I recently bought a 59 Elcamino jigsaw puzzle. It is totally disassembled and took 3 truckloads to get it and all of the parts home. To make things more interesting, frustrating & difficult it came with parts from several different cars and definitely not all from an Elcamino (I already found a vent window glass with FoMoCo on it). I have never dealt with a 50's car before so I am looking for a little guidance from those of you who know these cars a lot better than me. As I inventory the parts and find stuff that I am not sure what it fits or even what it is I am going to post pictures in hopes that someone will be able to tell me what it is. Please note that this is not a dreaded what is it worth thread, I want to know what not how much. Anything that is not for an Elcamino will likely end up in the classified section for sale to help fund the project. So if it is an Impala part or for an entirely different car altogether than PM me & we can deal. Also looking to trade stuff I don't need for the stuff I do. First question. Among the spare parts were two rear windows that I was told were for a 2 door hardtop Impala. Are all of the rear windows the same? (2 dr/4 dr/hardtop?) or can anyone tell from the pics if these do not fit a hardtop? here are a couple of pics. Second question. Are these Impala fender/door trim? Third question. Are these for an Impala? The window post pieces seem to be about three inches too short to fit the Elcamino. These pieces are all anodized aluminum. Fourth question. What are these? Are they even 59 Chevy? Possibly air conditioning ductwork pieces? one seems to be cast aluminum and the other is fiberglass. Fifth question. I have several of each side of the wing window mechanisms but only one like this. is this a hardtop piece? or possibly a convertible part? It is very heavy, I figure it is either pot metal or cast aluminum. Sixth question. I have several trim pieces that do not come anywhere close to fitting the Elky. They seem to be drip rail trim. The long ones seem to be maybe an inner ans an outer drip rail piece. they are the same length and curve. (there are 2 the same of the one part). I have a tape down beside them to show how long they are. the long ones are almost 6 feet. Can anyone tell me the what they might fit? Seventh question. I have one seat track, one motor & one six way switch. The electrical parts have the same plugs as the rest of the Elky so I think they are 59 Chev parts but I am not sure. The motor is dated 6/27/58 and had "American Bosch" printed on it so maybe these are 58 parts? If anyone knows for sure please let me know. That is it for now, My camera battery died. I will have some more up tomorrow. Thanks in advance for any help you folks can provide.
-To properly identify the two back glass You have, You´d really be best off measuring them, and then matching that measurement to the next ´59-60 GM 2d ht or (2-4dr post) sedan You might come across. Anyway, what You need to know for the purpose of identifying these pieces and for potential interchange -prospects, is that Chevies in those two years came with two heights of roofs. The 2-door HT´s and 4dr (flattop) HT´s + the convertible had a lower height of windshield. As is usual for cars from this era, the taller-roof 2- and 4dr post sedans shared windshields and backlites. Wagons and Camino´s shared the windshield with the post sedans (as an aside, this style of windshield also interchanges w/the 6-window 4-door HT Cadillacs of the same years). Anyway, what You wanna figure out there is if these backlites are the size of the 2dr Ht or the 2/4dr Post Sedan. As for Your 2nd pic, if the two bits on the left match the length of Your Camino´s doors, what You´re looking at there are stainless fender-and door strips off an Impala 2d Ht. They´d obviously fit a convertible also. By the height of them, the w/s post inner garnish moldings are obviously off a hardtop also, as is Your vent window frame. I´m gonna assume a 2dr if in fact they came off the same car as Your c-pillar trim. By the shine and shape of them, the rest of Your trim appears to be off the roof of an Impala 2dr hardtop also. The ones with holes thru them should be stainless steel, inner window garnish, lining the edges of the headliner by the side window openings and the top of the windshield and back glass. HTH. Post pics of the Camino.
I bought a factory/dealer service manual for my 61. Has everything, and I mean EVERYTHING in it. I think it was like $45-50 and the best investment in time I made on the project.
