#Vice grip garage 69 chevelle upgrade#
#Vice grip garage 69 chevelle series#

Derek told MyStarCollectorCar the car could only hit about 30 mph during the trips.ĭerek mentioned he grew up on a farm where times could get tough, so he learned his skills from his father and grandfather over the years. Derek’s father was doing a hurry-up paint job because the car needed to look good (despite Derek’s dust contribution) for a parade the next day.Īnother memory involved family excursions in the Buick with his dad behind the wheel and only low gear available in the Dynaflow automatic transmission. One incident involved Derek’s dad painting the car in a dirt floor garage while Derek did circles on a plastic trike in the same building. It was the first car that Derek recalled from his childhood and he remembers many personal experiences as a kid when it comes to the ‘56 Buick. Derek’s late father owned the Buick before him and the car became an important part of the Bieri family legacy over the years.

#Vice grip garage 69 chevelle series#

It took Derek ten long years before he was finally able to track down this family legacy Buick in Texas.ĭerek owned the car prior to selling it to its former owner due to a series of circumstances in Derek’s life. Derek does not travel with a safety net crew like a few other car guy adventure shows.ĭerek changed up his game a little when he purchased a 1956 Buick Special two-door hardtop, an aptly named car because of its special links to his family. He would rather get them fired up and drive the old rides home, despite the ravages that time has inflicted on them.ĭerek’s popularity as a Youtube star has soared since his show’s debut a few years ago, a fact he largely attributes to his belief that “85% of my viewers have something like that (i.e., an old vehicle with huge issues) and are too nervous or gun-shy to start the process… but enjoy watching somebody else do it”.ĭerek’s fearless approach to a particular old vehicle’s challenges is something he compares to “jumping out of a plane at 20,000 feet with no parachute”, and it’s a popular theme in each of his Youtube episodes. The main strength of ‘Vice Grip Garage’ is Derek’s willingness to tackle a challenge without a script, or hauler trailer for that matter, when he rescues a forlorn old vehicle. To say the years have not been kind to these old relics from the past would be a massive understatement, but Derek wants to give them a brighter future after a long history of neglect.

Most have been driven or dragged to a permanent resting place and forgotten-accidentally or on purpose-take your pick. The show is based upon host Derek Bieri’s misadventures in the car hobby as he tracks down a wide variety of vintage vehicles that have been off the road for many years, or even decades in some cases. It’s a throwback to how things used to be, and the comradery with fellow competitors.One of the best car guy shows is not on regular TV- it’s on YouTube and it’s called ‘Vice Grip Garage’. “We can show people you can have fun without a lot of money, or a laptop for tuning. “We’re on Sick Week as rednecks having fun,” said Derek.

#Vice grip garage 69 chevelle upgrade#

The interior is mostly stock with a 6-point roll bar, a wiring job Derek describes as “old school breakers, like what might have been used on the Apollo mission,” and a 5-point set of racing belts dated August 1988.ĭerek will upgrade safety and maintenance items, but wants to campaign the Chevelle as closely to as it was last raced. The Chevelle wears Cragar Super Trick wheels on all four corners, and the suspension is mostly stock with the addition of ladder bars on the back. A Turbo 350 transmission and 4.88 gears in the factory 12-bolt rear end transfer the power. The 1971 Chevelle sports a 406 cubic inch small block with factory Chevrolet ‘double-hump’ cylinder heads, an Edelbrock single plane intake, and Holley carburetor.