National Chevy Association

I'd like to take a minute to mention a company that I've done a lot of business with lately.  National Chevy Association specializes in 1949-1954 Chevrolet car parts, and they do a fantastic job.  They are an invaluable resource for anyone who owns (or is thinking of getting) a 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, or 1954 Chevy.

Other than having the largest selection of replacement parts for the aforementioned vehicles, they also send out a monthly newsletter for members.  Anyone who places an order of $85 or more receives annual membership, though you can also buy a membership separately.  The newsletter has special offers, and interesting articles, including many from fellow NCA members discussing their cars.  I plan to send them an article about my 1954 Bel-Air when I have it finished.

Getting back to the parts, National Chevy has almost every part you could ask for; anything that is available, they've got it.  They also have the cheapest prices in most cases.  Their service is excellent, and they ship things quickly.  Having purchased a lot of things from them, I can attest to the quality of the goods and the efficiency of the staff.

There are, of course, a few things that are not quite perfect, though that is the nature of buying parts for old cars. You run into a few aftermarket items that aren't quite right, such as the trunk carpet I had to trim (see article), but it's nothing I would complain about too much.  These old cars weren't made exactly alike, and some models have slight variations.  If you want everything perfect, with no adjustment required, you probably shouldn't attempt to restore old cars.

National Chevy has made my restoration project much easier than I first thought it would be.  It's very nice to have a company that specializes in the parts I need, and it gives me comfort to know that I'll be able to get whatever I need.  It gets me thinking about restoring another Chevy from this period.  Perhaps someday, after I'm done with the '54.

The 1954 Chevy Bel-Air

Yes, it's finally time to reveal my latest project.  A few months ago, I picked up a 1954 Chevrolet Bel-Air from Arizona, and took on the arduous job of restoring it.  Here's a picture of what it looked like when I first bought it:

The picture gives it a slightly better look than the naked eye would reveal, but it was a solid car from the start.  Having lived its entire life in the arid Southwest, it was nearly rust-free, which is why I purchased it.  I hate rust, and Maine is the land of rusty cars.  This beauty won't need new floorboards or anything of that nature.  The desert sun did rot some of the plastic components, though.  The tail light lenses, the parking light lenses, and the hood and trunk emblems were either deteriorated or gone entirely.  It was also missing the hood ornament, but overall it was mostly complete.

The first thing I had to do was get it running.  The original 235 engine had had work done to it years ago, but someone had taken the carburetor off to rebuild it at some point and never put it back (and failed to do any rebuilding).  That, and someone snatched the master cylinder out of it, so it didn't have brakes.  These failings were divulged prior to my purchase, so I knew what I was getting into.  The carb was sitting on the front seat, so at least I had it.

To get the engine started, my father supplied an old carburetor he had kicking around, which would suffice until I got a rebuild kit.  With the temporary carburetor in place, we put a fresh 6-volt battery in it and turned the key.  It wouldn't turn at first, and after a quick check we found that the water pump was seized.  We took the belt off, and the engine turned, and started!  Of course, we didn't run it long with the cooling system disconnected (as well as the generator, which runs on the same belt), but it ran for a few minutes, long enough to determine that it really is a good engine.

After the initial run, I started the long process of restoration.  I didn't have a lot of time in September, but I poked around with a few minor things.  I cleaned the trunk, which had about half an inch of desert dust coating it.  Amazingly, there was paint under all that dirt.  A little surface rust was in the spare tire well, but hardly anything to fret about.

After moving it into the garage, the car was jacked up and put on 4 stacks of concrete blocks with 2" wooden spacers between each layer, putting this thing up in the air over 2 feet, so it would be possible to work on it.  One of these days, it would be nice to have a lift, but right now I must make do with what I've got.

Since late October, I've been doing quite a bit of work on this thing.  The carburetor was rebuilt, and a replacement water pump installed.  I replaced the passenger side windows that were busted (both front and rear door, plus the vent window).  I took the passenger side doors off, stripped them down and painted them, cleaned dirt out of the chrome moldings, and reassembled them.  I dismantled the front sheet metal (hood, fenders, grill, splash pans) stripped and repainted them.  Fortunately, we had a very mild November, so I got quite a few pieces done.  The new color I'm using is a metallic teal, which isn't original, but it looks sharp.  The rusty copper color was a repaint, as well, the original color being Turquoise with an India Ivory top.  I'll be putting a Vanilla Cream top on this when I'm done.



Rear passenger-side door with trim removed prior to stripping.



Door refinished and reassembled.

