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Projects Old Rusty . . . a Father/Son '51 Chevy

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by BrerHair, Dec 18, 2010.

  1. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    1951 Chevy Styleline Special.
    93,600 on odometer (193 . . . 293,600 ?)
    Bought from Minn. Dealer off the web for $395 in Oct. ’06.
    Paid $ 845 to truck it to Charlotte.
    Cranked it up and drove it off the trailer and into the garage.
    Has not run since. (Got disassembled immediately)


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    Last edited: Jun 25, 2013
  2. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    My son Billy coughed up the $ 395 at age 13.
    Would catch him, age 11, watching TV by himself . . . Barrett-Jackson . . . “Dad!! You just missed the coolest car!! Oh, check this one out!!”
    Bought several coffee table books and left them laying around . . .
    Cars of the ‘40’s . . . Cars of the ‘50’s . . . etc.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:eek:ffice:eek:ffice" /><o:p></o:p>
    He’d turn down a bunch of page corners.


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  3. Thats cool as heck
     
  4. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Started taking him to car shows, Auto Fair, Goodguys, Charlotte Auto Dealers, etc.
    Driving back from a show one time, he turns to me and says &#8220;Dad!! We&#8217;ve got to do this!!&#8221;
    Told him he could choose the car (figured he would choose a &#8216;60s muscle car).
    After a couple months of thinking and looking, he says &#8220;Dad!! I&#8217;ve got it!!&#8221;
    &#8220;A 1951 or &#8217;52 Chevy or Ford.&#8221;
    You might as well have told me that Petty has switched to Chevy.
    Why a &#8217;51 or &#8217;52 Ford or Chevy?
    &#8220;Oh, I don&#8217;t know, sometime around the early to mid-Sixties the cars just got a lot plainer looking. I love the earlier more rounded, cooler looking cars of the &#8216;40s and early &#8216;50s.&#8221;
    This from a 13 year old.


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    Last edited: Feb 3, 2012

  5. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Mind you, I ain’t no mechanic.
    Grew up as a carpenter, know my way around tools, woodworking tools.
    Most of my mechanic experience comes from a ’69 Chevy ¾-ton p/u (inline 250) from 1976-77.
    Brake job, replaced a couple carriage bearings, rebuilt the engine, that’s about as deep as I ever got.
    But I know how to surf the web, know how to look stuff up.
    Matter of fact, that was the take-home message from my B.S. degree from Ga.State . . . . you can’t possibly expect me to remember all that, but I know the answer is out there, and I know how to look it up.
    God bless the web.
    God bless Ryan Cochran.


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  6. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Dove right into disassembly and got her done in 4 months.
    We had a blast. Relied heavily on the shop manual. Master parts catalog also helpful.
    Took a ton of photos with an eye toward putting it all back together the same way.
    But knew it would not go back the same way.
    Billy has design supremacy, he’s calling the shots.
    He’s been aiming since the beginning toward what Street Rodder did with their roadtour ’52 Chevy.
    But with wire wheels. He wants Daytons, but they’re out of our budget.


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  7. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    We’d come home from a car show and he’d say “I’m about billeted out.”
    He started out liking low aspect ratio, but has since evolved into whitewalls, not quite WWW yet, but stay tuned.


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  8. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Took nothing for granted, knew I would forget how everything came apart, so took a lot of pics with labels and such.
    Tagged every part or put it in a baggie. Have hundreds of baggies.
    Started a build log from Day One.


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  9. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I would have called this An Idiot's Guide to a Frame-Off, but I didn't want to steal JJ's tag line.:D

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  10. fbama73
    Joined: Jul 12, 2008
    Posts: 989

    fbama73
    Member

    Neat car, neat kid!!! Neat Dad for diving in with him at such an early age.

    That shot that shows the front suspension caked with grime- I feel your pain on that one- mine was so gunked up that I couldn't see the rusted out control arm.
     
