Well last year we were thrashing heavy on Bulls "A" tudor, this year its my own car, a 60 el camino. Im buying the car from my freind Mike, it was his brothers car and he p***ed away, I met Mike when he started selling off his brothers hot rod collected, i bought a bunch of neat stuff from him and this El camino was sitting behind his building, A couple of guys had came in and made an offer on all his 59 and 60 chevy parts and car, they gave him some money down, loaded up all the parts (lots of stuff) and never came back with the remainder of the money owed or to pick up the cars, in other words they ****ed him. The car was basically a shell, no front clip, lots of trim was gone, no motor or trans, it was gutted except for the gl*** doors and dash, i had talked with him about the car a year ago but a guy that was going to rent the building said he wanted to buy it, well Mike has had pretty bad luck with the property up there and only after a short time the guy ended up going to jail, leaving Mike with more mess and more stuff to clean up, there story goes on but thats all im talking about on here! Anyways 2 weeks ago i went and picked up the car and drug it back home, there were a few parts that came with the car but not much, it did come with an extra nice 59 front fender and a pair of nice rust free 59 elcamino doors and some front valance panels for the 59 too. i figured id look for a front clip for this thing just to get it looking better for the time being, i called my freind hamb member "skyspop" to see what he had as he has lots of 59 and 60 parts, i was in luck, he had front fenders a hood and a front bumper and one inner fender, and he was in need of some 59 parts, so i trade him all the 59 parts for the 60 parts, it worked out great. As i was putsing on sticking the front end on it the car looked like it hadnt been off the road too long, these cars a very simple and i had a motor and trans that would bolt right in, so i set to it, i started rounding up all the parts i need and started putting it together. there were still more parts i needed to get it going, theres only 1 place i would go to look for parts for this thing and i knew theyed have them, French Lake Auto Parts, the owner is hamb member 396skip. i went thru the yard and rouned up many of the parts i needed for the car and of course like usual Skip treated me great! Thanks Skip! I ended up putting a $50 auction 63 283 in it and a buddy gave me a th350 that a buddy gave him a few years back that had been rebuilt at one time but noone knew if it was going to work. i cut 2 coils out of each corner so it would sit right and put some wide white walls on it of course! Today i lowered her off the jack stands and was able to take it for a spin around the block, everything seems to work ok, but i still need to get some exhaust on it! Of course there always are some hickups, the radiator has a small leak i need to fix and the frost plug under the motor mount started to leak, got the frost plug replaced, now i just need to get the radiator to quit leaking. JEFF
Well done. Are you sticking with the stock grill or are you going to be using the '60 Mercury grill you had in place in one of the earlier pictures?
I am serious about buying that when you tire of it Jeff! I have been looking for a 59 or 60 Elco for a while. I like the 60s best. Sorry I won't see you at the fairgrounds this year
For now im sticking with the stock grille, just because it bolts all together, i am surely thinking about the 60 merc grille and sinking it into the stock opening and thentaking off the front chrome and peaking the front of the hood and fenders.......but im just thinking about that for now! Im also trying to get ideas for tailights, i was kinda thinking 50 buicks in the back but im not sure. Your number two in line but im keeping it for now! Thanks for the compliments, ive been busting my **** on it to have it ready, ive also been helping a buddy with his model A tudor, Jen is putting a top on it as week speek. jeff
Yeahhhh buddy!!! 59 Elky's are such a nice starting point. Love the approach and the budget in mind. I know this think's gonna be awesom so I don't have to keep up with this thread....but I will!
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