1953 chevrolet sedan delivery rebuild/customization

I've had several previous threads on this car, and have re-arranged my photos since. This has caused the photos in the threads to be deleted, so I thought I'd re-do them, start from the beginning, and combine all of them into one continuous thread.

So, about 13 years ago my dad and I tried to restore this sedan delivery- Thats me as a snot nosed, teenaged, know nothing know it all-





We didn't know what we were doing really at the time, and just patched the cracking bondo, blocked it out, and painted it. It came out really nice, and surprisingly lasted 8 or nine years before it started to crack.





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I enjoyed this car for years, and we built several car in that time, so when it started to crack I told myself some day I'd re-do it correctly. But I never had the time or the money, and It still looked ok from 20 feet so it got put on a back burner, and I just drove it.
Then one march morning life bit me in the ass, and a runaway honda creamed me at an intersection.



Gotta go run a few errands now, I'll finish here when I return in an hour or two.

Chapter 1 end

 

What is the point here? I like that blue color though.

 

If the question is "Should I redo the car correctly now that it is out of commission?" the next question should be "Do I still want to keep this car or move on?" and then "Do I think I'll ever really get it finished and what will I drive in the meantime?".
If the answers to the second and third questions are YES then DO IT!

 

The point is he's gonna rebuild it dumbass...if your patient and wait a bit you'll see the thread unfold...

 

man i wish i had one of theses

 

I don't think he's asking for any advice here. Just outlining the build, the accident that ruined the car and will probably get to how he's been working on it.

 

Good thread I've always wanted a '54 sedan delivery.

 

Can't wait for the rest of this thread

 

If I remeber right he already replaced the fenders with some help from some HAMBers. cant wait to see whats gonna happen to it next!

 

I own a bakery and have been dreaming about building one of these as delivery vehicle since I dont know when. Looking forward to this rebuild for sure.

 

OILSLINGER... I don't need to hear your POINT! but i'll say this for sure and certain, that's 1 fine old chevy. and very unique if i may say so. i don't usualy like 2 tone paint, but brother you did yourself proud! and i love that old huppy...POP.

 

Looks like that would be a hard one to fix..... I would just part it out, Oh by the way I'll buy the Inner Fender from you to help you on your way....

 

So the first matter to take care of was to get it in the driveway, and start dismantling it. After it sat for two days it got a parking ticket (dicks) so I had to get it in the driveway right away. I figured a wooden furniture dolly was heavy enough to hold up the smashed corner. Steered real easy at low speed with only 1 front wheel-




Now I didn't save many pictures of the suspension damage pics, but what happened was the force of the impact sheared off the upper/inner pin on the passenger side, broke the lower A arm, bent the spindle and upright, and basically just destroyed that side. after a few weeks I found a hamber with a 49-52 crossmember with all the parts on it for 50 bucks! So I bought that one and found that the uprights would raise my car an inch or so, and within another month I found another complete setup out of a 54 for the same price. I stripped everything down, gave it a little coat of paint a put it all together. Felt nice to take it off of the jackstands...









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1 radiator later I had a drivable car again- I always wondered why so many people ask if I'm from Canada. Listening to my voice on this video, I can kind of hear why And no, I'm not from Canada!

 

Now is when I turned my attention to the body. The bondo had been caked on as thick as an inch in some places.
I started with the roof. I figured it would be the most unpleasant place to start





and then I primed it to preserve the metal for bodywork time

 

congrats man i will follow this one for sure. that had to be heart breaking.

 

When I went stripped the driver side i found lots of collision damage, and poor repairs. I always wondered why it sounded hollow when I closed the drivers door and not the passengers.
This is after I started cutting the metal, but you can see what is going on here. They replaced the ehole door jamb from the beltline down, but they didn't remove the old metal first, and the welds were terrible. Also the whole side was just too far in.





The repair panels are made out of an extra fender-

 

Thanks for the compliment. The point is this is a board for advice, finding parts, and just showing what we are doing with our cars. The latter is the point of this thread.

 

good luck looks like yer making great progress

 

When you READ the start of the thread it kinda makes Pasadena's post irrevelant doesn't it.

Frank

 

your doin some nice work man . keep pluggin along

 

I think it is great that u r taking the time to post your progress for us all to follow along. Great job.

 

Great job putting her back together

 

man this makes me miss my 53 SD i had 6 years ago, good to it driveable again

 

Hence the dumbass comment on my part....he just dont et it....

However....I do....

Awesome work, I like it....keep posting progress...

 

Its great that you kept the car and got the chance to redo it. There are several cars that I wish I never would have gotten rid of. I really like 53-54 Chevy's/Pontiacs, and a Sedan Delivery is on the short list of cars I would like to own. Keep up the good work, and the posts.

 

Any new progress? C'mon, we want pics!!

 

Time for an update on this!

 

try again !!