My dad had a '56 convert in 65-66. It had two tone paint, white top with white and red, nice rake, and steel wheels with baby moons. It had a 283 punched out to 301 with dual quads and a 4 speed. Inside it had buckets out of a 63 impala. He has some pictures at his house I'll post.
Here is my '55 convert in 1962....'56 Packard tailights, rolled pan, Pontiac split bumpers. 389 Pontiac engine and a heavy rake. (Wish I had it now!!)
If your looking for late 60's, check out this thread... http://www.losboulevardos.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7795&start=0&hilit=speed+muskle
I am reminded of the Rader wheels catalog with their new product, sidepipes. The illustration shows a 55 HT with Rader slot mags in back, the sidepipes withe finned aluminum heat defusers, and Rader 5-spoke round spoke wheels up front. Always loved the combo never could find a set of roundspoke Raders.
My brother had a '56 210 Sedan in '65 which had (then) late model 409 front springs and station wagon rear springs to raise it from stock height. Front wheels were chrome Keystone 5 spoke mags and the rears were a set of chrome reverse wheels with Chevy centres and Olds rims. It was painted a kind of British Racing Green (thanks, Earl Scheib!) and he swapped the stock interior for a set of '57 Bel Air door panels, '59 Impala steering wheel, '65 Impala bucket seats (which are probably still in his garage...) and a TJ Tuck'n'Roll back seat. The see-dan was converted to a stick and he added a Hurst Mystery Shifter to shift the 3-speed 'box. Sorry that I don't have any photos of the old girl, but it was kind of typical of a low-buck streeter, 45 years ago.
My '56 four door hardtop in '63.... white walls and spinner hubcaps. My '56 four door in '68..... white walls, black rims, baby moons, a slight rake and dual exhaust (split manifold for the six cylindar). I got that car FREE just had to put a motor in it.
This nails what street / drag cars looked like in 1965 ... stance was high but not step ladder high ... typical suspension was 409 front springs and longer rear shackles in the back ... a better solution was to buy 2 new front springs and cut one of the old ones and add 2 coils to each of the new ones . Weld them onto with a coil over lap ... raised the front 2-3 inches ... with longer rear shackles the 55 would sit level and high ... ride was decent ... with the 409 springs you could jar the fillings out of your teeth ... Joe
Joe, if I had your old '55 today and it looked just like it did in the photo I would leave it alone! So fine. So 1965!
In 1965 ... I had a 55 Bel Air coupe ... turquoise and ivory with 63 chevy SS bucket seats ... 58 283 (.040 over = 288) Duntov 097 ... 3 speed with Hurst shifter ... ran a couple of different carb setups but the one that worked best was Carter dual quads off a 270 hp corvette ... just a note that no one REPEAT no one lowered their rides ... everyone raised them up ... longer rear shackles and later wagon springs in the front. That car was quick around town until the GTO s showed up ...
Heres how i get down, this pick was just taken by a HAMB member of my son and i at the Jalopy Showdown last weekend.
Abomb you did good! I hated the side pipes, I wouldn't paint it either. Put some pie crust cheater slicks on the back, the Hurst ones are affordable.
The Jalopy Journal
