Customs 1950 Chevy Bel Air

A bit of back story first...
Some of you may know that I've been working on a 59 Ford F100 4x4 over the past few years. (You can find the build thread here: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/beast-from-the-east-59-ford-f100-4x4.1131873/)
Progress pretty much stalled out in October, 2021, though for good reason... My daughter was born!
In February of 2022, my partner and I also completed negotiations for a long term commercial space that would double as an office and shop. The building would ultimately need a full gut and renovation.
Between work, having a little one at home, and spending evenings and weekends renovating, my time and budget were stretched pretty thin. The truck languished.

Over the past winter, I spent some time reevaluating my priorities and goals. As much as I wanted to see the vision I had for the F100 completed, it just didn't make sense to continue to put the time and money into a vehicle that is ultimately not family friendly. I decided to take the hit on selling it unfinished and find a more family friendly car that we could jump in a cruise.

Family and friends consider me pretty much a Ford man through and through. That said, I've always had a soft spot for the styling of '49 and 50' GM vehicles. Browsing Facebook, I came across some pictures that looked pretty promising...


One of my club brothers and I took off work for a day and went down to have a look at it in person. It was solid! No patch panels, no rust, very straight body, nice interior and it ran and drove well. A few pictures of when my buddy and I were down to check it out.




My club brother giving me the second opinion approval.








The back story is that the car came up from Georgia in the late 70's. It was purchased by a farmer shortly after, and as the body was so straight, was resprayed in black. (Originally a green two tone from the factory). Engine and transmission were refurbished at that time as well. The gentleman that I bought it from (the son of the owner), remembers bringing all the chrome home wrapped up in newspaper and reassembling it on the car with his dad.
His dad passed away a few years back, and the farm was being sold with an imminent closing date. The son (retired farmer himself) was a motivated seller and his wife wanted to see it go to a good home.
After some back and forth, we came to a price that we were both happy with.

A few weeks later, my partner and I went down to pick it up. Last picture of the son with the car before I took it home.

 

following this for sure!!

 

I take pride in weird things. Every old car that I've hauled home, I've taken through a fast-food drive through. On the trailer. This time was no exception.


Unloaded it at the house, and cruised across town to the shop. First things first: Club plaque!


I have the safety from when it went back on the road in 1982. Since then, it's travelled a little more than 6,000 miles. The tires that were on it have full tread life, but lots of sidewall cracks from age.
Across the street from the shop is a service garage that has been owned and operated by the same family since the early 50's. (I have a photo of the shop that I'll have to dig up and add to this thread).
Had them mount some new whitewalls for me.


Also had them undertake a safety that is needed to get it licensed and on the road here in Ontario.

 

A real beauty I've always liked the looks of these cars. My folks had a 50 slant back when I was little and it was green.

I believe the 50 - 52 Powerglides did not shift automatically. The drive position is high gear and you use the torque convertor to get moving.

 

Very cool car

single biggest improvement you can do is remove the original Huck brakes and put 53-54 bendex brakes on it

swapping the 53-54 upright will lower the front an 1.5” also .


You can also buy a steering cup that goes on the Center bushing for the knee action steering and it tightens up steering feel also .

super cool cars I owned a 50 fleetline for a while


What are your plans with it ?

 

Enjoy!

 

Too very cool. Great car !!!

 

that's a sweet stovebolt right there... no denying!

 

Correct. The previous owner would put it in Lo coming off the line and then shift it up to Drive once moving. I haven't had any issue coming off of a stop in Drive, though I'm not merging from a stop into any high speed traffic.

 

Thanks!
I'm actually redoing the brakes right now. Stock for the time being. I will file your note about the 53-54 brakes as well as the uprights for the future.

The car failed the safety on three items. 1. Brakes (the passenger side lining crumbled out when the drum was removed). 2. Upper control arm bushings. 3. Sloppy centre idler/pitman arm****embly.
Brakes and bushings have been addressed already, the centre bushing will be tackled this weekend.

Plans right now are to drive it. I need to add seatbelts so we can put a car seat in the back seat, but aside from that, I'll change the fluids and that's about it.
Long term plan is mild customization.

 

The immediate plans are just to drive the damn thing. I am/have tackled a few minor items needed to satisfy the safety. It desperately needs a fresh tank of gas and the carb leaks as much gas as it holds at this point.
Seat belts will be next so that I can install a car seat in back. It'll get a fluid change at some point just for good maintenance.

Longer term plans are for mild customization...
A good pal owns Royal City Custom Paint so there may be talks about giving the roof some candy.
The car needs a bit of lowering all around.
I'll most likely upgrade the wiring to 12V over the winter.
I'd like to go through the straight six as well as the Power Glide. Both are leaky, though I imagine old seals are the primary culprit.

In addition to selling the F100, I'm supposed to be selling parts to help offset the cost of this thing. However, because I'm a degenerate, I've already picked up an Edmunds 2x1 intake manifold... planning for the future.

 

"She's a Beaut, Clark"

My coupe was the consolation prize for missing out on the hardtop I was trying to buy.
Your post reminds me I wasn't too consoled.

Keep a six and the PG, they're fun to run.
Find a PG from a 56-57 car (make sure it's a six! don't ask me how I know...) as well as the rear diff and driveshaft. They will all bolt in with minimal fuss and you'll be getting the benefits of the open rear diff and later PG, all while keeping it period correct.

