Hot Rods '51 Chevy Fleetline DeLuxe Project

Love this. EXACTLY what I would love to be driving someday. Patina'ed and cleaned up. Love the heck out of this.

 

I can remember throwing a can of STP in the tranny to slick things up and quiet it down,
do not know if that is a good way to go, seemed to work back in the day.

 

Nice find, looks like my grandpas 51 2door. If you want to go with era performance parts like the fenton split headers and so on Patricks specializes in the old chevy 216, 235w and 260 stove-bolts like you've got. there website http://www.patricksantiquecars.com/.

 

I got to thinking about the noise the tranny was making, and remembered that I had one that sounded just like that and it turned out it was low on gear oil. Here's what I would put on the ol' "to do" list: next time you have it up on jackstands drain the old gear oil out and replace with new, same with the rear end. Then take it for another drive and see if it makes a difference.

I checked out your web site, it's good to see another young guy playing and singing the blues. I have Bobby "Blue" Bland's "Farther up the Road" on a CD I love to play while I'm cruisin' the old Chevy. He's one of the all-time greats! A lot of us kids back in the late 50's got turned on to blues music listening to Hunter Hancock's R&B show on the radio after school (in So-Cal).

 

Thank you so much guys for the very kind words and continued advice!! Today I drained the transmission to find that it did not have enough oil in it. I filled her back up with fresh 80W-90 and now almost all of the strange sounds are gone.

I drove her about 40 miles to a cruise-in tonight and she performed flawlessly. Heater works great and she kept me cozy in there with the dimly lit gauges and 6 volt headlights lighting up the backroads on the way home. I'll have to get a good pic next time.. I love this car.

 

Good to see you here Will.
Guys, let me tell you a little about this young man.
He restored an old FedEx flight simulator that's in his house before he could (legally) drive. This is a real training type flight simulator that FedEx used to train pilots. Not some playstation game.
The 56 shown above, he did a full body off resto in 9 months.
NINE MONTHS!
He owns a beautiful black 57 Chevy convert that will knock your eyes out.
He as a great trifive pick up he has done a mild resto on, that runs and drives great, in just a few months (ignition issues not withstanding) plus he's a professional blues guitarist extraordinaire (IMO) all while finishing high school and now in college.
He's done more in the past few years than I have in the past 30.
I'm constantly blown away by his determination and success.
Sorry Will, I just had to brag on you.

OH, and the snow tires? Back when this car was new and even 10 years old, we got a lot more snow than we have in the last couple decades.
I remember my Dad talking about driving home after work (night shift) and not being able to turn out of the main drag in his neighborhood because the ruts were too deep and had frozen hard.
I've seen some pretty deep snow (for southern climates) in my lifetime.
So, the snow tires don't surprise me for that car.