Here's another great thing about the car.  It had factory undercoating, most of which is still in good condition.  There are a few places where it has separated, and as I've been painting pieces I've scraped and sanded the undersides, and then given them a quick coat of paint, but left the solid undercoating in place.  Wherever the loose pieces have come off, I've found glossy black factory paint underneath, so there's no sense in ripping that old stuff off.  It'll protect the car, just as it has for the last 58 years.



One front fender, stripped and polished.

Both fenders refinished.

Getting the brakes working was a slow process.  Getting a new, rebuilt master cylinder was the easy part.  Finding the parts to hook it up was another thing.  Whoever snatched the master cylinder out of the car also took the lever that connects the pedal to the cylinder.  Also, the rebuilt MC I bought lacked any of the attaching hardware.  Eventually, I found everything I needed, and got it together.  I bled the brakes, and got 3 wheels to work, but one was stubborn.  I dismantled the wheel cylinder and cleaned it out, but found the real problem to be the brake hose going to that wheel. It was clogged with crud, so I had to blow it out with air.  After that, the brakes worked fine in all 4 wheels.

On Monday, I spent 10 hours putting the front metal back together, hooked up the lights, and got it ready to run.  On Tuesday, I filled the radiator and hooked up a temporary tank for gas (before using the regular tank, I need to drain the old, stale gas out of it).  With the car still on blocks, I cranked it over and the engine fired right up.  It runs like a car should, without any unforeseen trouble.  I'll need to take it out for a short drive to see how everything behaves, but there's not much that can go wrong with this kind of vehicle.  It's all straightforward and reliable.



Front of car with sheet metal removed.



After painting and some reassembly



Mostly reassembled with new accessory headlight visors.

Today, I completed work on the trunk compartment.  As I said, I cleaned it out a while ago and added a coat of paint.  It was warm enough today to glue the carpet and padding down, so I spent a few hours using spray adhesive to stick things into place.  The carpet kit I purchased claimed to be "cut to fit, no trimming required," but of course it wasn't (nothing is ever perfect when you are dealing with these old cars, I've found).  So, I had to do a little trimming around the edges here and there, and figure out how to fit it all together.  In the end, it came out pretty nice, I think.  You be the judge.

Trunk at time of sale



After cleaning and painting



A quality, carpeted trunk

I still have a lot of work to do on this car, but I have most of the parts either on hand or on order (no cheap feat, I'll tell you).  This winter and next spring, I'll be putting some serious time into the vehicle.  It still needs the driver's side doors painted, as well as the roof and rear fenders.  The car needs a complete interior installed (headliner, carpet, door panels, the works).  As I said, the materials are on order.  Installing the headliner will be an interesting experience, though the factory shop manual shows you how to do it.  I'll just have to be careful.

Once this car is completed, I might just put it on the market.  It won't be a $50,000 show car, but if someone wants to put a little more work into it after me, it could be.  I'd want to get $15k for it.  That way, I'd get my money back and be able to buy another project car.  If that's too much, then I'll keep it and have a really nice Bel-Air of my own to drive around.  Either way, it'll be a good investment.



Almost road-ready!



My 1956 Ford Fairlane

At long last, I'm ready to unveil this beauty to the world.  This is something I picked up in July, and I've been working on it my spare time, trying to get it finished, ever since.  It is a 1956 Ford Fairlane, something I have dreamed of having for many years.  Ever since I was a kid, I've wanted a car from the fifties, and at long last, this car came into my life.

Here's what it looked like when it first arrived:

Of course, it's no show car.  Not only is that sort of vehicle beyond my means, but it isn't what I'm after.  I don't want a car that would have to be in a climate-controlled garage and taken out only on rare occasions for parades and exhibitions.  I wanted something that I could drive around, and not have to worry about using.  This one had factory undercoating, which helped to stave off the sort of rust rot that has claimed so many classic cars over the years.  It has some rust spots in hidden places, but it's very solid.

What's under the hood?  The original 292 V8 with an aftermarket 4-barrel Edelbrock carburetor.  I don't know if the engine has been rebuilt or not, but it runs like a charm and has less than 55,000 miles on the odometer.  Based on the condition of the vehicle, I wouldn't be surprised if that is the original mileage (as opposed to a roll-over of 155,000).

The previous owner(s) did a lot of work to the car, but it still needed quite a few things when I got it.  It was cleaned up and sealed with white primer, but it needed a finished paint job.  The tail light lenses were wrong (they stuck a pair of 1965 Falcon lenses on the thing and attached them with sheet metal screws), so I had to order some New Old Stock replacements.  The wipers didn't work, and there were numerous vacuum leaks to run down.  The front driver's side window was busted (see my Boycott Downeast Glass post for details on getting that fixed).  The brake lights only worked intermittently, and the rear license plate light didn't work at all.  The hood latch was removed, and replaced by a pair of hot rod hold-down studs which were poorly welded.  On top of that, it just had a pair of side-pipes for an exhaust, which just doesn't cut it.

