| The Restoration of a 55 Chevy | The headaches, costs and joys involved therein. |
BEFOREThis is my third blue & white '55 Chevy Bel Air 4-door sedan. I bought her around 1986 I'd say, from a guy here in Newark, DE. I paid $2,600.00 for her. She was all original except the new paint job and even that was close to original. The motor was a 265 v-8 and the trans a cast-iron PowerSlide. After 12 years of driving in this wet east coast environment the cancer started popping through. Specially around the eyebrows over the headlights as all 55's are wont to do. She took a few rams in local parkinglots ( I still suspect an old girlfriend of that mischief ). |
Finally! After years and years and years of wishin' and hopin' and plannin' and dreamin'... the Ol'55 is finally getting some attention. A lot of attention, actually. Not an off-frame restoration, but the next best thing...an on-frame restoration.
October 6th, 2000 |
 An upclose look at the newly painted dash. It's still all taped up at this point, but I think you can see how purdy it's gonna be. That's the BMW black I was talking about. Imagine the whole car looking like that! Yikes my yiminy, I am sporting a tremendous woodie! The steering column and wheel have also been sprayed, or "squirted" as Geno would say. |
Yes, it's a S T R A I G H T car. I called down to Dover a few days back and inquired as to the progress being made and was told, "Well, she's STRAIGHT now!" Hey, I can dig it!
The top and trunk section is a GM gray. A dark silver gray. It's supposed to be a metal-flake too, but I couldnt detect any here. Whatever, it'll be BAD! I can't wait to see it with the clear coat over it...and all that new chrome in place. |
Same car different side. She stands proud in her straightness. A straightness that extends clear to the front of the car as can be witnessed in this shot.
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 Check out those eyebrows! They're perfect. The hood had extensive work done on it too. Sorry about the mask hiding most of the front end. I dont really know why its there and didn't think to ask.
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 So, you're prolly thinking that the car is all done? Nope! 70% of the budget is spent but we still have numerous details to attend to. Number 1 now, being the interior.
Monty on Elkton Road here in Newark is handling that aspect. He gets high marks from everyone I know...and he's very close by. I picked some nice gray and black samples from his book-o-swatches for him to use, and today when I stopped by to see how we were progressing I got to see and touch what had come in. Should be velly nice. We're still waiting on a headliner and the rug.
Chrome-wise, there are still a few piece on order. The front fender for one. Rear door handles,
I'm working with a glass company, also just down the street, to get all new window channels all around and replacement safety glass across the passengers-side.
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If all goes well, the glass guys will have the car for awhile, then Monty will do the interior and then it'll be time to take'er back down to Dover to Maaco to have the wet-sanding and buffing done. ...and hopefully my main parts supplier, Jay Hammond, will have come through with the missing chrome, rally wheels and what-nots.
A couple mechanical things need attention. A small exhaust leak is audible and the brakes need some attention. Additionally, I want to get her to a transmission shop and have the accelerator / kickdown linkage replaced so it operates like it's 'sposed to... When I did the motor-swap a few years ago, I made up some all-thread linkage that has never quite worked correctly. Then we shall say, SHE'S DONE! Goodies to be added over the Winter and Spring months will include a nice CD player and hopefully, air conditioning. |
Jay's come up with:
NEED PARTS? Contact Jay Hammond: EMAIL or call: 1 · 302 · 322 · 1833. The '55 should be back from the glass guy today. I plan to get the new chrome inplace this weekend and then get her off to the interior guy on Monday the 6th of Nov. |
| The interior went in on the 6th and was back by Friday, the 10th ...an excellent job!
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I've got some more MOD-CONS planned for the inside. Got me some SunPro gauges, all chromed up and ready to install under the glove compartment door. Gonna look real nice! I'll take out the Pep Boys gauges you see here chicken wired in position. Then I'm looking at a nice CD Player. Havent quite decided yet on which one, but I've got a couple I'm looking at.
Nov17th Today I'm driving over to Jays to pick up the new grille and door handles. Front bumper is still to be delivered...bummer. GOT'EM! ...and a new trunk mat.
Nov 27th
Dear Diary,
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Also, I discovered that there's a crack in the drivers-side back door glass. (The only piece of glass that wasn't replaced by the glass guys). This may be my fault as I was pounding on the door pretty good when I had to take the door panel off inside to replace the door handle on that door. [One down, three to go]. Anyway, looks like another trip to the glass guys. ...and BTW, the rear window seal is leaking too. I get drips on the back panel under the rear window when it rains. I'll have to have that taken care of too. Can't risk screwing up that new interior.
