Hello, Ben Cole from Springfield Il here. I posted this on the intro page & another member said I should post on the main page. I have been perusing this site for a while for info on bringing this car back to "last raced" condition. It was put in storage in 1964 by the original owner. He decided to let it go in 2013 after 49 years of sitting in his garage. It went through 2 or 3 hands before I got it. The engine was overheating because of there being a mouse nest in the cooling system. It had some bent pushrods. A junk Chinese distributor was in the car and made no oil pressure for the top end. There was a Mallory rev pol dual point in the original box in the trunk so I got that installed with the correct transformer/coil. I have the original Sun tach working again, which is a long story. I found a pulley for the idler brackets that were in the trunk and got that mounted. The original B&H slicks are still driveable. The original receipt for the slicks is still with the car along with a receipt for every part Fred ever put on the car. The engine, trans, paint and decals are just as they were in '64 except for the exhaust i added to the fender well headers. All the trophies are still with the car. Fred says the car was never beat in it's cl***. He told me they threatened to tear him down once at Detroit Dragway after a win. He made a deal to switch cars with the second place finisher and race again. Fred won the race, beating his own car & avoided a tear down.
I am just about always around and have a flexible schedule. Come have a look and we will take it out for a drive.
Great story about the Detroit Dragway tear-down deal and that's a really well preserved Jr. Stock car, nice to see it kept that way.
Way cool, not many left 'as raced'. I'm thinking that may be somewhat on the rare side. Being a 2drHT Belair, in an era when most bumped up to the Impala when going the 2drHT route. Original owner may have ordered it as an intended racecar, I imagine the Belair was a scosh lighter than the Impala. Then mothballed it in '64 as it may have become less compe***ive (just speculation on my part). Real time piece ya got there, congrats!
Very, Very cool BelAir. Have you heard of The Meltdown Drags, in Byron ILL? http://meltdowndrags.com/ http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/welcome-to-the-2017-meltdown-drags.1035423/ This car REALLY belongs there. If not to race, then at least in the car show.
Very rare I think-agree with slowmotion-most hardtops were impalas. There was a white 60 BelAir HT with a 335 and a 4spd that ran at Madera in 60-61-was the car to beat.
Yes, I have friends that to go to Byron every year. I plan on going in 2017 for at least the show. Thinking about slicks from Towel City if I get it back on the track. A home made ****ter shield for the bell housing is with the car and would need installed along with a seat belt overflow tank for the radiator and i don't know what else to p*** inspection.
BTW, that's real interesting shifter & knob there, Corvette & hickory? edit to add: From the looks of that tach, the owner wasn't afraid to twist that ole 348, leanin' close to the 6K mark!
Fred said he was planning to build a national record holder for 1965. His wife required expensive medical treatment so the money went to more important needs and the car just sat. He is a lot of fun to talk to about the history.. even sent me an old image of his girl Skaidrite aka Skai, the namesake of the car.
Home made br*** handle by a friend of Fred's. It's in a box in the trunk. I suppose I should put it back on.
You have to feel lucky to be the care taker of a peace of history like this. Hope to see you in June with 348/409 bunch at the HHRR in Bowling Green.
Yeah that is how the tach was. I haven't had it over 4k. Oh the CB radio was used to contact his pit crew. He got rid of the original radio and heater at some point after this image.
You would also need dual throttle return springs. If you want to use a regular ****tershield, a Lakewood will bolt right up. That's what is in my 59 BelAir, with a 348.
I want to share my experience with getting the old Sun RC85 tach to work. I couldn't revive the old transmitter so I removed it from the box. After researching several options I bought the TachMatch from Technoversions & hid the circuit board inside the old transmitter box. This caused the tach needle to bounce and was all over the place. After a lot of fussing with diodes and resistors I found the right combo with the help of this diagram pictured below. Apparently the Mallory yc345 Rev Pol dual point, dual condenser distributor wired to the Rev Pol 28680 transformer with dual primaries is not a common setup. The tach has to be set for a 4 cylinder, which I was aware of but the signal had to be m***aged with the diode and resistors. All is tidied up now and still looks vintage.
Great car, I love that you're bringing it back to as raced condition. I can't help but wonder what "Dyno" Don Nicholson would do? Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I would love to have people come visit and checkout the car. I keep it at my bike shop warehouse & I'm here most of the time. Send me a personal message & I'll send you my contact information and address.
Poor Boy Forrest bought that car from him...he saw him putting gas in his 56 G***er and said follow me I got something you would love. It was a total time capsule..Forrest sold his 56 to buy it, but a family accident forced him to sell it. was an amazing car.. I wish he still had it
I just replied to you in the Jr Stock thread. I think Forest sold the car to a guy named Jason. I believe he was forced to sell it because of a family matter. That is a good story about Fred seeing Forest g***ing up his 56. They didnt know each other before that?
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