The Del Ray now has a buddy, a Bel Air

So, this is what you do when you have a 88' monte carlo lowrider that you dont need, and a 58' project that has its hang up's.
You hop on craigslist and find someone who wants to trade. and if so-happens that its for another 58' two door post thats compleat, you motor your ass down to Indiana and do the trade.
what we have here is a 58' bel air, with an SBC (displacement unknown by owner), powerglide & power brakes. both drivers side tires are shot, and the front coils have been torched, thats the explination for its sagging. Its a great running and driving car.
everything else is pretty much original, but unlike my del, its a driver & its for the most part compleat. so i will be swapping out all the good stuff like steering colum, shifter, interior, brakes, some of the chrome & engine and trans from my del and making this one even better then what it is.
its still got all the holes for the impala style chrome, and im most definatly putting it back on....that is once the owner befor last finds it.
Everything on the car is in great condition in terms of stuff that should have gone bad, to open up the door and the dome light to still work was a trip. more is definatly to come when the weather breaks.









My two aircraft carriers.

not to bad on trade for this huh?

So this spring is going to be a mad dash, having a bunch of friends help explode the two cars apart and switch what needs to be.
Stay Tuned!

 

You definatly got the better end of this deal! Nice score.

 

Ah, '58...my favourite Chevy.
Ever since I first saw Amercian Grafitti, I've had a soft spot for the '58's.
My dad used to call them "a truck", because he said that's what it was like to drive one, but hey, can't be worse than a Cadillac, eh?
I'm so into Impala's though, I usually don't bat much or an eye at the Del Ray's and the Bel Air's, but that's a nice one.
Straight body, minimal rust and.....power front disc brakes!!!. Ya' got a winner, dude.
I am noticing the yellowish paint on the black fender and that gives me an idea.
What do you think about finishing this one off with a gold/black two-tone paint job, like the Buick's and Olds' used to have?
Might look nice on the '58's lines.

Nice trade. Glad to see someone else is trying to keep the '58's alive.




6narow

 

i actually did think about that for the 7 hour ride back, haha.
i had a take of that gold and black with this rendering JIGGER did for me.

and have like an outlined black & white flame job ending about mid-door.

 

that lowrider looks like fun.. this 58' looks like it'll be fun to build too, hope you have lots pf beer for your buddys helping out!
Anthony

 

Teen drinking is very bad man, haha.
best part is i already know how to do/fix everything on the bel air, from doing/fixing everything on the del ray!
i couldnt believe how good the previous owner was loading it, my buddie's trailor is a tilt, the guy had the car rolling at least doing 20 and just flew right up the ramp, stopped and it tilted down.
he got out and said, "Sorry, im used to driving race cars"

 

better interior shot.
i tell you the front seat is trash but the back looks like it was never sat in or otherwise, still has the seatbelts too.

 

What's wrong with the seat, the duct tape is a perfect match to the dash! Nice score.-MIKE

 

Hmmm, I see.
That one reminds me more of a Barris car that I think was called "Aztec"?

Anyway, I've attached a rather blurry photo that is more along the lines of I was referring to.

...more something like this, but maybe a better balance of black to gold...

 

Holy hell mike, your right!
but, something about a spring in the ass just isnt right.
I kinda like that paint combo 6, but it just doesnt do it for me on the 58', maybe im just a bit stubborn with the picture in my head.

Me and my father took it out for its first drive today, rides wonderful and runs great. after a little carb and distributor adjustment its purring.
so now that the runnings all taken care of, theres a small electrical problem, the rear lights dont work, so thats gotta be taken care of and the starter is starting to give its death rattel so other then that, things are sailing.

 

just a few more pictures for the hell of it.
like i said the seat is clean.




Hahaha, almost!

 

nice score!

 

Looks like it wouldn't take much to make a driver out of it as well as have the delray driveable... makes since to keep them separate to me?

 

well, it all comes down to cash. and the fact i dont have any.
The bel air is one Heluva driver, that test drive today was golden to say the least, that 283 & powerglide are smooth, susspension stiff and brakes capeable, the steering is manual so theres no big deal on that its easy.
The del is very close, however the body is a bit 'Filled' in most places. and the Bel air is very strait and even has a new quater pannel, where my del just has a shit-ton of bondo. and as i've stated, the del is literaly a exhaust system, gas tank, shocks and fixing the centerlink away from being on level with the bel air, but with my dels body, missing interior and exterior trim, trunk seal lip rust and shitty trunk floor, its a lot more simple for me to take the better parts from my del, improve the bel air, and pocket some cash for more on the bel air.
But most of all, i just have nooooooo room at all, id like to have both of them for sure, have both of them two different styles, but with the lack of room and funds, they both have to be condensed. but trust me i understand what your saying.

 

you should just get it running and paint over the yellow spots, it looks awesome now!

