The popularity of barn finds and survivor hot rods has created a whole new segment of the hot rod hobby. Cars with history are much more interesting than something built in the modern era, but we had to convince Charles Berry that his '34 Plymouth, his high school hot rod, was a really special piece.

For those of you who didn't see our earlier story about the coupe ("One Piece at a Time," Jan. 2017), here's a brief rundown: The '34 Plymouth body is mounted to a shortened '40 Ford frame with a '56 Lincoln rearend, suspended with coil springs and custom ladder bars. The engine is a 301ci small-block Chevy, a bored-out 283 from a '61 Corvette, backed by a Muncie four-speed manual transmission from a later-model Vette. A '34 Pontiac grille leads off the mixed bag of hot rod treasures, and you'll find cool stuff like a Hurst front engine mount, a set of roadster-style headers painted in white, and a Weiand tunnel ram following closely behind.

Charles warned us some parts of the build were a bit crude: "Don't laugh, this was built on a paper route budget." He built it on the patio of his father's house in Decatur, Georgia, in the mid-1960s, and just couldn't part ways with such a cool piece of his car-guy lifestyle. So it was parked indoors for most of its life. When Charles moved to his current residence, he built the house to include a basement large enough to house his woodshop as well as space for his old hot rod. Eventually, space got tight, and Charles passed the legacy of his homebuilt hot rod to his son-in-law (yours truly). The plan was to make some repairs and get it back on the road.

I handled a great deal of the work in my home garage but called on help from my dad, Troy Byrd, and friends, including Wally Smith, Denny George, and Kyle Shadden, to make the car roadworthy again. The process was a bit more extensive than I had imagined, but there were a few details, like floorpans, windows, and other odds and ends, that needed attention before I felt comfortable blasting down the road. We could've made it operable with very little effort, but the goal was to make it safe and reliable, so trips to local cruise nights could be worry-free.

Most of the existing parts were suitable for use for the car's revival, but we freshened up some of the vital ingredients to come up with a good blend of Charles' original intent and our desire to drive the car more than 1,320 feet at a time. A PerTronix Ignitor electronic ignition module is tucked away inside the Delco-Remy dual-point distributor, and we re-used the Holley 450-cfm carburetors. The engine got some fresh paint and a new FlowKooler water pump, while a custom hydraulic clutch system, using a '61 Chevrolet truck combo master cylinder and slave cylinder, got us another step closer to being on the road. Finally, we set the car back on the ground with a set of big-and-little bias-ply Firestones from Coker Tire and appropriately sized as-cast Strike wheels from Rocket Racing Wheels. Various parts from Summit Racing and Honest Charley Speed Shop wrapped up the rebuild.

Charles' disclaimers and doubt about the quality of his build turned to fond memories of yesteryear when the old small-block spoke to him through open headers. His stories of squirrelly handling characteristics and disgruntled neighbors suddenly struck a chord with me, as I took the car on a surreal maiden voyage trip down the road. "I sure hope I can get this thing gathered up," I thought after opening the secondaries in First and Second gear, followed shortly by, "Our neighbors must hate us."

Charles rode shotgun with me on a trip down the road and was eager to get behind the wheel. As he got situated in the driver seat, I started to give him a heads-up about the various peculiarities I had discovered before realizing he already knows all of this car's tricks. It was like a reunion with an old friend, in which you pick up right where you left off, except this car is more like a member of the family.

This car tells stories that only Charles can hear, ranging from his father's snide remarks to his time spent in Vietnam, dreaming up ideas and wishing for the chance to go home and make a pass in it. Now that the car is back on the road, those stories result in a flood of memories and emotions, and those tears in his eyes aren't from a rich fuel mixture. This road reunion is one for the ages, so take a look at how we turned a dormant hot rod into a trip down memory lane.

See all 30 photos 1 As we told you in the Jan. 2017 issue, the Plymouth had been sitting in Charles Berry's basement for more than 30 years, but most of the parts were still intact. Our plan is to get it running and driving again without losing the spirit of his high school hot rod.

See all 30 photos 2 When the car came out of storage, we wanted to see if the small-block Chevy would turn over with a hot battery hooked up to it. The small-block quickly spun to life, using the same generic parts store switch that Charles installed decades ago.

See all 30 photos 3 Curiosity got the best of us, so we poured gas in the carburetor's vent tubes to see if this thing would fire off. For the first time in many years, gassy fumes flowed through the white headers.

See all 30 photos 4 After we heard the rumble of open headers for a brief moment, we started the disassembly process to make this old hot rod roadworthy. We removed the spark plugs and ignition components, followed by the headers. Ultimately, the engine would come out for easier access to reconfigure the hydraulic clutch.

See all 30 photos 5 When the car was built in the 1960s, it featured a plywood firewall and floorboards. This go-around, we wanted to strengthen the body and offer a sturdy mounting surface for a pedal assembly and master cylinder with a steel floorpan and firewall.

See all 30 photos 6 The Muncie four-speed manual transmission and aluminum bellhousing have been in the car since the late 1960s. The clutch fork and throwout bearing had some damage, so we replaced them with stock-style parts and built a small bracket to mount the Dorman slave cylinder for a '61 Chevrolet truck.

See all 30 photos 7 We picked up a Trans-Dapt brake and clutch pedal assembly from Summit Racing. It features a simple mounting bracket and has the vintage look, so it worked very well for the old Plymouth. Here, we mock it up and mark the holes to be drilled in the firewall.

