I'm a newby and I just bought my Dad a car

as the title says, I just registered here and I just bought my Pop a car. My Dad is an old school Hot Rodder (he's 66) and for as long as my brothers and I can remember he's wanted a 'Rod. Not just to drive but to wrench on. I've been trying to make a deal with this "Old Man Down The Road" for about a year and a half on a car that has been sitting in his hay field for 20 plus years. This Thanksgiving I finally convinced him that I'm not going to buy this car and turn around and sell it for a profit...I want my Dad to have it. What's the car? a 1950 2-door Chevy Styleline Deluxe..one of the few cars my Dad searches for on Ebay.
By now, my Dad should have retired as a mechanical engineer but since my Mom died, I figure he's working because he doesn't have anything else to keep him occupied...until now. He has no idea what Santa is bringing him.
Like I said, the car has been sitting in a field for 20 years but, it's basically all there and original except for the engine. I learned from this site where to find info on casting numbers, cowl tags, etc. and it seems the engine is from a '54 Corvette..#3835913, a 235c.i. Stovebolt 6 with a Powerglide transmission. The paint is in bad shape but a great original color, Paint code#426 which is Crystal Green Metallic. The interior is absolutely shot with about 2 inches of rat shit throughout...talk about a 'Rat Rod'.
Anyway, that's my story...sorry to be so long winded

 

Welcome from Buford,Ga.
I think you did Great, not many sons this day and time would be that thoughtful.
Ya gonna help him work on it?
keep us posted.

 

You kick ass. Please keep a build journal!

- Joe

 

welcome to the site, keep us posted on the build richie.......

 

Welcome, your dad is a lucky guy

 

Welcome from Washington You sir did good by your Dad!

 

Welcome from Ky......keep us updated if possible

 

what a total bitchin idea man! keep us posted on updates..

 

I wish you and your Dad much success in getting that Stovebolt back on the road. Pic below is from the 60's and offered to demonstrate how a '53 looked back then.

 

Welcome to the HAMB. Your Dad is lucky to have a son like you. Now get him a computer(if he doesn't have one), and sign him up on the HAMB too!

 

welcome aboard...hope you guys have as much fun building that Chevy as my son and I had doing mine....and like Mottsrods said, get dad on the HAMB...(but not 'til you get the 50 on the road)...'cause that's where he'll spend a lot of time...by the way, I'm the same age as your dad...tell him to get to work on that project NOW...mine took 2 years working pretty much daily but the PAYOFF has been 11 years on the road and almost 100,000 miles of smiles ! My son Tony that built the car with me died in 2003 and as my tribute to him I'm hoping to keep it going til I drop. Good luck and good cruising to you... Randy

 

Welcome from Ok.

 

welcome from mn

 

welcome from Spring Texas now you might give him a reason to retire

 

Welcome, your car looks great, I'm sure you will enjoy the HAMB.

 

Welcome!! Great ride to start with, get a dust mask on dealing with the rat shit, it is extremely toxic and carries lottsa disease, serious! Good luck with the Chevy guys, workin with your Dad is way cool!! ~Sololobo~

 

man your dads lucky wish i could do that for my dad

 

Wow, thanks for the welcome guys!! I'll definitely keep y'all posted on the progress. As far as all that rat shit is concerned, I've gotten the majority of it out. And yes, I wore a mask..thanks for that piece of advice. What's really cool, is that while I was getting all the nasty carpet, blankets and rat crap out of it, I found the key!! I'm friggin' stoked. It works in everything and now everything that it works in is actually working too..with the exception of the engine of course. I mean, the door locks and glove compartment are like butter. Also, the doors are actually closing all the way now, thanks to a LOT of penetrating oil...EVERYWHERE. This afternoon, after I get off work, I'm gonna go get what I think are the original rims out of the trunk(why are they in there?!!?) and have some used tires installed just to get the Old Girl rolling. I might just power-wash them, do a little rough sanding and then hit them with some rattle-can red. I seem to remember my Dad telling me about a Plymouth he had with wide whites, red rims and beauty rings. By the way, two of the tires are actually holding air! Granted, theres no way in hell they're road worthy...they just need to be strong enough to get up on the hauler.
Believe me, I'm gonna be all up in his business, putting in my two cents worth on what he does with it!! I can't wait.
Thanks again for the warm welcome and I hope you all have a Merry Christmas.

 

I feel lucky to be able to do it. Here's the reason I could actually afford it: we bought the car for $800. And by "we", I mean my brothers chipped in too. How big of a jerk would I be if I let them give Dad socks or a tie or something? "Merry Christmas Dad, I hope you like the shirt we got you...now go outside and see what your other son got you...you know the A-Hole Son"...hahahaha!!!

 

Welcome, I like your enthusiasm,hang with it. Pretty soon you'll be driving that rig.

 

That's great that you and your brothers could and did do that. Lots of great stuff on here for inspiration. I do more reading than posting in order to learn. I'll be looking for updates on this one...

Oh yeah, I'm kinda partial to '50 Chevys. I'm slowly making progress on one. Guess I need to do some posts.

 

Welcome and enjoy the journey, it will prove to be a good time also.

 

Welcome from the Miss. Coast.

 

I feel kinda bad about not giving credit to my brothers in the first post! Well...not anymore really. This was definitely my 'baby', this car, I mean. I've been giving my dad 1/18 scale die-cast models for his birthday and Christmas for so long it's silly. When I was 15 I bought my first car for $150 (a 1970 vw 'baja' bug), the engine was full of water. My Dad and I got it running just before the first day of my High School Senior year. My Dad is kick-ass and he deserves this.
Anyway, another idea I've got is to give him another 1/18 scale car...a '50 of course BUT attach the key to the model. Anybody got a good lead on old school leather key fobs? Maybe with the bowtie or the chevrolet script on it? Or 'DeLuxe'....that'd be cool.

 

I'm new to this site also. This is my 1951 2 drht. The early 49-52 hard tops are getting hard to find. Have fun in the rebuild.

 

Well, I bought the primer and paint (a deep red..almost maroon) to dress up the wheels a little. The problem is that it's too dang cold to paint em! Plus...what if he doesn't like them painted? oh well...I'm sure it'll be alright. If he doesn't like them he can change them. I'm also gonna see if I can find some Mexican blankets to clean up the interior some. That way, when he sees it for the first time, he'll have no idea just how nasty the interior was when I got started on it.

 

a few more bad quality pics

 

Dude...that is a sweet ride. Is that a Bel-Air? The reason I ask is the top looks like one, if I remember correctly. I'm still learning about these American Beauties.

 

Welcome. That's a really great thing you're doing for your dad! My dad is the same way (work-a-holic), and my brother did the same thing for him a few years back. It's defniately brought us all closer together.

Rusty

 

I'm rebuilding the same car that you are...except it appears that the body on yours wasn't eaten up and then "repaired" by a dumbass before you got it. That whole "don't paint in the cold" junk....I rattle canned my manifolds the other day...I just made sure the metal was warmed up and left the cans indoors so they were at room temp when I sprayed it...no problems.

Here's mine:

Where it was when I bought it....quite deceiving:



Where it is now...more or less:



I know you're sticking with the stovebolt, but if you have any other questions about it...don't hesitate to ask!

Look forward to seeing what you do with it!!