you that
have owned a car with an older refurbished fuel injection system
knows that they can be difficult to maintain and awfully finicky at
times. So, the car now has a more dependable, polished Edelbrock
4-barrel carburetor with a polished Edelbrock intake manifold that
helps it start right up and drive on reliably.] A Turbo 350 tranny
got the nod to channel the horsepower to the Kugel rear end. As
sweet as this car is, it was only made possible by the fact that
Carl Sprague had the brains and ingenuity all those years ago when
he started Custom Autosound. And as with CA, Sprague knew what he
wanted when he commissioned Barry White to build his car: he wanted
a Chevy and he wanted to feel the wind in his hair when he drove
it. See, with hard work and knowing an opportunity when it appears,
good things can happen." (source: www.motortopia.com) Good things
can happen to you now too! After showing the car for a few years,
it was time for Carl to move on with a new project for Custom
Autosound. Again, the estimated build cost on this stunning,
one-of-a-kind roadster was around $440,000.00, and the time
invested into perfecting every detail is clearly evident. This is a
fantastic opportunity for one to own and drive something so special
at around a quarter of the build cost. The great things about these
custom Chevy roadsters are that they are truly timeless pieces of
art that collectors and enthusiasts alike will desire and
appreciate for years to come.
