CAPITAL PUNISHMENT —

FUELLED BY METHANOL, WITH AN INJECTOR HAT ABOVE THE ROOFLINE, JOSH TRYBULA’S RUGGED ’57 CHEV IS THE WILDEST SKIDDER IN THE CAPITAL CITY, AND MAYBE ALL OF NEW ZEALAND

BLOWN BEL AIR WILL MAKE GROWN MEN CRY

There’s a common saying that advises against judging a book by its cover — not to take anything at face value — but we can assure you that it doesn’t apply to Josh Trybula’s latest build. What you see is what you get, and if you open up your copy of the Oxford English Dictionary, you’ll find it neatly slotted into the ‘O’ section. Offence 1. [noun] A breach of a law or rule; an illegal act. A thing that constitutes a violation of what is judged to be right or natural. 2. [mass noun] Annoyance or resentment brought about by a perceived insult to or disregard for oneself. 3. [mass noun] The action of attacking someone or something.

It takes a special kind of person to build the most offensive vehicle possible, and Josh has had plenty of practice. The Wellington mechanic grew up in a car-mad family, and, as the son of well-known spanner-spinner Eddie Trybula, he has always been an onto-it guy with a talent for making things. This has naturally seen the long list of cars he’s owned and built united by the fact that all were built the Josh Trybula way — entirely how he wanted, without a single compromise to fit the letter of the law. So, you have a right to be offended at this one. You can be offended by the fact that he’s chopped up a straight ’57 Chev; that he’s kept its undignified original patina; that it’s got an injector hat above the roofline; and that excels at being a menace to society … just bear in mind that any offence you take may fall on deaf ears and will more than likely be buried under the unmuffled soundtrack of a blown big block on meth. “I have my ’64 Impala drag car with a turbo big block, and get given non-stop shit about how it just sounds like nothing, so I wanted something loud and obnoxious,” is how Josh describes the thought process that led to this. “The whole idea around the car was to build something that stood out and would have no trouble frying the tyres, six up, at any speed. Being a ’57-mad family, with six between me and Dad, it just fitted perfect.” Imported in August 2017 by Danny Thompson at LA Wellington Shipping, the Bel Air had first been dragged to California by Duane Jones, who found it at a Texas swap meet. “As soon as I purchased it, I had plans for something big poking out the bonnet,” Josh says, and he started by fabricating engine mounts for a dummy big block. It was the perfect time for Jason Franklin to advertise his 427 drag motor for sale. As the engine originally out of the Camaro doorslammer campaigned by The Toy Shed, it ticked all the boxes. All two of them — it was blown, and it was a big block. “It was all fresh and ready to go, but [it] got a strip down anyway, and I had a few things changed by Kerry Lindsay Engine Reconditioners,” Josh adds. The bottom end comprises the requisite Eagle crank and rods, JE pistons, and ARP fasteners, with the addition of a custom-profile camshaft by Kiwi Cams. And, though the top end is no less serious — ProMaxx heads equipped with Manley valves, Harland Sharp rockers, and a Comp Cams girdle — it’s totally overshadowed by the mechanical excess feeding it. The 14-71 TBS blower is one hell of a unit, especially with an Enderle Big and Ugly injector hat bolted above, but

IT TICKED ALL THE BOXES. ALL TWO OF THEM — IT WAS BLOWN, AND IT WAS A BIG BLOCK

a lot of time was spent on ensuring maximum visual impact. While Josh is a damn good fabricator, he knows when to call in the big guns, and enlisted Aaron Thomas to design and build a sheet alloy manifold high enough to get the blower out of the bonnet. In addition, Aaron’s skill was essential in finishing all the fiddly top-end bits, including the injection plate, as well as custom-making a big alloy radiator and fuel cell. As rugged as the old Chev might look, nobody can say that it’s been poorly built, and, at one stage, Josh was making almost daily visits to Bert King at Powder Surfaces to have each little piece coated black. While all this was going on, he had been keeping busy ensuring that the ’57 would sit right. “I wanted the car as low as possible, but still usable, so I went with Firestone airbags with dual compressors and a six-gallon tank,” he explains, although there was a bit more to it than he makes out. The rear end required the Chassis Engineering ladder bars out of his drag car and a custom Watt’s link to suit, while the A-arm front needed the shocks relocated. While he was at it, he threw in a set of CPP sway bars to ensure that it’s not a total deathtrap, and the visual package was finished off with those Weld Magnum wheels — all for show, but damn they look good! Although the paint job might not look quite like that of a show car, it isn’t changing. “It’s taken a good 61 years to get the patina just perfect. The body used to look worse than it does now, and that is possible!” Josh laughs.

“Terry Lynch pulled out some of the major dents and beat a few of the panels back into shape with no bog, and Rex Evans from Trimbrite tidied up a bunch of the stainless.” But, as rough as it might look from the outside, it isn’t all good looks. The things you can’t see have been seriously over-engineered to survive the big showpiece up front: “The gearbox was out of Dad’s race car, so it went to Chuck Mann, the man, for a freshen-up before being fitted.” Being a race transmission, the TH400 is full of the good stuff — transbraked, reverse-pattern manual valve body — and the nine-inch diff has been treated to a Strange Engineering centre, full spool, 31-spline axles, and chromoly driveshaft. Having everything together and the ’57 looking like a car again, Josh hauled it over to Geoff Piercy at NZ Wiring and Performance, who has done a beautiful job of the wiring. And there’s a fair bit more of it than you may expect from a dirty old Chev, due to Josh’s decision to run with EFI. Controlled by a Link Xtreme ECU and billet throttle-position sensor (TPS), it utilizes eight Moran Atomizer billet injectors fed by an Enderle cam-driven fuel pump and Aeromotive belt-driven regulator, and a really trick ignition system.

As advised by his tuner, Jason Cutelli at Infomotive Ltd, the M&W Pro-18 capacitor discharge ignition (CDI) was selected to run individual MSD coil packs, and works with an MSD crank trigger and MSD cam sync unit in place of the distributor. All of that should be more than enough for Jason to pump out some decent numbers on the dyno soon after this feature, but Josh has never been about willy-waving power figures. If it will blaze the tyres at any speed, while making all the noises a blown big block on methanol should, he’ll be happy. So, with only the tune needed before the build is complete, Josh is making plans for it. “I guess a big thing that really got me going was a trip to Summernats earlier this year,” he says. “Hopefully, if all goes well, I’ll take the ’57 over for a play this coming year. That new skid section [Skid Row] looks good, six up in the tank.” Of course, he didn’t go to all of the effort of building the thing only to use it at events, and we’re sure it will see its fair share of street miles … on closed roads and under a controlled environment, of course. “I built the car how I wanted it — not for anyone else’s approval or input about how it’s not legal, or how it should’ve been done. I’ll take the hassle from the cops when it comes to it, so all the keyboard warriors can f**k off!” is the way he sees it. Them’s fighting words, but look at the spec sheet, and you might realize that that’s what this car does best.

I BUILT THE CAR HOW I WANTED IT, NOT FOR ANYONE ELSE’S APPROVAL OR INPUT ABOUT HOW IT’S NOT LEGAL