Here is my newest project. A 1953 Chevrolet Bel-Air 4dr. My best friend's great aunt bought the car new in '52. She drove it up until her death in about '98. I had been begging my friend to sell it to me for years and he finally did. Since I've gotten it, I have put new tires on it, did some minor brake work, rebuilt the carb, flushed the fuel lines and tank, and that is about it. Has the original 235 with Powerglide in it. Has a little over 116,000 miles and is in pretty damn good shape for its age. To my knowledge both the engine and trans have been rebuilt once. It has not been cranked or driven in 10 years. Runs like a champ. Does leak a little trans fluid and I had to patch the oil pan after its first voyage due to rust holes in the bottom. The car has spent the last 10 years under a car cover in his backyard. I was scared when I pulled the cover off. But believe it or not, that cover actually saved the car more than hurting it. It does have a wrecked right fender, bumper, and splash pan. Sometime after my friend's possession of the car, it rolled down his backyard into the neighbor's Chrysler LeBaron and the deck on the house. Did about $7,000 worth of damage. Man that must have been one expensive deck LOL. In the glovebox I found registration reciepts from the '50's, some green lensed Polaroid women's sungl***es, the original owners manual in perfect shape along with the heater and radio tags, tire chains, mouse ****, toy money from the 50's, Mopar polishing cloth in a can, 1949 Arkansas map, mouse ****, spark plug tire inflator, fender skirts, mouse ****, tons of other cool *** stuff. So, to get to my question....I am in the process of fixing the body damage and am tossing around ideas of what to do with the car. I am torn between leaving it original and doing some customizing. The car is totally unmolested. Has the original paint and had bias ply tires on it when I got it. I almost hate even thinking of modifying it. But I want so badly to customize it but do so that if I ever want to take it back to stock, I can. So after this long *** story, does anyone have any ideas of what I should do, if anything, to the car? Here is a link to some pix I took today. Thanks in advance for the help. http://s52.photobucket.com/albums/g27/jrcnova/1953 Bel-Air/
then again after looking at your pics... I'd would just paint it on bag the **** out of it... it' complete... damn nice find...
Skyrodder, Did you move the B-Pillar at all when you chopped the roof and welded the rear door.. or does it just look it after your modifications..?
I say keep her stock and just lower her a bit. She will last longer and with the stock motor and ****** in it, it will cause you to drive easier and just cruise. You never know you could get married and have kids and the Belair will make a great family crusier. But if you want to do a custom here is a pic of my `53. She`s got a chopped top (3 in front and 4 in in back ) and awhole lot more custom touches just to give you and idea.
I have kinda had the idea of baggin it. Too much money, problems down the road, etc. Then I thought about just throwin some blocks under the rear, cutting the coils and see how that looks. As far as paint, I am toying with leaving it the way it is. Has some surface rust but all original paint. Thought about painting the beige black and the brown top and bel air stirpe white. I don't wanna do anything too drastic to the body because it is in such good shape to be what it is. Thanks much for the advice!
The Jalopy Journal
