Hey guys hows it goin? Im Kevin and I've been lurkin here a while, and i thought I'd finally introduce myself, and start a build thread for me and my brother's 50 Chevy. We bought it like last May off of the classifieds here, and we haven't done much to it since but we finally got some cash from a 75 bronco we sold and we are eager to start on this thing. We ordered extended rockers, and rear quarter panels for it, which should be comming soon. We also got a sweat 52 caddy bumper off of Jim (kustom7777). Now we just have to wait for some nice weather... Here are some pics of it when we took it home. Its really rough, but it is a coupe so we figure its worth saving, and we got it cheap so thats even better. Here are some close ups of some rough spots The engine runs great, but it needs brakes.Our plans are to chop the top, lower it, fix all the major rust hopefully get it on the road by June for prom . If anyone is familiar with the Valencia chevy built by Drag n Shop, I am thinking something along the lines of that proportions wise, except not hard topped and possibly with 48-50 caddy quarter panels (or maybe just extended quarters), nosed, and decked, shaved door handles, frenched lights, you konw the usual. Haven't decided on the grill and stuff yet, want to do something different. Ok guys thanks for checkin my thread out, I will update as soon as we get some stuff done on it. And if any of you photoshop people out there get bored and want to photoshop caddy quarters, with a 4-5 inch chop on it that'd be great . -Kevin
Congrats on getting it started...49-50 chevy coupes are great looking cars IMHO. I built a 50 sedan delivery about 5 years ago and loved the way it drove afterward. You should prolly just get it safe and repair the rust before taking on a huge top-chop job. My delivery was at least as rusty as your car. First thing I did was to score a good 4 door parts car. I used the entire front clip, quarter panel pieces and a buncha more parts off the donor car, then sold the rust-free frame to a buddy to recoup my costs for that donor 4 door. Here's a little before and after of my car....
I'm with Rocky...start with the rust repair first before the top chop. I figure the more practice before a big job like a chop, the better. That will be a cool car. Good luck with the build and keep us posted!
By the way....if at all possible, score a 53 or a 54 parts car for brakes and especially the steering gear. 49's through 52s had a steering box with bronze bushings and the 53-54s used modern roller bearings. They interchange and even if your 50 has a low-mileage steering box, I'll bet it has slop in those bushings. It will cause the car to wander around on the road, following ruts and irregularities. This swap was the best thing I did for mine. The later brakes are a more efficient design and they bolt up to the 49-50 cars..use backiing plates and all from a 51-54 and buy replacement parts for those years. The car will drive and stop much better.
Love to see any 50 chevys on here ,that's a very nice car , just thank god you can get stuff like that ,I have spent more time welding up holes that doin body mods !! If you find a couple of 53 steering boxes I need one also !
Awesome guys, thanks for the replys, and advice. Yea there might have been some confusion, but we are definatly gettin it all nice and rust free before we chop it. In fact the rear quarters just came in today, and we sorta have a line on a garage that we can keep it in and work on it for the rest of the winter if everything goes good.
quick question guys, is there any way I would be able to make a 51-52 sedan trunk work on this thing? From just looking at pictures they look completely different, but i can get one really cheep and i thought there might be some crazy way to make it work. thanks
#1 Don't think so, the coupes, Belairs and converts had "that long deck lid aka trunk lid. The 2 dr and 4 dr sedans used a regular one (then of course you can toss the fastbacks into the mix with a whole 'nother ballgame) #2 However, if it is really cheap, buy it & use it for a future trade and /or sale.....
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