Good News and bad news. Bad news is that the '52 BelAir is sold. Couldn't bear to cut too many corners with it and at the shabbiest, I was 2 to 3 thousand dollars and wa-ay too many evenings and weekends away from being able to drive it. And I honestly couldn't justify keeping a car that I wasn't going to be able to use. So my co-worker (78 years-interesting) had his mom's last car parked out in the barn. I went over to look it over and talk about what it might be worth to him.
My apologies for crappy cell-phone pictures but it gives the story some illustration. So here is this beat down '51 Fleetline. Floors half gone, every piece of glass is either chipped, cracked, or delaminated to a serious degree. Not a single piece of this car is free from either a dent, a crease or some rust, maybe some of the stainless is undamaged...
But it runs. Quite nicely, to be honest. Temp holds perfectly at 170 or so and oil pressure sits at 20 pounds 'til I tap the throttle. The fuel guage reads at a 1/4 and the amp guage indicates all is well. No smoke, no lifter ticking, no warm rattle from down low. When I push the clutch in, I hear nothing and the old column shift slides thru all the gears like butter. When I pull forward and then back it back up, the clutch engagement is smooth with no chattering or shuddering. Here's the story Floyd tells. The title I got indicates that his folks got a bank loan and financed the Chevy in 1959. Floyd can't remember what they paid for it, but the mileage was pretty low, and he remembers that it was like new, very clean. Sometime in the '60's, the old 216 went down and the 235 was bought from a repair shop in the Bremerton area and installed. ID pad is stamped GAA655240. Carter carb and full lifter cover looks more like a 216 to me, but maybe the early 235 had the 2-bolt valve cover and full-length sidecover.
So Floyd's mom quit driving in 1974. Car sat. Somewhere around '79 or '80 the old Fleetline got brought to Nevada County and a local shop pulled the trans and rearend and put all new seals and bearings in as well as a new clutch. Then it got parked in the barn. It's been pulled out every few years and run for an hour or so, driven around the yard. This time the brakes were dead, so we just moved it gently back and forth on flat ground. I offer him $750 and he shuffles a bit and admits he would like to see the old car being driven. So now it is home with me. I've got a sweet pair of cold black and yellow plates I last used in 1992 to stick on it. Floors will get some quick fabbed up patches tacked in and POR15'd and seam-sealed. Wheel cylinders are getting r-n-r'd one at a time. Shoes are great, drums are clean, rubber hoses are flexible... Pulling the Master cylinder for a good going over. All the brake lines come apart with a little penetrating oil and a flare wrench.
Still has the original rims with bias ply tires and tubes. All 5 rims. Still have all 4 caps. No broken clips. Weird. Dropped the tank tonight. No broken bolts or stripped threads or hardline fittings. About 3 gallons of turpentine in there, but not rusted out, no water and 6 rinses or so with the filtered turpentine got the tank pretty clean. Going to buy a battery on Friday and order a headlight/turnsignal harness from Chev's of the 40's. Old cloth wiring is pretty toasty! Will keep ya'll updated.. my current (OT)daily driver goes to my almost-16 years old Princess on August 30th, so that's my time schedule to get the old girl driveable and current with DMV.
So just a bit more done today. Started patching in the rusted out trunk. I figure if I give it a couple hours each day I can meet my goal. Worried a little today about the motor. Wondering if Floyd is mistaken. 216 seems scary, and the first 235s were hardly better as I recall. Not sure how tough or useable one might be for a daily driver. Right now I am putting 30 miles a day on my rig for work. Any ideas on how to stretch out what life it's got left? Tips or tricks used when putting a motor back into daily service when it has been sitting this long? Old SBC pan gave up it's sump corners for the "new" trunk floor. Ans another old pickup bed box will get slaughtered for patch panels. Low-buck hotrodding here!
Cool thread and an even cooler project. I am doing the same sort of thing on my 1958 chevy bel air. Check out my posts. I am now subscribed to your thread! keep it up!
This is awesome. Stoked for you. I am currently driving a 54 ford we bought for my wife once my 54 Chevy is finished. The ford is beat up pretty bad, but it runs really good. Original drivetrain. Just baby that motor and you will be fine. Just remember that it's 60+ years old. Stoked for you, this is what we do is all about. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
As for the 216/early 235. I had an early 235- dipper rods- in my 37 p/u for about 3 years when I was in college. It had a Harmon/Collins cam, milled head, magneto, three carb intake and Clifford headers. 4.56 gears, stock 4 speed. It was loud enough it would set off all the alarms on Alder street in Walla Walla. It lived for three years with tons of abuse- it finally developed a rod knock on a 110* day when I was late for work one day- 75 mph was too much for the splash oiling system. Will they live? Heck yeah! I'm pretty sure you'll not abuse the engine anywhere as much as I did! Question: do you know about aligning the nozzles for the oil with the "square" on the other side of the pan? PM me if not.