 

ohhhh trust me, it will be painted soon enough,
i cant stand not having it painted right now.
I want my damn metalflake red NOW! i wanna see it in the high sunlight.
at least i can drive this one, just sitting and watching the del ray was getting painful.

 

Too bad that Kansas centennial plate is so mangled! Was that Monte a luxury sport? Think you got a deal! Take what you need from the other and ship it ASAP.

 

I know! that would of been a cool piece to have on the front, gives it personality.
yes, it was an LS, it was a good car but the head gasket was going, just a weee bit more water in the exhaust then should be. other then that all the hydrualics were fine.
it will be nice once the switch is done, my buddie will be happy with a new car to work on and ill be happy tearing up the streets allllllllllll spring and summer.

 

Nice pair you got there. If you part out the Del Ray, I need some miscellaneous parts, so keep me in mind. Sorry I don't need enough to take the whole car.

Best wishes with it.

 

well if you tell me right now ill make a list and see what of it my buddie doesnt want, we are in the same club and good friends and its been a year+ he's been asking to buy the Del, so he's top on the list, but since a lot of things on the car he just doesnt want, there might be a few things up for grabs. so let me know.

and thank you very much.

 

Great deal for sure.I always liked 58 Chevy's and i bought a wrecked (more like totaled )rustfree 58 Del-Ray tudor years ago for $200 bucks ,pulled the drivetrain and sold it for $200 .Guy lied to me cuz the motor was junk ,so i ended up with nothing .Wish i could find a nice one to build you got .Good luck with it...

 

thank you, im telling you, its been strictly luck that has got me both of them.
i mean some people think im crazy to go way out of state just to trade one car for another, but im 19 and this is my passion, so im gonna do what i gotta.
Long live Craigslist.

 

i forgot to reveal the bad.
along with the front seat being a poker, the dash is missing a lot of pieces, and there are no door panels or handels on the inside. the guage faces on the cluster are loose thus making them off on how acurate they are. then there is the radiator, not only does it have a hole in the middle but its a bit gunky, (the del rays rad is brand new so its going to be a swap), then the exhaust is well routed, however it has softball sized holes in the mufflers and the pipe after the axles is horribly bent like it was mangeled.
and then other then the back lights not working, its a running, driving well handeling car.

 

That's fine, its your car, you do what you want.
It just seemed to me that there may have been a slight miscommunication, so I wanted to illustrate my point. That was all.
No worries....although, I now have another question for you (should be the last one)...

Earlier you mentioned it had an SBC of unknown displacement, but now you're calling it a 283.
Did you run the block #'s or are just calling it a "283" to stave off the writers cramp?


6narow

 

Exelent question, yes, i did run the block number, the engine is a 283, now if its been rebuilt or not, i dunno yet. it does still have the old canister oil filter along with the anchient starter and the generator and the generator wires dont look like they have ever been touched. it looks like its had a shaker can rebuild on the outside, (As you can see on the belt in this picture.) but i dunno whats going on inside yet.

 

Cool beans. Thanks for the info Toomer. I also see they installed tall valve covers with T-handle bolts and an aftermarket intake manifold.
Is that a Performer? Almost looks like a Victor Jr. from the photo.

BTW, Raycor makes an adaptor for your engine that will allow you to use a spin-on oil filter.
Check with your local NAPA.


6narow

 

performer rpm id guess, looks just like mine, except i drilled the oil fill boss and stuck in a fill tube. i hate when people dress an old motor in pep boys crap.....

 

yeah, its just an RPM intake, and it has a nice single pump edelbrock under that air cleaner too. The funny thing is for a PCV valve he has the breather on the right side of the engine, this breather has a hose comming off of it cand going down the back of the block like a road draft tube.
There will be some nicer fined valve covers when i get the chance, that is if i keep this motor, or swap it out for the del's 350 HO, but other then the small performance gain, theres no real reason to do so. what i might go for is tri-power, i mean its got a real nice points distributor so no clearence issues, and if anything just get a better coil. But like i said for its first drive the day after we trailored it, it ran wonderful, i forgot to mention it was driven to shows a lot down in Indy, apperently some kid had it befor the guy i got it off of.
Id of liked to see a stone stock engine sitting in there valve covers and all, id of cleaned it up nice and just ran it, but at least its not a center-bolt head engine like the del ray has.
And im definatly getting new plug wires, that shit just looks nasty.

 

ya boy they do, and wires are an easy lil detail that a lot of people mess up....

 

That's a sweet ride (once you get the front end up). I love '58 Bel Airs. There used to be one around here but it's been gone for years. Wish I'd have scarfed it up way back then. On my '56 I did my own upholstery. My back seat was good but the front one was trashed. I just to some new foam rubber and went to Walmart and got some cheap assed fabric and bought some seat covers from Ebay and put it all together. Turned out pretty good actually. Back in my home town in MO, back in the day, ('58) a hillbilly had a Del Ray (I guess, the cheapest one) with a 3 deuce 348 and 4 speed. It was a goin' SOB. Good luck on it.