Air Bagging a Bomb on a Budget - Part 1

It's simple to bag a bomb once you know how.

The Tovar brothers of Southern California are certainly not strangers to our regular readers; we've featured their perfectly restored bombas many times throughout the years. Most recently, we've also been working with Eddie and Michael Tovar as they update Michael's daily-driven '49 Chevrolet straight-six two-door sedan. We've shown you how they converted it to 12-volt system, how a hidden Sony sound system was created and how a Hot Rod Air A/C unit was installed. Now they've decided to "bag" the bomb.

However, instead of adding a Mustang II front clip-or even an aftermarket crossmember-Eddie "The Butcher" and Michael "The Beader" decided to do it the low-buck old school way by modifying the stock suspension to work with airbags. Michael is working with John and the air ride experts at Mac's Springs (in Highland, California) to be certain that they use the correct bags, compressor, tank, fittings, lines, valves, etc. for the system.

We photographed the front end conversion (which took all day) from beginning to end. Then, a few days later as we were going over the photos with Michael, he said, "You know, just looking at that finished photo, I can tell exactly how to do it." We believe that any savvy car builder would agree.

This month, we'll show you how simple it is to bag the front end of a '49 through '54 Chevrolet on a budget. Then, we'll be doing the back (which may include a C-notch and a bridge). And finally, we'll have "Ponch" at The Bag Man in (Anaheim, California) plumb and wire the system.