A lot happens in a week. Father's Day was awesome for me, spent about 6 hours in the garage and got a lot done. My almost-16-year-old-princess has been coming out to the garage and hanging out. She textx her friends and asks questions about what I'm doing and seems pretty interested. I let her change the station on the shop stereo to Top-40 country crap, and once in a while they play "oldies" from the '80's and '90's and I laugh and feel old. hemiboy- when were you ripping up Walla Walla? Went to school in College Place from '89 to '92 then came back to California. Had a '46 GMC I drove around for a little while. Former dogcatcher's truck for College Place... bought it from a retired judge in 1990 for $100. Different story tho... got the tranny for it for $50 and a 5th of whiskey off of an old gal with a "closed" wrecking yard on the Oregon side south of town. Good times! Drove that sucker down I84 one weekend to see friends... 50mph in the slow lane with that old 228 humming, hand throttle set and windshield cranked open.. So a couple of hours each day after work and about 50 bucks in parts and we have brakes! Good brakes too, lots of firm pedal. Pulled the drums one at a time and cleaned/inspected/replaced when called for. So impressed with how well-built something like a simple Chevy from a different era is when compared to newer "improved" stuff. I love my wife's 2013 Civic SI. 200 hp, 6-speed, HUGE brakes .... and no soul. Fun to drive and easy on fuel, but I am not attached at all. Showed Jazz (aka "princess") how the column shift works last night and that turned into a reminder about the starter button on the dash.. memories of my mom leaving me (4 yrs) to watch my sister (2 yrs) in the '51 sedan at the BofA parking lot in '73. I hit the starter button "p'tending to drive" and jumped up on the curb. Don't recall a carseat or any seatbelts, that backseat was like a warm cave, loved the smell of old horsehair and cloth and stroking that fuzzy yellowed cloth headliner. Slept back there a lot on trips, hanging on the seat back while pops drove and my mom would read a book to us, 'cause there was no radio out in the hills and she would sit sideways, leaned up on the door a little so my sister and I could follow her finger and see the words.. f*@kin' eyes... (missin' mom now...) So.. trunk floor in and POR 15'd and seam sealed, gas tank cleaned and inspected, ready to re-hang, brakes gone thru and serviced and bled, now the wiring has to be gone over, lots of bare copper under the hood from heat/age. One last shot... car came with no keys, pulled out my "lifetime" collection of NOS gm keys last night and found one that actually works in the ignition switch! None would work the doors/glovebox/trunk... but the ignition switch! A good sign for sure! Off to work now....
I have to say that I am so impressed with my local NAPA store. Knowledgeable patient parts guys and I now have good brakes on the Fleetline. One drum at a time I pulled it apart and cleaned and inspected everything. The only parts I deemed necessary at this point were all ON THE SHELF at NAPA and the prices were comparable to online stores like RockAuto and cheaper than Chev's of the 40's. One rubber brake hose (for the rear), one wheel cylinder rebuild kit, (left rear), and a master cylinder kit. pulled all the steel lines down and blew them out and vacuumed fresh fluid up into the entire system, than I vacuum bled it off. Finished with my Princess, doing the old "10 slow pumps and hold!" ... "Holding!".... "Is it going down?"... "Really slowly, daddy!" Music to my ears... Hooked up the battery and popped my head back inside to turn the ignition on to check voltage at the coil and saw this beautiful brave little glow... so I took a picture. Glovebox has been locked and the keys lost since forever... and when I unscrewed the striker from below and opened it, the light came on because this old girl's got some soul!
