Just bought my first HAMB friendly car! 1958 Chevy Bel Air!

As of late I have been distracted with an engine swap on a 1975 C3 Corvette, yeah I know off topic, BUT it will give me the necessary funds to buy some more nice parts for the bel air. Anyways, even though I do not have a real up date, I thought I would share some pics that I had not posted before. The first will be the pics of where the car sat for at LEAST the past ten years, unmoved and untouched. Also in the pics is one of the previous owner. A super nice guy who I knew was sad to see the car go. All he ever wanted to do was drive it!



Also here is a pic of how dirty I got when I had to replace the oil pump on this car. Remember the car was probably leaking oil from day one. Dirty and tired, but totally worth the drive for the first time in 30 years as you guys saw on the previous video.



I also have been doing a little bit of paint clean up, and I think I can get this original paint to at least shine up and become a 15 foot paint job. Honestly that is all I want considering I dont have the time or the money to do a paint job on this boat. Plus, they are only original once. If I do paint anything it will be the passenger front fender and the drivers side rear door, which have had paint work done in the past and do not match. Funny how 30 year old crappy paint is standing up less than 50 year old factory paint.
BEFORE

AFTER

And last but no least, TIRES from Coker, yes they were pricey, but I think they were worth the money spent on them. Plus the car looks better not sitting on to flats in my driveway!



Next item on the list will be to address the leaking freeze plug issue that I am having at the moment. I havent decided if I am going to drop the trans and remove just the rear plugs, or pull the motor and get to them all. Check out this thread for further discussion!

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=795952

And my fav pic of the bel air so far:

 

love 58 4dr. hdt's!

 

Nice car - I learned to drive on this car. My parents had a "cay coral" (otherwise known as pink) 4-door Belair, same color interior - other than that, same as your car. When we sold it in 67 it still had the plastic seat covers on it - the seats were brand new underneath. Thanks for the memories and good luck with it!

 

NEW VIDEO UPDATE!
Check out the link below:
http://youtu.be/l0DUSMBJfac


Lots of progress in this video. Enjoy!

 

How was the compression test ?

 

The compression test went well. I wish I would have remembered to film it! As you can tell, the clips in this video are kinda random, but I tried to tie them in as well as I could

 

Good Enough,

 

New Update
http://youtu.be/3nalNgPKaNI

 

Man! I have really enjoyed this thread and the videos. Looks like the hobby is in good hands. One thing though.......the oil spots on the driveway and the rusted water you flushed from the block HAVE to be killing the concrete. Please tell me that got cleaned up so I can sleep tonight! My O.C.D. is raging right now.

 

Tommyd, very good eye, and yes I did make a mess, BUT I did manage to buy a gallon of the concrete cleaner and have used it more than once. What ever does not get removed by that will be removed by the blazing Texas sun. You would be surprised what one Texas summer will do to stains on the driveway!

 

Keep up the good work!

Walt

 

Great looking old Chevy and love what you're doing to her!

 

kool car

 

Man..you are doing great....enjoyed the videos that is a clean 58 thank you for sharing. Cant wait to see her cruising down the road.

 

Love those 58's! I'll be watching this one.

 

Subscribed!

 

That is a sweet 58 you have there, and she is coming along nicely. Where are you at in DFW? I'm in Mckinney. Anyway, I like 4 dr hard tops too. I had a 62 Impala hardtop in the mid eighties, sold it when I was on leave from the Air Force, miss it to this day.
Yepper, that Belair's gonna make a real nice driver. Keep it up!
Cash

 

I am actually in Frisco, near Main Street and Hillcrest. If you would like you can always drive your old car here and check mine out. Hopefully soon I will br driving it more.

Does anyone have any transmission cooling lines for sale?

 

As you saw in the last video, the trasmission lines broke, but I was able to get some replacement ones cheap from autocityclassic.com they shipped them in two days for a reasonable price too. Thanks guys! Maybe I will be driving the bel air around this weekend!

 

chstitans42, congrats on your acquisition. I just bought a 58 biscayne 2 weeks ago. Enjoy your ride. Sam

 

Sam, that is a good looking biscayne. have any more pics? I am pleased to announce that due to Fed Ex delivering my part quick, and autocityclassic on the quick turn around, the bel air is back together, running driving ans stopping, and so far no leaks. Ill keep my fingers crossed!

 

I'm really jealous! I shoulda held out for a nice original car like that instead of the complete ground up basket case I've got in the garage.. oh well... also, a 58 hardtop 4 door is one of the few 4 doors I would buy... nice car, cherry!

 

Mine is a 4-door sedan. It was a 100% survivor 5 years ago. A friend of mine bought it, had new eyebrows welded in and had it repainted. During the repaint, the original 235 froze and cracked due to lack of antifreeze. He then installed a fresh 327/350 turbo combo with a new v8 radiator, tires and exhaust. He then lost his motivation. It sat outside unattended for over 4 years. I bought it two weeks ago and got it going. Mine is a 4-door post and radio delete. The wiring has never been hacked up. There are some small rust bubbles on the bottom rear left quarter and around the rubber plug under the spare tire well. Everything else is solid. I've changed the carrier bearing and reworked the vacuum wipers and it's on the road now. I have power steering but manual brakes. These are "road whales" but really ride smooth. I'll be following the progress on your's. Sam

 

I passed on quite a few 50s boats before I chose this one, I sat in the interior and said I got to have this! I paid a little over 3k for the car, which might have been a little more than it was worth at the time, but I wont have to restore the interior.

Mine has power steering and manual brakes too, you just have to learn how to brake early and really push on that pedal. Mine only has a little rust on the eyebrows (not worried because the trim covers it) a little in the bondo door and some in the spare tire well in the trunk, not much I am worried about.

 

Good to hear she is back on the road. Enjoy!

 

New Video Update!
http://youtu.be/vpm43lHSMbU

 

THIS IS AN AWESOME THREAD!!!

watched every video, 1 to 7. loved every one! real neat, its really a beautiful car. the only thing i would do is find a nice original fender the same color and replace that front right fender, or left, im not sure which one is messed up but i would replace it.

i liked these videos cause thats how me and my dad restore our cars, get it running and then drive the piss out of it, and as stuff blows up, we replace it. eventually you have a new car! keep us posted and have a nice vacation!

 

Superb car, and a hard top too. It´s even a good colour(s). Lowered, wheels and paint and maybe a bit of minor dechroming and it´s perfect.

 

This has been a great thread for me. I just bought a 1958 Ford wagon and will be doing much of the same work as the OP. The difference being, I'm a total n00b - so this thread has given me a good idea what to expect.

 

Thank you for the positive comments guys! I do have a small update, I called the guys at auto city classic and they said that there might be a chance that it is just the heater control valve leaking, and not the heater core. This means I might get lucky and not have to rip my dash apart. We will see, but since there is coolant coming out of both sides of my firewall, that is a good sign it is just the valve, which I can replace with a handle style water valve for now.