Pretty cool timing on this one. About two months ago my Dad asked if I wanted his 1957 Bel Air Sports Sedan. Of course I said "YES" and it was delivered to me last Sunday. It was the first car I ever attempted to paint and along with my 1957 2 door hard top is how I learned to work on mechanical, paint body work etc, which has given me the skills to build trikes as well!!! My plans are to slowly clean it up and put it back to the stock colors (silver body/white top) and get a new silver black interior.
A little history on this car and by viewing the pics can tell this one has not had a hard life. My dad bought it from a guy in 1988 who got it with a house purchase, the original owner had passed and it was included. The lady was born in 1898 and bought the Chevy new and rarely drove it. Then in 88 Dad bought it for $2500, running and driving. The car had been painted red on the bottom, black in the middle and red on the top but retained the original interior (seat covers) and some recovered door panels as it still is today. As I mentioned the black paint job was my first attempt at painting a car. It came out terrible, but it did teach me how it should be done, and panel by panel I will get the correct colors back on it.
When my Dad bought it the odometer was showing 52K original miles!! The straight six, powerglide ran awesome and I drove it to high school while my 1957 2 door hardtop was getting rebuilt. It was last registered in 1996 and now has 64K original miles. You can see some of the red oxide primer on the floors and the trunk sports the original silver and the jacking instructions. This car has no radio, no clock, no power steering (aka ARMSTRONG Steering), no power brakes, no power anything. It has a vacuum windshield wiper motor and if you know anything about how vacuum works you know that is not ideal setup while accelerating in the rain The only accessory it did have was the windshield washer reservoir, which in their infinite wisdom was made of glass. The only way I knew it had it was the brackets to hold the glass jar.
I tried to crank it over by hand and its not budging, I poured some oil in the cylinders and will let it soak for a couple days and see what I can do to bring it back to life.
Sadly the day it was delivered I had to put one of my cats down due to cancer. That was when I decided to name it ROCKY and plan to get a plate for it.