....Today's progress was wa-ay more gratifying than some of the preceeding days have been. Started by biting the bullet on the gas tank. I hung it yesterday only to discover that the draw tube was packed solid. Dropped it this morning and found some pinholes in the top of the tank where condensation had hung and so I whacked a hole in the top about 14"X16" and scrubbed it out as best I could, cleaned the end of the pick-up tube out, verified the float was floating and slowly stitched a new piece in. It is not a photo worthy thing, and as soon as I can, Chev's of the 40's will be sending me a new one! 2 heavy coats of the POR15 on the fresh welds to hopefully help seal some of the inevitable pinholes. Whatever... holds gas, draws into the pump easily with no leaks and the old sweetheart purrs nicely. Gauge even reads properly. I'm about to wet my pants just thinking about it! So I put up a picture of the "paperwork" Floyd gave me when I paid him off. He remembers that his folks bought it used and that it was real clean and low miles. Title shows the name of a bank on it, sale dated 3-09-59, National Bank of Commerce of Seattle, Lynden Branch. Did some quick math, assuming similiar ratios of depreciation for age and mileage as we have presently, and as I read that the average new Chevy cost about $2500 in '59. I took 20% of that for an 8 year old car. So Floyd's folks ( I believe his dad was disabled, he was quite a bit older, with an improperly healed leg wound from WWI) financed a $400-$500 car. Does that sound about right? Anyone older that might remember how business transactions and prices were structured back then please feel free to weigh in. I love a good story, especially one that's accurate and detailed in an authentic manner. Motor number/serial number is NOT the same as what's in the car now.. corroborates Floyd's recollection that the 216 had worn out in the '60's and a rebuilt 235 was installed. Still working on discovering whether or not it's a "dipper" 235 or just another 216. Doesn't smoke, and I've not pulled a single plug or popped the distributor cap even. Eventually the note was paid, and a certain R.P.Garling ("ICL mgr.", the signature line addendum states) signed off the lien and sadly did not date it. Mrs. "Floyd's mom" signed for her husband on that transaction, even tho she isn't named on the front of the title. Feb 5 of 1962, Mr. "Floyd's dad" paid the registration fees of $9.50 well in advance of the Dec.31 expiration date. Different address, still in Bellingham, different street tho. I don't know why, but all these details please me. Opening a glove box that has been locked since the early '70's pleased me to no end, the old tin Band-Aid box, the "Sears" brand wrenches and the receipt for long-lost speed parts... Finding that the switch and bulb were still working and the glove box literally looks like new inside. The grey felt isn't pulling away from the cardboard even, the rats never chewed any holes thru it.. Too cool.
So just a few pictures tonight. Rain on Monday and Tuesday equals new lots are too wet to finish grade and no one wants to get mud all over our freshly paved and striped streets! So I got 7 hours in the garage. Here's a before-n-after of the drivers side and a "can you guess where this part came from?" and a final parting shot for the night. One day closer to driving it. Oh. Might need to study up on rear main seal replacement... seems that all this revving up of the old motor every time someone comes to visit is causing a mess right under the drain hole in the flywheel/clutch cover. Very thin, very old stinky black motor oil. Recommendations on a flush and refill with what products ya'll have used successfully?
Congrats on the find, soooo cool that much of it still works. As for the tall tin side cover, I know a fellah that had one of those he had converted to full pressure, just to screw with folks. if you aren't sure if it's full pressure oil or splash, check the driver's side of the block, behind the exhaust manifold for a kidney shaped plate with 3 screws holding it on. That's the only sure, external indication it's a splash oil engine that I know of. If you want to know more, check out inliners.org. Not the forum, the front page has a link bar on the left side, with a link to a casting number chart, should narrow down what you have. Best of luck, I look forward to seeing footage of you driving your new prize.
Rock & Roll. I plan on doing the same thing with the 63 Galaxie I just picked up. Fix the necessities and drive it. Hopefully the A/C still works...lol!
Had to laugh at that one! The problem with the BelAir was just that- it was a BelAir! Sticking point for me was the glass. I was looking at about $700 for glass and window rubber. Still needed some kind of wiring harness. Had a running 283 for it, had the floors done and the frame swap was sorted out. Just got no cash. So I sold it for $1500.00 and bought this Fleetline for $750. Left me some cash for fixin' on the new one and I get to drive something old, take my kids out and let 'em enjoy the experience. I remember my dad talking for hours about what he was gonna do with various different old cars he had over the years, and somehow events conspired to prevent us ever actually driving/wrenching on most of them. I just determined I want my kids to have some memories of actually riding in/driving some ancient iron! Priorities, brother.
So Thusrsday this last week was THAT day. Had some Rustoleum mixed up with the hinge cover out of the door jamb for a match. I rolled out a coat on the trunk floor and the fresh floorboards up front. While it was drying, I cleaned up the garage and scrubbed the original wheels and old bias ply tires up. Aired them all up to 30 pounds and stuck 'em on. Put the front seat back in and covered it with a sleeping bag and commenced driving around the neighborhood. Still got no muffler or pipe on it, rusted off right about the back of the transmission. Gave my son and niece a ride, gave my Princess a ride too. Later when my blushing bride finally agreed, I slid her in from the driver's side, pulled her up tight beside me with nice brown thigh to rest my shifting hand on and we cruised around the back streets in our neighborhood. THAT felt good!
I'm subscribing to this one, nice save. Your daily driver will have more TLC in it than many people's 'show cars' and ya did it yourself. Love this kinda stuff on the HAMB. Take care and enjoy that Fleetline!