  11. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

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    Last edited: Dec 19, 2010
  12. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    For every hour spent in the garage, I bet I have 3 hours of research. Lurked here for a long time, amazed and humbled.
    Originally wanted to hop up the 216, but gave that up after talking at length with Tom Langdon, Langdon’s Stovebolt http://www.stoveboltengineco.com/
    Splash oil system and all that.
    Oh, so that’s why there’s a sbc in every 49-54 Chevy!


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  13. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Billy rightfully declared one day that we are in a new muscle car era far superior to the old one.
    I graduated HS in ’71, have seen and driven my share of 442’s, GTO’s, Mach 1’s, Chevelle SS’s, GTX’s, Road Runners, Chargers, Challengers, GSX’s, Z28’s, et al.
    But never saw anything on the street over 425 bhp. Drum brakes rear or all.
    We have 500 and 600 hp production machines from everywhere now. EFI . . .
    Change plugs every 120,000 miles. 100% reliable.
    If you grew up with carbuerators, points , condensers, and manual chokes, you stand in awe of EFI.
    That’s what Billy wants in what will be his daily driver. (If I don’t steal it from him)


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  14. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
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    One of Billy's buddies would come over . . . Man, can I help?

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  15. roadking41a
    Joined: Mar 26, 2006
    Posts: 44

    roadking41a
    Member
    from NC

    It's great to see your son knowing what he wants and saving to get it. Great job this will be something you both will never forget. Another cool car going to High School.
     
  16. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Daughter Millie (15 now) dubbed her “Old Rusty”.
    Manufactured in Wisconsin, ended up in Minn.
    Bottom ¼ of car rotted.
    Great place to learn how to weld, by the way. No one will ever see those floor welds again.
    18 gauge. Sure is a huge market, isn’t it ? Need floor pans for 49-52 Chevy? No problem.


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  17. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Thin, hollow 49-52 frames, full of buckeyes and critter shit . . . ours was too far gone, especially in the dead center span.
    Thought about welding gussets, was advised against it by a couple guys at car shows. “Too thin, you’ll actually create a weak spot on the frame at the weld joint.”
    What do I know ?


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  18. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

  19. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

  20. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

  21. dannyogorman
    Joined: Mar 24, 2010
    Posts: 76

    dannyogorman
    Member

    Gonna be an awesome car for you guys. Keep posting pictures and get bvack to work on it!!
     
  22. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Found a ’50 Styleline Deluxe at a junkyard in Blythewood, SC.
    Probably been sitting and rotting under the pines for decades.
    But “top down” water, not “bottom up” salt water.
    Buddy let me roll her on her side in his field in York, SC to get at the frame easily.
    In exchange for letting him scrap the rest.
    My dear wife of 25 years would have left me had I parked “Rusty Senior” in our suburban driveway.


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  23. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Along the road to Max's place in York, SC . . .

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  24. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Pulled Rusty Senior's frame off the trailer with a come-a-long from a tree trunk.

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  25. fbama73
    Joined: Jul 12, 2008
    Posts: 989

    fbama73
    Member

    OK, after looking at Rusty Sr, I will gladly hand my "front suspension gunk" crown over. You win, you win.
     
  26. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Thanks Stutz.
     
  27. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Thanks for your encouragement, fbama73.

    No more for me tonight, fellas. See ya'll tomorrow.
     
  28. low-n-slo54
    Joined: Jul 25, 2009
    Posts: 1,920

    low-n-slo54
    Member

    You can't just stop there. I can't wait until tomorrow!! Cool build.
     
  29. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,005

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Thanks Danny. Only two more years at the rate we're going!! :D:eek:
     
  30. rebstew187
    Joined: Jan 17, 2005
    Posts: 1,491

    rebstew187
    Member

    Very cool so far. I'm glad to see you getting your son involved in this. Wish we seen more of that in our hobby. I can't wait to see more.
     

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