Finish Line

Dennis deveau’s pro street ’57 chevy is the culmination of a lifelong dream.

- Richard Prince

Dennis DeVeau traces his obsession with cool vehicles back to early childhood, when he spent countless hours building models and playing with toy cars and anything at all with a motor in it. “Even back then,” he recalls, “when I was only 10 or 11 years old, I knew that one day I would build real versions of my favorite models.” His favorites included a T-bucket, a ’33 Ford sedan delivery, and at the very top of the list, an iconic ’57 Chevy.

The T-bucket came first, with DeVeau building an old-school hot rod from Ford’s ubiquitous Model T. The native New Yorker was 28 years old when he tackled the T-bucket build and what he lacked in experience he more than made up for in terms of energy, enthusiasm, and willingness to learn.

“That was a great learning experience,” he points out, “and a lot of fun. It prepared me for the subsequent projects I would get involved with, and I loved every minute of it.”

After the T-bucket, DeVeau had the knowledge and confidence to tackle a more complex project. He bought a somewhat sad looking 1933 Ford sedan delivery and with a lot of time, patience, money, and help from friends he built a Pro Street show-stopper. In a harbinger of things to come, it featured a custom chassis, exquisite fit and finish, and a fuel-injected big-block Chevy powerplant.

DeVeau firmly believes in driving what he owns regardless of how nice or how radical it is. True to his convictions, he drove the ’33 Ford everywhere. All told, he clocked over 33,000 miles driving the custom sedan delivery to shows in Columbus, Indianapolis, Charlotte, and throughout New York state. “My ’33 Ford was pretty far out there, but it was still comfortable, and with Chevy power it was very reliable so I didn’t hesitate to get in it and drive 800 or 1,000 miles at a time.”