59 Bel Air 98% done & now with *pics*!!

I finally got a sunny day to take some pics of the car and I got some of the little details most people missed at the Pileup. My girlfriend, Elizabeth, stitched up the interior (her first time!). I think it looks great, but she's not happy with it so she's going to redo the entire front seat including the pinup girls! We still need to install the headliner, carpet, etc and make the door panels, but they're half done. Oh yeah.. and rewire it. :roll:

The details
1959 Chevrolet Bel Air
1978 350 SBC w/ 350 trans
Lowered 2.25-2.5"
1960 Mercury grille
1959 Pontiac fender rockets
emblems shaved and seams filled
custom interior
1960 Oldsmobile door handles/window cranks
Custom accessory gauge cluster from 1959 Chevrolet guage pods welded together
Homemade shift/turn signal knobs
green glass dots in the reverse lights
real shrunken head
vintage 60s Illinois water transfer decal
I'm probably forgetting some stuff

She just bought a 51 Bel Air hard top, so that's the next project... then on to my 48 Chevy coupe.

 

Looks nice. What color (name/mfg.) is the dark green?

R-

 

fixed it... you were too fast for me!

 

please ignore all the dust and water spots... i didn't have time to clean it before driving it again


it's hard to see, but the dash is 2-tone green

 

damn them seat covers look good

 

Where are the stitched pinup girls, those kick ass. I didn't
see them when I gave the car a once over in front of Fools.
TZ

 

They're on the backs of the front seats. You can't see them too well unless you're in the back seat. I like the subtelty.. but perhaps they're too subtle. She talked about stitching them into the visors and/or the padding on the doors, but I like it clean

 

Ohhhhh yeah...
You did good...and so did your girlfriend! Those seats look excellent.
Colors...interior...the plastic knobs...I like it all!

Don't ya just love the way the windshield wraps around in combo with that great dash?
Always liked those cars...

 

That looks great! The scallops really tie it all together.

 

I forgot to mention that I installed GREEN glass dots in the reverse lights

 

Wow, that thing is cool....

 

oh yeah... gotta give credit where credit is due. A lot of HAMBers helped with this, but especially the CHrome Czars.

This car was a rust bucket with 1-2" thick bondo in places when I got it... with a full ant colony living in the frame... and it was painted General Lee orange. A year and a half ago I started taking it apart at Magnet's dad's place (near where the Pileup happened) and hour's drive one way from where I live. Magnet and his dad and his dad's neighbors helped me with a lot of work, but I made that drive every day of every weekend (and then some) all last summer.

the 350 came from CapriceKid's wrecked Caprice.

After the Pileup, I took it to Abomber's shop, Marty & Sons in Sycamore, where he patched the rear quarters, the frame, floors and rockers.

Then I took it to 57Wagon's garage and hour's drive one way north of me where he patiently waited for me to prep the car over several months. He helped a ton and so did my girlfriend... sanding, bondoing, fabricating, etc.
Django patiently came up with several scallop designs for me. I picked elements of a few and stuck them together the way I liked. We then primed it and 57Wagon painted/flaked it and Big Nick laid the candy.

52Pyro (Voodoo Larry of the Voodoo Kings) lowered it.

I did the rest of the assembly while my girlfriend stitched up the interior and a lowrider shop, Damage Auto Body, friends of Thom's, buffed out the paint.

then it got covered in dust at the Pileup!!!

A year and a half of my weekends and vacation days... gone... and I'm ready to do it again!!

 

VERY COOL, that year and make is one of my MUST HAVES someday. I really like the accents/color/scallops. Be Proud! It looks great!

 

that's my dream 59. right down to the lime green metalflake roof/scallops on dark green body... damnit, that's how I wanted to do my 60 Olds, lol. Time to move onto another color scheme. i even dig the spider caps on black wheels.

in all seriousness, thats my most favorite 59 now. you've got a really badass car, man. lots of inspiration for someone like myself into 59/60s kustoms. well-fuckin-done, my man.

 

Looking good man, you haven't gotten that 'Street Rod' done yet????

Farmall

 

actually, the wheels are the same color as the body, but teh paint is so dark that you can't tell it's green until the light hits it... which is exactly how I wanted it!

Thanks for all the compliments guys!

 

heh heh!! the 59 consumed my life for awhile... that street rod was next, until my girlfriend got that 51... now that's next. I owe her.

 

i knew it!!!!! i just didn't want to make an ass outta myself.

guess i did anyway.

once again, you're drivin one of my dreams. take care of 'er.

 

Congrats Hellfish..........you and your gal did a great job........dig the metal flake paint and the custom stitching on the seat covers!!

 

Me likey. Very nice.

 

Wish I'd known that was yours. That's one of the cars I kept coming back to at the pileup. I saw something new every time I looked at it. I was maaaad when I got home and realized I'd forgotten to take any pictures of it.

 

I may have a stock fuel gauge you can have. Do you still have the stock sender?

 

Me or CptStickFigure? I have a Mustang tank in there with a Mustang sender, so I had to get a gauge that could read Ford. The only one I could find was that white AUtoMeter one, but I like it

 

Excellent 59, really like the scallops and paint scheme. The white seats and green dash really look sharp. 59's always look so good with Mercury grills in them. I had to check it out about three times, at the Pileup. Course, I'm a bit partial to 59's, mine was the kinda plain turquoise one there. By the way, if you're looking for an original gas tank, I've got one out of a 60, that I think is still good.

 

i love 59's. i want an elcamino but im always too slow when one comes up for sale. have you ever posted on how you made those knobs? i would like to learn how to do that....awsome car

 

Say what?!!!

For real...real?

 

Sharp, Joe, sharp!

 

Actually, someone on the HAMB posted how to do it about a year and a half ago. I took a light bulb the shape I liked and then used a dremel cutoff wheel and carefully removed the end. I got some clear resin from the art store and mixed it up with some resin dye, mixed in some glitter and poured it in. It took about 20 tries to get it right (no bubbles, cracked glass, etc). I may redo them because they're not quite right and I couldn't get all teh glass off. Next time I will not try to remove the glass.

I fess up. The shrunken head isn't "real" real... but it is made by real head hunters out of real skin and hair... just not human. I'm a lil' stinker.

 

S I C K.

Hellfish I want that shift knob

 

Very Very COOL!!
So tastefull it hurts.

Well done man.