Pre60's Vintage Auto Supply has been a big help with front end components and brakes for me.

3" is about as low as the back will go before you need to modify floor, front depends on how you want your stance, but there's lots of room for improvement there. Mine was lowered 4.5" in front via '53 uprights, off the shelf MOOG springs and stepped lower arms. If I were to do it again and not be as budget-conscious (read; cheap) I'd get some dropped uprights.

Also, the wheel bearings for these front ends are not particularly cheap. After I'd ponied up for the expensive*****, I learned from a local old-timer : "You need some hub****emblies from a 61-64 chev or canadian pontiac. They bolt right on and use a later styled taper roller bearings and seals that are easier and cheaper to source".

 

This is why I still love the H.A.M.B. Within 5 hours of the initial post, I have a ton of useful information for future planning. I appreciate all of the thoughts and suggestions.

Definitely planning to keep the 6 and PG. Good thoughts on the later transmission and rear. I'll have to keep an eye out. (I did see your post about the 6 vs 8 transmission).

And yes, Shay has been helpful. Spoke with him Thursday evening, met up with him for parts Saturday morning. Doesn't hurt that we're a little closer than you are to him.

That's a great picture of the Coupe! I just happened to luck into a Hardtop, but would have settled for a Coupe as well. They both look the same when you're behind the wheel looking ahead

 

Yeah but in the end our bank accounts will differ "slightly" hahaha.

Anyways, have fun with it. They're one of the nicest driving old cars I've owned, and the whole front suspension comes out as one piece and can be mounted to an engine stand which is great when it comes time to modify.

 

Fine looking ride!

 

Congratulations. It is an amazing find & a pristine beauty. I would keep it original on the outside. Its very sharp the way it is.

 

Wow! What a beautiful car! Congrats on the new family friendly cruiser! I did something similar when I adopted my two boys back in 2004...bought a 52 Styleline to haul them around in. I’ll be following along!

 

Another handy piece of info. My first(!) Chevy that I've owned, so lots of little stuff to learn as compared to Fords.

Not rushing into any plans at all. Seatbelts and tires are the only 'modifications' happening this summer at least.

 

Tinkering away on small stuff. Shop time is usually a couple hours a couple of nights a week after the little one goes to bed.
Drivers side bushings, bearings and brakes all looked after. Passenger side is almost wrapped up. Rear bushing seal is giving me a fight as it's slightly larger than the bushing hole in the control arm. Awkward angle gives little room for leverage. In hind sight, should have just done upper control arm front and rear bushings and I could have removed the control arm altogether for the seals.

 

Probably doesn't get much nicer and original looking than that one! Congratulations!

 

Nice find, but I think that's a BelAir (2 door hard top), not a Styleline.

 

It's****led as a Bel Air, yes. My understanding was that the Bel Air is the top model of the Styleline Deluxe line? Not at all surprised if I'm wrong.

 

Seems you are correct. Looked at some literature from the 1950 model line and the Bel Air is referenced as its own model.

 

Sweet. I had a nice black one when I was 18.

 

Cool find.

 

heaven on earth...

 

Not too much to update on as of late.
The carb that came on the 235 in the BelAir is a one year only deviant. Same Rochester Model B used on the 216 and non-BelAir 235, but different internal specs and a different size base flange.
Since the old carb was leaking, and I wanted to get the car on the road in a hurry, I opted to go the route of a rebuilt carb. Using the part number, I went through most of the parts suppliers looking for the correct carb (and in stock). Southeast Chevy Parts listed the carb I bought as the specific part number replacement. Carb showed up a few days later looking great. But it was the wrong carb. So far, I'm out $500 for the carb and core charge, roughly $100 in shipping, and another $100 in duty and taxes for bringing it into Canada.
They supposedly have located the correct carb, sent it out to be rebuilt on priority and are sending it to me. That was supposed to be two weeks. (I'm still back and forth with them over a month later to rectify the situation).
After SCP confirmed that they'd be two - three weeks to get me the correct carb, I ordered a rebuild kit from The Carburetor Doctor. Showed up a few days later and I rebuilt the carb at the kitchen table after everyone went to bed.


It doesn't look near as nice as the wrong one, but it doesn't leak and the car runs.

Other than that, I've just been driving it!




My life wife and I had a planned date to go to the theatre and dinner. I don't have enough miles with it yet to be totally confident in reliability, and with my luck, I was worried she wouldn't start after the show when we needed to get to dinner, but thankfully, she performed flawlessly. Parallel parking isn't as bad as expected either, sightline are pretty good in this thing!


Installed seatbelts in the back seat earlier this week, so we can get the car seat secured. Of course, had to take a little 1am cruise once I was finished.

 

The biggest difference you’ll find between a ford, is the Chevy won’t leave you walking near as much!

 

For future reference, Autoline out of MB still does rebuilds of these carbs - you'll need to find your local parts supply that carries Autoline as they don't sell direct.
I have a reman being put together for my car as we speak, I believe they had the manual choke version available but mine is the pain-in-ass automatic (heat) choke so they had to rebuild one to fill my order.

 

Hooked myself a front end from a 54. I already did the upper inner bushings and replaced the centre idler this summer. I plan to fully rebuild this over the course of the winter and swap it in. I'll get the Bendix brakes and dropped front in one shot. I'll probably find some lowering blocks for the rear as well.