MrPbody

It took a wile, but my 59 Bel Air finally got loaded on a transport in Texas and is now a legal Oregon resident. I've always loved the look of the 59, but had never really tried to buy one until now. I wasn't finding another early Vette project, so when this car happened to catch my eye on e-bay, I found myself as the high bidder. the reserve wasn't met however so I contacted the seller and we eventually agreed on a price we could both live with.


with the exception of the Air Ride system, 18s and 20s, it's an all original survivor car with very low miles (~39000)
These cars had very little, if any, rust protection on sheet metal parts, so I wouldn't say the body is totally rust free, but it is in pretty darn good shape, all things considered. and yes, that is 99% original paint on the body BTW.


pretty basic as far as options go.


I wasn't concerned however, as I had my own options in mind from the beginning. the first order of business is to ditch the blue flame 6 and the 3 speed with O/D in favor of an LS1 and T-56 6 speed from an 02 Camaro


I took the car out for it's final drive with the 6 cyl engine today. it's almost a shame to yank it out, as the thing really does run great, but I think I'll get over it in time.


I may have been able to get the engine pulled out today but I decided to go ahead and remove the whole front clip wile I'm at it. there will be a lot of changes under the hood, and the extra room will make that a lot easier. along with the engine swap I plan to install a Vintage Air system, power steering, and disk brakes, plus the car will eventually receive a complete paint job, once some minor body work is performed.

hang on…. this could be a bumpy ride

Russ

mcb55-210

Will be watching your progress, Russ. Ought to be interesting......

Mike

Fawndeuce

Let the games begin (I guess I'm in an Olympic frame of mind ) can't wait to see what you do with this one Russ.
Did you ever see the the pics that I had posted of the '59 that a local guy to me did?



Look closely at the engine, ergo the name in the rad shroud.





Paul

C-1 Generation 2

Great find Russ. I'll be watching, what a great project. Looks like the same color I had on a 59 El Camino in the late 60s early 70s that I was restoring but had to sell to buy our first home.

Zoomin

Definitely along for the ride on this one. I have a 60 that will be getting similar treatment at some point.

Revfan

Count me in... of course!

MrPbody

Thanks guys and welcome aboard. I did see the "tricky chevy" Paul. the 409 and 59 make a good couple, even with the age difference .

Not much exciting to offer today other than I did finish getting the front clip off and the old engine/trans extracted.



tomorrow morning I'm headed out to look at a pile of 59 parts that a local guy has on CL. I'm hoping to come home with at least a few needed items.

Zoomin

Any plans afoot for suspension or brake upgrades?

How far apart are you going to take it?

Fawndeuce

I know you have a sharp eye Russ, but wonder if the others had a good look at those heads and valve covers, very tricky...
What color is the old girl going to be, or am I looking too far into the future?



Paul

MrPbody

Because you'll be doing a 60 at some point, I'll try and remember to post part numbers in the future. I've done quite a bit of research on the various components, so hopefully I've made some good choices. I typically just replace front end components on an "as needed" basis (if it ain't broke, don't fix it). but I will be adding a front sway bar (Addco 1") for sure. I also picked up a new CCP 500 power steering kit a few weeks ago, as it seems to now be preferred on these cars over the 650 box, which also tended to leak anyway. I'm also leaning towards installing a tilt column to go with that. as to the brakes, I'm hoping this one doesn't turn out to be a "if it looks to good to be true" story, but I ran across a very complete front disc conversion kit with a dual 7" booster, pre-bent lines, bearings, hardware, etc for 400 bucks. it should be arriving any day now. if that looks good I'll hook you up with the supplier also.

Steve_R

Love those cars. Looking forward to following this build.

MrPbody

I'm tending towards a similar color to original. the ~2000 Nissan has a nice light green that looks promising. subject to change of course, but I need to decide fairly soon so I can do the firewall before the engine goes in for the last time.

Are you gona be driving a 4 speed car this summer BTW?

Fawndeuce

2005 Ford Taurus had what I consider a stunning paleish green/blue/grey, I'm going to build a '67~'68 Cougar restomod some day in that color.
The '62 is still in storage at the mother in law's, earliest I can get it out would be mid April?
Still debating what to do; I think that I mentioned that there is this very nice couple that approached us in the fall to buy it, good money, I'm torn...
They said that if I do sell, they'll do the conversion, has to be 4 sp for them. I guess a few months will tell the tale my friend...



Paul

Shurshot

This will be a nice build to watch......... thanks for sharing

I do not know enough about 409 motors to have a sharp enough eye to know what F2 is speaking of........ but I do remember seeing some valve covers being offered to help make a BBC look like a 409

Just for grins I thought about doing something like that in a 65 2d Bel Air but with a Dart block

Fawndeuce

You are soooo very close my friend, look just a little more closely at those "Tricky Chevy" head/valve covers.



Paul

MrPbody

I wonder if the covers leak a little oil on the lower sides?

Fawndeuce

Lots of smoke...

sixtysixtom

Russ,
You could paint it a corvette color, like Mossport green.
Tom

C-1 Generation 2

If your into a light greens, palisade green that I had on 70 Pontiac was great, kind of pearlescent. Another good light green is mountain green on a 67 Chevelle.

Fawndeuce

So I tell my wife I'm sitting in my Chicago hotel room looking for pictures of a good green for a guy's '59 Chevy sedan in Oregon.
Sad thing is, she's known me long enough to know it's true and I'm not down in the bar chasing honeys!

Not great pictures, but show the green I was telling you about Russ, has some blue to it, may not be at all what you are looking for though.







Paul