New Car!!! 58 Wagon Warning OT Wheels

Well I had a few threads starting in the last week about getting this car.

The car wasn't as clean as it was described. I expected this, but was a bit disappointed since the seller seemed pretty straightforward. Then again I have lots of experience looking over project cars, these things might not have been noticed by most people. There was a bit of mud in both quarters by the wheel wells and a few small holes in the floor. There also was a dent in the p***enger side quarter fin that wasn't disclosed and isn't noticeable in pictures. It still was a good deal and 20x cleaner than anything I'd find in WI so I pulled the trigger. Unfortunately he wouldn't budge on price. Other than that the seller was great. I was surprised he put up with the fiasco at the bank. He even picked me up in the morning at my hotel by the airport. He even called three or four times to see how the drive home was going. Seemed like a cl***y guy.

At the latest I was supposed to leave Pittsburgh at 10AM. But even though I told both PNC bank branches in PA and WI what I was doing. When I was doing it and how much money I was withdrawing ahead of time they wouldn't let me take my money out in PA when I got there. Yes I had proper identification. I even had the PA branch call the WI branch and talk to the guy there. That's a 4 hour story I don't want to get into. I will be pulling all my money out of there ASAP and filing complaints with the federal reserve, BBB, and whoever else i can think of. Due to that fiasco I had to have money wired to me by my parents who luckily had enough in there account and then left PA about 3 pm.

Instead of having a nice drive though decent weather the afternoon in mostly daylight I froze my man parts off driving mostly in the night. Of course since I left late I was just in time for the storms that were rolling through Ohio and Indiana. The wipers didn't work that great and I had no heater. A little portable unit kept the windshield fog free but didn't do much else. At one point I almost gave up but I phoned a friend and received a favorable weather report for Chicago.

A hour outside of Chicago the generator light came on. I stopped for gas and wiggled the wires hoping it was a connection. Nothing changed. I decided to keep going. 3 hours later while I was pulling into my driveway I figured the light must have been malfunctioning. I turned the car off and then decided to move it to another spot. The car would only click when the key was turned as most of the battery was drained. But somehow I made it home with the headlights on. The drive consisted of 9 hours and 10 minute of moving time which included the drive to the notary in PA. It also included my goof up at the new Mitchell interchange in MKE which took me through some not so nice areas to get me back to 894.

The car is a original 348 car. The engine ran great but it liked to go through some oil at those high RPMs I was running on the highway. A overdrive will be replacing the powerglide soon.

Here are the pictures. I have the feeling that a HAMB member in AZ used to own this car.

 

Looks pretty nice even with the off-topic rims. Thats one heck of a first drive in your new-to-you car!

 

Nice '58. Yeah , i think i might have seen it here before. ENJOY!
B.B.

 

Nice car..Glad to see you made it home safe..Good luck with the new ride! Lose them wheels!!!

Skid....

 

Didnt he just say they were off topic???? He knows the wheels need to go.

 

Thanks for the warning on the wheels. Atsa nice car!!!

 

Sounds very similar to my adventure driving the Nash from M***. to Iowa. 24hrs of non-stop stress. Mine was in 90+ degree heat with no air and holes in the firewall that made it even hotter, and only being able to drive at a top speed of 55mph. Glad you made it home safe!

 

Nice wagon !

 

Cool score, what are your plans for it ?

 

Well ya gotta love an adventure and that was an adventure if I ever saw one.

In the pics it looks like a nice enough old car, even with the late wheels. Wheels are not hard to overcome for sure.

Congrates

 

Love long roof '58's, and that's a real nice one!
Good Luck, And Enjoy!

 

Really cool ride. Looks kinda sinister. Congrats.

 

Don't matter if you spend $500, $5000 or $50,000, there will always be something you will change or fix. Either way, it looks cool and it's a 58 chev wagon, that's all that matters.

 

I picked up a non running 58 yeoman 235-6, 3speed with OD. Plans are to have it ready for 2013LSR. Not sure drive train yet. I do have an idea though 58's are neat a one year only car. Mine has grown on me.

 

Hay new to Hamb nice wagon, have 2 '58 Safari for sale but dont look as good as yours

 

Roadtrip!

what are you going to put on it for rubber and wheels?

 

Nice car - I'd rock it !

 

nice score , yeah ditch the wheels some douche with a donk needs them!!

 

Very nice ride!
Good for you, and glad you made it home OK.
Cheers........

 

Love them 58 Chebbies. Nice ride.

 

58's are bad*** and your long roof rocks good luck with her..

 

Thanks for the well wishes and compliments guys.

I plan to put an overdrive in it. I was going to put a 6 speed in the car but it sounds like it would be a lot of goofing around to keep the bench seat with the trans. So I might just put in a 2004r out of my old 86 Monte SS. I'm going to spray the jambs and put weatherstripping in the car. Clean up the dash and spray it to match the rest of the car and fix a ton of little stuff. I'm also going to try to hunt down a tri-power setup for it. I wouldn't mind switching it back to 4 wheel drums someday. I'd use aluminum Buick drums all around though. Drop spindles should go on it at some point and maybe air bags all the way around. I'd have to fit everything under the car though. I don't want to sacrifice any cargo space on this thing. It will be my utility vehicle.

I just want to make the car a relatively clean driver. If I can coax 20+ mpg out of the 348 I'll drive it to work almost every day in the summer.

I actually like the wheels that are on it. To each their own I guess. I will be picking up another set of traditional wheels for it though. That way I can switch them out when I want a different look for the car. Plus I can get into the traditional shows. I'm not sure what I'm going to go with for the traditional wheels.

Stevie I had the same issues with the holes in the firewall. But it was ice cold air coming in. But when I clothed up at a gas stop and put on my stocking cap i started to get tired because i was too comfortable. Off came the cap and my coat and i had no more heavy eyes for the rest of the trip.

 

Cool. I love 58 wagons. I might even like them more than tri-five nomads. Take a look at the completed auctions on evil bay. There is a 58 yeoman just like yours on there. There are also more pictures of my car on there.

 

Love the wagons! I'm looking for one for a friend!

 

Nice wagon...

 

Drums and dropped spindles are mutually exclusive on these cars. The only spindles that will work with the the design of the original Chevy backing plate are the stock ones.

 

I stopped at Wal-Mart, bought some duct tape and taped all of the holes. Felt like I put air conditioning in the car! Still damn hot all the way home....

 

Funny how wheels can make or break a car. Those don't fit the look IMO, but you have already acknowledged that.

You have guts, my friend, to take an unknown car and drive 10 hours home. I am crazy enough to do something like that, but I would make sure I have my AAA card and some tools in a bag. Good show.

You rarely see a 58 of any model and that is a shame, they were a cool car. Maybe because they were 1 year only or perhaps they rusted out, or whatever. Being a SW makes it even better.

Don

 

NICE 58, I'm jealous!

Your dead generator reminds me of a road trip I took from eastern Iowa to South Dakota back in the early 70's. Winter, I was driving a 62 Plymouth Savoy, slant 6 car. The GEN light popped on going through Sioux City, about midnight, and I still had about 125 miles in front of me. White snow on both sides of the road, so I could still see pretty good in the dark, and drove a lot of the way with parking lights on. Heater off, no radio, doing whatever I could to conserve joules. By the time I was 40 miles west of Sioux Falls, it was starting to miss. Squeezed the last few miles out, and when I touched the brake to pull into the driveway, the draw from the brake lights was too much and killed it. But I was home.

 

i know i'll catch some sh*t for this--BUT i like it with OT wheels,