...and another thing... See that bulge in the win-lace on the center post behind the drivers seat? (ABOVE) Thats where I bump against the post when I get out of the car. Thats loose and will have to go back to Monty for a fix. Oh, yeah, and he also didnt cut the headliner for a dome light. Again, thats my fault, sorta, the body/paint guys somehow cracked the lens when the switch in the door didnt turn off the light and ran down the battery so they pulled the dome light out...then they had the lens laying around and crunched it. It was still out when I took the car for interior work and rather than asking about it Monty just assumed I was planning to forego using the dome light, I guess, so I have an unbroken expanse of headliner; sans-light. Crazy shit, huh??? I'm getting pretty negitive. The robin has flown south. This paper should serve as a warning to those who want to travel this path. It seems that the nicer the car becomes the more obvious the little flaws become. This is not what I intended to happen when I first began. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions, I guess. But, whats really got me bugged is: Last Saturday evening Teri and I were going out for dinner and some drinks in the 55 and she started to run funny. Cant explain it too well. Just had a dead stop in the rpm curve that had me worried about going anywhere. It may just be the choke. It ws never set correctly cuz the carb went in in the summertime. Now its real cold and it just aint actin' right. I'll check on that today. Its 'sposed to be partly sunny and in the mid-fiftys. I've got some new ignition wires too. It was raining Saturday, so I also suspect that the wet weather may be adding to the problem. We'll see. |
I fiddled with the metering on the front of the carb and that made quite a difference in the idle. I dont anticipate anything is majorly wrong with the engine. And, in case I hadn't mentioned, the motor has an exhaust leak right where the heat riser meets the exhaust manifolds and that could be hurting the ignition wires. As for the wet-weather concerns, I decided to just go buy a new distributor, it's a Mallory replacement, nothing fancy, but it should allow me to check off one possible source of engine malfunction when trying to diagnose performance troubles.
The weather is getting incresingly worse and I now find I havent the will to go out in the driveway to do chrome replacement or tinker with the motor. Okay, I'm a wuss. ...anyway... I 've dumped the '55 as it is on an old buddy/mechanic who's been working on her since I got her 15 years ago, Bob Newlin. Bob's a old drag-racer, like myself, and he's made a living repairing cars of all kinds here in Newark, DE for as long as I can rememeber.
I have a laundry list of little jobs for Bob to do that I could no longer bring myself to do.
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Hey its February 1st! Bob is finished with the '55! ...and, he's nearly completed the laundry list.
He did everything I asked except installing the new grille. He has reservations about its strength. Okay, thats fine. Its not a major issue. But what he did manage to get done in the two months he had my car is just fantastic. The brakes work, it idles when first cranked up in the morning, the harmonic balancer doesnt wobble anymore ( Bob, said it was bent. (?) ), she now winds up to about 30 before shifting into high gear and will hold itself in low if you really push on the throttle... not quite perfect, but much better. [I havent been able to kick it into passing gear as yet.] The exhaust leak is fixed. The new guages look nice! and the weather stripping makes the doors sound great when they're shut. You know that sound? WUMP! ...and I took her through White Glove this morning and I can attest to the fact that absolutely no water got past the doors or windows. The new Mallory distributor is a nice touch. I cant as yet swear to any horsepower gain, but she runs strong and idles smooth which is what I like.
NOTE: It's been five months now since the body work and paint job. I think I've gotten used to the idea that she's black and gray now instead of blue and white. We're getting down to the details. What a nice place to be. Next is: the front bumper and ralley wheels. Then the CD player. Other can wait beautification projects include: making the trunk pretty and I know, my buddy, Phil will persaude me sometime over the spring/summer to start detailing the engine compartment. Minut'e details include: replacing the turn signal arm and the dome light on/off switches in the front doors, and rear-quarter stainless body trim spears. 6 month goals include:
Lettering Getting her InterNet ready |
 The new SunPro instrument cluster. Looks nice, huh? It replaces the tacky little plastic jobs I had hanging under the dash lashed in place with radiator clamps...they're for sale at e-bay now...just kidding!  The door handles make a huge difference in the appearance of the car. 'Cept for the new bumper that's getting installed this Monday, they are the last piece of outside chrome needed to make the car look whole.  The new Mallory distributor. Forgive me if the engine compartment looks less than detailed. I'm not one to care too much about how pretty engines look in passsenger cars. Now, if it were a dragster, I'd be all over it! My brother and I had an A/GD in the late sixties and I was the guy who spent all the time painting and waxing the body panels, and polishing the aluminum, stainless, and chrome .  I'm planning to have the C S Wayne and Associates business card reversed and lettered on the rear quarter panels. This is appopriate as the money that initially set this project in motion came from a web site I developed for Rutgers...a virtual windfall of cash. I should prolly get a Rutgers-Law decal for the back window in homage', though I would really prefer : Star Fleet Academy". |
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Here she is with her new front bumper and rally wheels on. Makes quite a difference.
I dare say that there is very little left to do now will make an appreciable difference in how she looks.
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| No Pic yet... | ( March 3rd, 2001 )I just had a sound system installed. A Sony CD-player with 4 speakers (two in the front door panels, two in the rear behind and above the seats (I forget now what that area is called). Anyway, what a MOD look and what a fun difference it makes driving the '55! It had a standard AM tube radio in it and that had a real nice look, it never worked. I needed to get some rreplacement tubes and never did. The boys at BrynMar Stereo did an excellent job installing the new AM/FM radio/CD player. My part was to choose the one that I thought would look best replacing the old unit and I think it works! Its black and shiney just like the dash.
Like all things of this gen're, I havent any idea what all those settings mean. Its got about a hundred different things I can do to change the way it behaves, but I'll prolly just trust to the installer that it's set-up optimally and push the play and volume buttons. It's a different ride now. I'm used to having no music at all and spending my drive-time trying to diagose the myriad of squeaks and squeals that '55 Chevys make as they roll down the highway. [ Is that the brakes? The fan-belt...the guy next to me?] Now, instead, I groove to my favorite CDees... and I'm loving every minute of it, I can't hear the squeaks and squeals anymore. When it breaks I'll fix it, in the mean time, I'm jammmin'! |
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