See all 30 photos 8 The pedal assembly needed some tweaking to work with our '61 Chevrolet truck combo master cylinder. We used a die grinder with a head-porting-style burr bit to open up the holes in the pedal assembly bracket.

See all 30 photos 9 An important note is that the clutch and brake ports are not oriented in the standard fashion. The truck's big crossover pedal assembly positioned the clutch pushrod on the side nearest the engine. So we switched the guts from one side of the master cylinder to the other to have proper fluid flow.

See all 30 photos 10 With the master cylinder mounted, we started rebuilding the brakes on each corner of the '40 Ford frame. We replaced the rubber brake hoses and wheel cylinders, but everything else was salvageable.

See all 30 photos 11 There aren't a lot of moving parts on an early Ford drum brake, so the brake maintenance and repair were minimal. All of the hardware looked great, and the pad material and drum surface were sufficient to get this hot rod back on the road.

See all 30 photos 12 When we dragged the car out of the basement, it had a set of Mickey Thompson Radir-style wheels on the front and aluminum slots on the back. The tires were not dry-rotted, but it needed some fresh rubber and some matching wheels. We went with Firestone tires from Coker Tire and a set of cast-center Rocket Strike wheels.

See all 30 photos 13 Since there is a chance we might occasionally beat on this old Plymouth, we opted for stick-on wheel weights instead of the generic hammer-on weights. The front tires are Firestone 5.60-15 blackwall bias-ply tires, and the wheels are Rocket Strike 15x4.5-inch front runners with the early Ford 5x5.5-inch bolt pattern.

See all 30 photos 14 Out back, we went with 8.20-15 Coker Firestone Dragster cheater slicks mounted to a pair of 15x8-inch Rocket Strike wheels. The slicks are DOT approved and measure about 30.5 inches in diameter, a perfect fit for an old-school hot rod.

See all 30 photos 15 Rocket Racing Wheels offers the Strike wheel in a variety of sizes and finishes. We wanted the as-cast finish to replicate the wheels that were installed on the car in the 1960s. We also opted for 4-inch backspacing to retain the car's wide stance in the rear.

See all 30 photos 16 With the chassis and rolling stock sorted out, it was time to prepare the engine and transmission for installation. We replaced the crusty old water pump with a new unit from FlowKooler. The stock-look water pump flows better at low rpm and even frees up a little bit of power on the top end.

See all 30 photos 17 The 301ci small-block Chevy is on the hook and sliding into place one final time. Notice the vintage Hurst front mount, which has a custom bracket for the generator. The Chevrolet Orange paint and bead-blasted Corvette valve covers really gave it the right look.

See all 30 photos 18 Before we dove into revamping the engine, we drained the 40-year-old oil out of it. We kept the old-style oil filter canister but gave it a fresh Wix filter. Five quarts of conventional 20w50 oil will be adequate to keep the old bearings lubricated.

See all 30 photos 19 The Hurst front engine mount doesn't allow for a mechanical fuel pump, so we replaced the old AC electric fuel pump with this Mr. Gasket universal fuel pump. It is set up to run 4-7 psi of fuel pressure and flows 35 gallons per hour, which is a perfect fit for our carbureted small-block.

See all 30 photos 20 Rubber is one of the first things to deteriorate on a car that's been sitting, so we replaced the rubber portions of the fuel supply lines with new 3/8-inch hose. The Earl's hose cutter always comes in handy for making quick cuts.

See all 30 photos 21 Additional crusty parts included a pair of Holley 450-cfm four-barrel carburetors. Both were in bad shape, so we grabbed two Holley TricKits from Summit to freshen them up.

See all 30 photos 22 Moving on to the ignition, we knew the old Delco-Remy dual-point distributor functioned, but we also knew the car would run better with electronic ignition. Instead of dropping a brand-new distributor in place, we decided to keep the Corvette dual-point and upgrade it with a PerTronix Ignitor.

See all 30 photos 23 After taking the guts out of the dual-point distributor, we bolted the PerTronix plate into place and then installed the sleeve over the distributor shaft, followed by the compact Ignitor module. The wires feature a grommet that fits perfectly in the original notch in the distributor body.

See all 30 photos 24 With the distributor buttoned up, we mounted the PerTronix Flame-Thrower II coil to the firewall. Then we ran a wire from the switch to the negative side, a wire from the starter to the positive side, and the two wires from the Ignitor module to the corresponding terminals on the coil.

See all 30 photos 25 We screwed a new set of AC Delco R45S plugs into the Power Pack cylinder heads and routed the PerTronix Flame-Thrower plug wires beneath the headers.

See all 30 photos 26 Summit Racing saved us some time with these pre-fabbed universal seat brackets. We made risers out of 2x4-inch boxed tubing, but these L-shaped brackets allowed us to dial in the height and angle of the seats with ease.

See all 30 photos 27 The low-back Jaz racing seats also came from Summit Racing, and they're the perfect size and style for the coupe. We went with the Jaz vinyl covers, which simply slide and snap into place, but we're thinking of having some custom retro-style covers sewn up. That's a project for somewhere down the road.

See all 30 photos 28 Although it still needs some aesthetic finishing touches, the old coupe really cleaned up well, considering that our focus was on mechanical repairs and upgrades. The enhanced stance provided by the Coker Tire and Rocket Racing Wheels combination made a huge difference in the appearance.

See all 30 photos 29 Charles Berry couldn't have been happier to drive his high school hot rod for these action shots. Even though he hadn't driven the car in decades, he didn't cut it any slack, as we blasted down a two-lane back road with open headers howling.