The Elky ain't too fancy yet. Lot of work ahead of me but I am up for it. I will start a build thread once I get some better pictures of it - it has either been raining or I have been at work since I brought it home. Here is the link to the coupe build thread that dad & I built. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=348159 One of the truckloads of parts that came with the car. Also a spare frame from new mexico was included in the deal - the one under the car is screwed. I do have the manuals for the car but in the ones I have there are no measurements for the stainless or the glass. Just part numbers. 59 Chevy's are kind of scarce around my area & I am not about to start stretching a tape measure across someone's car at a show. Thanks for the info so far, I will probably have more pictures & more dumb questions later tonight, I am going to work on the car today.
NOTHING WRONG WITH EXTRA ANYTHING . WE CALL THAT TRADING MATERIAL . I FOUND A 59 SEDAN DELIVERY & A 59 TRUCK GETTIN READY TO BUY. WON'T HELP YOU OUT ANY THOUGH . 59 s ARE KOOL .
It's tough building a basket case from collected parts. I did a Chevelle and found out that I had 2 cars in one basket, a Malibu and an SS. I couldn't have done it without a reproduction factory assembly manual. The shop manual is fine for the mechanical stuff but the assembly manual covers all the accessories too. Get a 59 assembly manual. off topic but it lets you know that it's very doable. This was a 2500 basket case.
Those extra parts all look like '59 2dht stuff to me. I parted one out last year. You might easily have $1000 worth of stuff there if you can guarantee it's identity and then sell it off piece by piece.
Thanks tommy, it is an assembly manual. Has all the specs, breakdowns of lil brackets and such, body shims, frame dimesions, etc.
If it's interior moulding and it's chrome/polished, then it's probably Impala. I think all the other models had painted moulding. The Impala hardtops did have a lower profile, so glass like your vent window wouldn't fit. The long thin trim looks like drip rail trim. The side trim looks like it might be Impala, but it should fit your Elky (you might need to drill new holes though).
And here I thought the whole purpose of car shows were for car-people to get together and ask each other the wierdest questions, LOL. If what I suggested before isn´t an option for You, try matching Your inside garnish moldings together laid flat on the floor, see how the height of Your C-pillar garnish matches the height of Your A-pillar pieces, (whom we know to be of a hardtop -origin by now), and then match the height of those to the height of Your back glass and go from there.
I never thought of matching the rear trim against the window, seems obvious now that you pointed it out. I will try that. Thanks Sauli As to the wide impala trim it will not be going on the car. I like the look of the factory spear much better. just gotta find one more rear one. I have one pretty decent one for the rear so I have to track down another. Just my luck that the quarter spears are elky/brookwood only. the 2 door sedans/hardtops are a little shorter. look for the impala trim to show up in the classifieds for anyone who is interested in it. the Impala interior trim will also be up for a new owner as well. I have some other stuff set aside to photograph but I need to have the camera & the parts in the same place and then remember to take the pictures. Thanks for all of the suggestions so far. I have a set of shop manuals (58 manual & the 59/60 supplement), now I just have to track down an assembly manual that wont cost $40 to ship to me in Canada on top of the cost of the book.
That looks like a very cool project! I parted out this car and the parts sold FAST. There are lots of people around here (Ontario wide!) into these cars. I kept the engine and factory posi rear, and sold everything else except the tinted rear glass, rear window trim and the trailing arms. I have the glass in the rafters of the garage if you need me to measure it. Good luck with the project! I also like the trailer!
Hey Adam, I wish I had bought the Elky a couple of months earlier than I did, then I would have been at your place removing parts from that Impala. did you even sell the remaining sheetmetal? (floors, rockers etc) If you have a chance to measure the glass I would appreciate it. Thanks.
This was in the stash as well. I do not recall ever seeing one on any of the 59 Chevy's I have ever looked at. It has one port ( the long tube) and one mounting bolt. also looks like there may have been something else soldered to it at some point opposite the mounting bolt. It has "OLACO" stamped into both sides. Anyone know what the heck this thing is??
A vacuum can for the power brakes, I think. It would have mounted on the lt. fnt. inner fender, if that is correct. Another mounting bolt was where the solder is.
