Forgot to mention Dan, but a friend of mine is also into old cars and rebuilt a 50 Chevy basically the same as yours including the color. He even went so far as to find the tail lights with the blue center dot. He kept the stock engine though, just rebuilt it.
Back when I was about 14 or 15 my buds older brother souped up a 47 Ford and put in a big motor, although I don't know what it was.
It had a 3 speed column shift and to be "fancy" he put a chrome ball on the end of the shifter. He took the pair of us out one day to show us how fast the car was. Took off from a light screaming in 1st gear, then when he slammed it up into 2nd the chrome ball flew off and busted his windshield.
Not sure what made him madder, whether it was him busting the windshield or us kids in the back seat laughing our fool heads off