Original rear-view with wrong tail lights.

So, in my spare time, I have worked on this thing, doing whatever I could to finish it.  Most of the problems were simple to fix, and the only thing I couldn't do myself was the exhaust, simply because I don't have a lift and crawling around under the car is difficult without one.  The wiper motor was the biggest installation project I undertook personally.  After trying to get the vacuum motor to work, I finally gave up and bought an aftermarket electric set.  It was a real pain to install (especially when the installation instructions were inaccurate), but I finally got the thing up and running.  Smaller things, like the brake lights, turned out to be quick and easy.  The brake lights just needed the sensor wire nut squeezed a little to give it a better contact.  The license plate light needed a bulb, and the socket has to be scrubbed with a wire brush, since rust had attacked it (I doubt there'd been a bulb in there for decades).

I also installed seat belts.  They were an option in 1956, though the belts I used are not all period.  I want the car set up so I can transport my wife and 4 kids all at once, so it has six lap belts to hold everyone down securely.  I know, some car guys would scoff at such a concept, but I like the belts.  It beats sliding around when you take a sharp curve, or going through the windshield when you get into a wreck... not that I expect to get into a wreck.

The paint job was a major undertaking, and I'd never painted a car before, but I figured I'd muddle through it.  I had a spray gun that hooked to an air compressor, and I went out of my way to purchase the original factory colors, so the car would look like it did when it was new.  Of course, finding the time to paint it was tricky.  It has been a particularly wet year around here, and with fall closing in my window of opportunity was shrinking.  It was the Sunday before Lois was born (September 16), and I resolved to get it done.  I went out about 6AM and started taping the car.  Everything I didn't want painted (trim, windows, lights, etc...) had to be covered before I started.

It was almost noon before I finally had it ready for the Colonial White.  I let that sit for a few hours, and then started taping over the newly painted sections, so I could do the roof and lower sections in Meadow Mist Green.

I sprayed the car quickly, a bit too quickly as it turned out.  I had a few runs, so I'll need to do a touch-up job in the spring (it might also be wise to use some reducer, as I have recently learned).  I think it looks pretty good as is, but see for yourself:



Wyatt inspects the car, as my father moves in the background.



Seven the cat pays the car a visit.



A much improved rear view!



One fine looking car!

Getting the exhaust installed was the last thing I had to do before I could get an inspection sticker on it, and it was a lengthy process.  I bought the complete dual exhaust system months ago, but finding a good mechanic to do the job around here can be difficult.  The best of them are generally booked up, so it can be like pulling teeth getting an appointment.  Delay after delay kept pushing my installation back.  From an electrical failure at the shop to medical emergencies, it seemed like God, Himself, was working against my car's completion.  It felt like it would never be finished.  When the installation time finally came, it turned out that it had 2 left side tail pipes, so modification had to be done to make them work.  It was either that, or order another set of pipes, and that would've taken who knows how long.

One of the last things I bought for the car was a new hood latch.  After much digging and waiting, I found a complete set, top and bottom, for $90 delivered.  It was used, but in really good shape, even galvanized.  I think I'll still keep the hotrod hold-downs, as well, as emergency catches in case of latch failure.  I'll just need to give them a fresh welding.

The rear brakes were in need of adjustment a few weeks ago, and while I was at work one day my father was nice enough to do them for me.  The springs and adjusters are showing their age, so I've ordered new everything (shoes, springs, adjusters, wheel cylinders), though the ones on the car are still functional, and will last quite a while before they need to be swapped out.  I figure I'll change it all next year just to be safe, as I now have the parts on the shelf to do it.

The timing was another minor hassle, but it was highly necessary.  The engine ran, but it never sounded quite right, and after throwing a timing light on it, the answer seemed apparent.  The thing was overly-advanced by about 25 degrees.  Turning the distributor was a hassle, as the lock nut needs an off-set wrench that I don't have.  My father made one out of an old half inch wrench (with the acetylene torch), and we managed to loosen things enough to set the timing.  It seemed to run smoothly at the time, but after we let it cool off we could barely get it running again.  It was a stupid oversight on my part.  The vacuum advance has two lines going to it, and I missed one of them.  The advance was throwing our reading off!  With a little help from Nelson Brooks, we got the timing squared away.  Now the engine runs more smoothly and quietly than most modern cars.  It is a pleasure to drive.

Getting this car on the road was one of the most excruciatingly bothersome things I've ever done, and at the same time one of the most rewarding.  I don't regret taking on this challenge; I just wish a few things could have gone more smoothly.

So, what's next for my mechanical adventures?  Just wait and see.