Hey man, I measured the rear glass from top to bottom, in the center, on the inside, straight across was 26-1/4". Its from a '59 4 door post. Hopefully that helps ID your stuff. I did sell the remaining sheetmetal off the car. The floors and rockers are going in a convertable near Brantford I believe. They were Low Rider guys that picked up the shell, bumpers and grill. A guy in Cornwall bought the doors, valence panels, dash, etc etc for his El Camino. The powersteering is going into a '58 Pontiac, Motor and maybe the factory posi rear are going in my Model A, and believe it or not, the steering wheel is going to be a coffee table! Only the exhaust went for scrap. That car will help at least 7 cars. It was a 4door anyway. Again, I like your El Camino! Cool project!
The fndr & door mldgs are Impala. The 2dr wgn & El Camino qtr mldgs are shorter than the cars(sdn & coupes) I have one rr qtr mldg. But I'm not 100, on which side it is! I went with the Impala body mldgs, cos I couldn't find just one. So if you're interested, let me know! Glad to finally see you have your El Camino. Jay
I now have a 58 shop manual, a 59 shop manual supplement and a 59 assembly manual, however the assembly manual does not have anything pertaining to the door assembly or the adjustment/assembly of the window tracks and related hardware. This is one of the pieces of information I was hoping would be in the assembly manual. My doors are gutted and I am not even sure at this point if I have all of the pieces I need. There is also very little information on the installation of the trim for the car (specifically the rear window trim for the Elky) Did I get the wrong book? Or is there another manual I need for this information? A fisher body book maybe? I have a couple more what is this thing questions. one I think is the bulkhead between the rear seat and the top well for a convertible and the other I have no idea what is is. This has been cut out of a car at some point. Not sure what this thing is. it is only about a foot by maybe 18 inches. Can anyone shed light on what these are for?
The power seat stuff look just like the Caddy pieces I have in my '33. GM could have used them in several brands though.
Anyone know where I can get the information to be able to reassemble the door guts on this car?? An exploded view would be great if such a thing exists. The service manual only has limited info & the assembly manual has no information on the doors at all. Help
brookwood wagons did not have chrome trim running the length of the car on the brookwood it was only on the front fender. when i was fixing my 59 brookwood wagon the late great chevy association and company were able to provide a lot of info. not sure how much help they will be now since they are part of the eckler's corvette company and the late greats don't seem to be a priority
Boy... you got a load there... The stuff in question # 4 is indeed factory AC stuff. The aluminum piece goes to the firewall on the engine side. I think the fiberglass piece goes under the dash and is actually bolted to the passenger side air vent on the kick panel. Question #5.... those are hardtop or convertible vent wing windows.. most likely hardtop cars. Yes... that vacuum box is for power brakes. The 2 studs have been broken off. If it was installed at the factory, it was located on top of the inner fender well behind the hood hinge on the driver's side. If it was installed at the dealer, it was installed on the inner fender well kind of behind the headlight area (like where a battery would go). That red piece that is cut off is what you actually mount the rear seat back to... And I think they're convertible-only. You see the three hook things? That's what the seat back hangs on to. I could be wrong. The two hump things go on the sides near the rear window cranks are located. They're hidden by the rear seat armrests. I believe these are convertible pieces, also. As for all that trim, it looks like 2-door hardtop stuff, but I'd have to dig out mine to be sure. I just had it all restored and it's in bubblewrap at the moment. Good luck on that stuff! Yes you can make good money on that to fund the El Camino project!! Travis
Hey if your looking to sell any of the ext.rear 1/4 window molding I'm needing some the stainless that goes around the curve rear side glass for the 59/60 wagon if so let me know how [email protected]
Yes, the Red cut out sheet metal piece is from a gm convert 59-60. Its were the top of the back seat goes as Sled driver said. The panel thats attached to it and cut is were the top motor sits. You can see the 4 holes were the rubber plugs sit. Looks like somebody had some acces to a couple parts cars along the way.Good luck.
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