Nick and Cheri Copeland restore classic cars themselves, and travel to car shows in separate cars. Nick drives his 1954 Chevy Pickup (which belonged to his dad), and Cheri follows behind him in whatever ride she has at the time. Some of their prized restorations have been a 1967 VW Beetle, 1968 Pontiac Firebird, a 1966 VW Bus, and of course the 1954 Chevy Pickup that had belonged to Nick’s dad.
When they are working on whatever their current restoration is at the time, Cheri needs something to take to car shows....since she can’t go without attending one every weekend. So they occasionally find nice cars to drive in the meantime, like her favorite, a 1960 Chevy Impala. They are currently working on a 1936 Chevy Town Sedan themselves, so Cheri had a 1957 Chevy Nomad to drive....until they sold it and found this 1937 Dodge Sedan Delivery. She told us, “When I sold the Nomad, I looked on eBay for something that was rare and different, and had a lot of room. I fell in love with the ‘37 Dodge Sedan Delivery, but was disappointed it was located in Nebraska! I knew it would be hard to get my husband excited about that. When I showed him the ad, he was excited about it....until he saw where it was located, and handed me back the computer. I said ‘But it’s got a Chevy engine in it!’, and he asked for the computer back. Haha! Within minutes of reading the ad, he was on the phone with the seller. We packed up our things and left for Nebraska the next day. We drove it home 1,600 miles from Nebraska to Florida in 2.5 days in the middle of July, with no problems! Talk about a reliability test!”
The Delivery originally came out of California, and the high-end restoration was completed some 12 years ago. Most know that deliveries are rare in their own right, but add in the fact that it’s a Dodge, and that makes it even more scarce. For those that are unaware of the difference between a Panel and a Sedan Delivery, it is that a Panel is built on a truck chassis and has two rear doors that swing to the side, while a Delivery is built on a car chassis and has one rear door that lifts upwards.
Upon getting their new Sedan Delivery home, of course the Copeland’s did some of their own customizing. Among other things, that included a new logo for the side and a new sound system. They also put on new Boyd Coddinton “Junk Yard Dog” rims (18x7 inch fronts, 20x9 inch rears) wrapped in new tires (225-30-18 up front, 275-30-20 out back). As for the rest of the car, it consists of a boxed frame, Mustang II front suspension equipped with disc brakes, plus rack and pinion steering. Out back is a 9-inch Ford rear end with air shocks, and a custom built gas tank. Power is provided by a 350 cubic inch GM crate motor with 330hp, which breathes thru a set of headers and Flowmaster mufflers, while shifting is handled by a Turbo 350 automatic.
The exterior is painted with House Of Kolors vibrant Sunset Pearl on top, Saddle Tan on the bottom, with Stone White pearl separating the two. The interior is done up in tan leather and tweed with a set of bucket seats, brown carpet, and a custom overhead console which houses the remote controlled Pioneer stereo system. Air conditioning keeps the large cabin cool, while orange underbody LED lighting added by the Copelands gives the car a nice radiant glow during those nighttime cruise-ins.
Nick and Cheri Copeland are active hot rodders, and while they are based out of McAlpin, Florida in the northern part of the state, they attend car shows and cruise-ins all over Florida. In fact, Cheri also started the Key West Power Cruise back in 2011, and has done it for the last 6 years. For now you will find Cheri driving her cool 1937 Dodge Sedan Delivery everywhere, but of course that might change once they finish the ‘36 Chevy Town Sedan they are working on. Only time will tell! CN |
