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| SUPERSTAR:
Building an international winner |
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STORY: John Matthew
PHOTOGRAPHY: Brian Gould
Just outside the city, surrounded by open fields of green and
white picket fences, rests a celestial body worthy of study
by the Planetarium. Some stars, such as Polaris, have aided
travellers by always showing the way North. Denis and Julie
Verrier's 1935 Chevrolet roadster, named the Northern Star,
has frustrated competitors by always leading the way to the
winner's circle.
The red roadster challenges onlookers with contradiction.
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It has been built as much to compete on the International Car
Show Association circuit as it has to be driven on the street.
Yet, it has only been sat in once and driven a few meters, merely
to prove to competition judges its functionality, in 10 years.
It's a vehicle where every millimeter of body and frame has
been painstakingly hand crafted, many times first out of wood
then out of steel or aluminum. Yet human hands now cannot touch
it for fear of the effects of the acid and grime on the mirage
like mirror finish.
It is a car that was originally built during the 1930s. Yet
now it seamlessly incorporates modern amenities such as air
conditioning, digital instrumentation and CD player. Its value,
monetarily, artistically and mechanically, merits display in
a museum. Yet within the next 12 months, after one more winter
on the show circuit, it will be cruising down a Manitoba highway.
Verrier first learned about the vehicle in 1993 while displaying
a silver 1963 Corvette Stingray, one of seven Corvettes Verrier
has owned, at a show in Grand Forks, N.D. While at the show,
he received a phone call from a friend who had found a black
1935 Chevrolet three-window coup in a barn in a small Iowa town.
Immediately, Verrier grabbed a friend and a trailer and headed
to Iowa, leaving his wife Julie to tend to the show. During
the drive, Verrier and his friend worked out a silent signal
they would exchange if they wanted to put an offer on the car;
a subtle nod of the head.
Upon arrival, the car appeared rough. "It was messy, bird
poop all over it, dust, and the mice were in everything,"
Verrier recalled. "They were in the tailpipe and in the
engine, so when I started it up it all shot out." Surprising,
despite its rough appearance, Verrier got the nod. The offer
was made and the car loaded on the trailer, destined for Canada.
Verrier drove the car for approximately a year before starting
to task. He stripped it down to steel in preparation for drastic
surgery. "It was originally a really nice car. A restorer
would kill for it. A three-window coup is pretty rare,"
he reflected. "And we cut the roof off it." Thus began
a six-year journey that would see every millimeter of the car,
every line, every curve, modified, largely by Verrier's hands.
It was a journey marked by ingenuity and improvisation.
Some inventiveness could be interpreted as standard in auto
modification, such as installing a leak-proof refueling nozzle
from an aircraft in the trunk, using a dimpled fluorescent light
cover for the rear lights or using the rear differential from
a Jaguar so the brakes wouldn't obscure the sight lines through
the wheels. However, Verrier's other feats of resourcefulness
were truly ingenious.
The handmade stainless steel grille provides one example. Welding
together the individually hand bent bars blued the stainless
steel. The blue had to be removed but sanding would be a self-defeating
solution. Not a believer in the no-win scenario, Verrier sourced
a man in Minneapolis who did finishing work with stainless steel
medical devices. Just for Verrier, the man ran the grille through
the same process used to remove the bluing on stainless steel
artificial hips and other joints.
Verrier's proudest piece is the signature hood, which he hand
rolled from memory for a solid month to get it perfect. "You
can see the centre part where it has a little bit of a V in
it and it disappears halfway through the hood," he pointed
out. "That's hard to do." Verrier can talk the inquisitive
through nearly every part on the classic auto, each one a testament
to the dual masters of precision and purpose. However, even
the most dogged will return empty handed on two closely guarded
secrets.
"There are two things I don't talk about," asserted
Verrier. "The windshield and the paint."
The windshield, whose make and model origins remain a secret,
required 13 attempts to get the exact curve and cut right. While
the exact paint colour remains equally elusive, the process
and history are well documented.
Originally destined to be orange, the paint colour changed when
it did not match the colour of the digital display in the dash.
Once the correct colour was secretively selected, four coats
were applied throughout, followed by 10 coats of clear coat.
The majority of the clear coat was then sanded off before being
polished to a mirror finish.
Six years of painstaking attention to detail, such as having
all the custom-made bolts pointing in the same direction and
the removal of the tire stems, has paid dividends for the Verriers.
In 2001, the Northern Star was named the Overall Grand Champion
at the Performance World Custom Car and Truck Show in Toronto,
Ont. Verrier believes this award, and literally the garage full
of other accolades, made the name a natural choice.
"There's nothing like this that's going to come from this
far up north, unless someone builds one from Churchill or somewhere
like that. But nothing like this caliber of car, this is pretty
much the end of the line."
MECH SPECS-CHASSIS
Frame/Manufacturer 1935 Chevrolet
Wheelbase 106"
Rear end ratio 3.31
Rear suspension IFS Billet aluminum, Aldan coilover shocks
Front suspension IFS Billet aluminum, Aldan coilover shocks
Front & Rear brakes Wilwood aluminum
Emergency brakes Wilwood aluminum
Chassis plumbing Stainless polished lines and fittings
Steering Mopar rack & pinion (narrowed)
Front wheels 15x6 Boyd Coddington wheel
Rear wheels 17x8 Boyd Coddington wheel
Front tires Goodyear Eagle LS 195-60-15
Rear tires Goodyear Eagle LS 225-55-17
Brakes Chrome plated rotors
Gas tank 14 gallon
MECH SPECS-TRANSMISSION
Make GM - 700 R 4
Shifter Modified GM
Trans mods Shift kit
Trans cooler Ford pick up
MECH SPECS-ENGINE
Year/Make 1998 ZZ4 GM
Displacement 350 - 355HP
Fuel system Inglesse induction
Crankshaft Nodular cast iron - GM LT4
Rods PM Rods - GM LT1
Pistons High silicone aluminum with offset pins
Camshaft Hydralic roller tappet
Water pump Billet aluminum
Cylinder heads Aluminum
Cooling fan Walker
Alternator Billet aluminum
Heads Cast aluminum
Oil pan Aluminum
Headers Sanderson - polished
Exhaust Stainless steel - polished
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