Nothing too shocking ... Got my $35 exhaust on yesterday. One shot-out 24" glasspack and the over-the-axle-with-a-chrome-tip portion of pipe from a '70's Ford truck. Sounds better now, and the slightly rusty chrome goes with the paint and overall condition of this fine auto! So today I threw an oil change at this old girl. First one since the oil shortage in '74, right? It was time... NAPA Gold filter #1100 and 5 fresh quarts of house brand 10-30wt. While I was fussing with the oil, I started testing wires and fuses and got the tail lights functioning. Bulbs that were in the car (1154's I believe) cleaned up and work real nice. Got power to the flasher unit (factory turnsignal assembly) but nothing is getting thru the flasher or the turnsignal switch, so I ran a jumper down the frame with temporary brake lights. High and low beams and front marker lights are functional... Going to need bushings in the center link pivot on the engine crossmember and a re-build of the right front kingpin... got a lot of slop in those two points. I think I've got some shocks around back that might work and then I need to get a hitch built for pulling my motorcycle trailer. Oh.. and an interior of sorts, and something has to go in that back window hole! Anybody priced Fleetline windows? Damn near as bad as the BelAir was! Found gm part numbers stamped into the fanbelt today, 3680776 (1122), and right behind the fuel pump it has a large GM and "48" in a circle. Gonna have to pull the battery and distributor maybe to read the rest of that series of numbers. Looks like it might end with a "28"... Radiator is pretty solid, got a gm part number on it, 3122692. I dig finding all this stuff and continue to be so impressed with how durable many of the components on this car seem to be.
Sweet you finally got to drive it!. One thing at a time and you'll be cruising in no time. As long as you can stand things breaking until you have replaced everything these old cars will get you around. patience is key!! Also, the more pics the better!
I like that you took a picture of the oil filter part number. I should start doing stuff like that. My last oil change took forever because I forgot what the number was and did a lot of trial and error. Good call! Sounds like your car was fairly untouched with a lot of original parts. Those are the best ones to find, ain't they? For replacement glass are you using the Glassman or Pilkington? Sometimes a local shop can do it if its flat, but either way its pricey. Just be thankful its not a 55-57 Nomad or Safari. Those rear curved pieces are about as much as some of us have in our cars! Cheers & Beers.
Thanks for the interest so far. Monkeyspunk79- haven't gotten to glass yet. Kinda figured that unless a rear window came along used, I would just use some plexiglass for now. Took a big ol' bite tryin' to make a daily driver out of this BigGirl here! Went to start it up tonight and it backfired and bent 3 intake pushrods. Very odd and I'm just kind of rolling with it. Motor seemed to run real well and I'd put maybe 20 miles on it this last week or two, couple of quick putts around town and all. Not much sludge, so maybe Floyd's memory wasn't too bad, that the motor had recently been replaced when the folks parked it. News is tho, got the distributor and road-draft tube out of the way and the motor is a 3835253 block. Makes it a '49 as far as I can tell. Kinda goes with the old Carter carb, right? Wondering if the fiber timing gear failed and that's what bent the pushrods? Guess we'll be finding out, huh? Could always put that '59 283 I've got in there. Still got the '64 casting PowerPack heads... Kind of feels like giving up to yank the "6" tho. Lotta dollars to go thru one... How 'bout some pictures? Been rubbing the rust and the green off, finding the black primer and some bare metal even! Take a peek.
So the shot of the passengers door is to remind me what a nightmare that will be to rebuild! Pulled the wing window and side glass and regulator out of it yesterday. It was kind of froze up at the main "scissor point" and in the process of gently forcing it up and down I had pulled one of the spot welded brackets off on the channel that is pressed on the bottom of the glass. So it all came out and I lubed and wire brushed and tacked the braket back on and used some seam sealer to kinda re-attach the glass temporarily in the channel. Put it all back in and it rolls real smooth now. Latch doesn't work from the outside.... so that will be next and then we'll move to the rear doors. Oh, here's that block casting "money shot". Sheez, what a hillbilly wetdream this is turning into, huh? Have to confess tho, it's like therapy. Coming home after work and hiding out in the garage with this BigGirl... its all basic repair/replacement and massaging old metal. Lots of scrubbing... Got the dome light working with the bulb that came in it. The door jamb switches needed cleaning and a spot of dielectric grease.. I love that shit. It makes my heart happy and I remember old times when stuff was simpler and made more sense. Got a warm fuzzy when I pulled the cap off the distributor tonight and it says made in the USA inside. When was that made? Kinda sad reminder about this brave new multicultural/outsourced/borderless experiment we got talked into. Sayonara for now...
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