Long time listener, first time caller here on the HAMB, figured I'd post a thread about my cheap '57 Bel-Air I built and sold back in March. Work is slow so why not right? This is how I picked up my Bel-Air, second time owning this exact car actually, buddy of mine traded it back to me for a 32 Ford glass body I had kicking around, rough around the edges but plenty of car to build off of. I made Dan throw in a little 283 he had lying about since he wasn't using it for the roadster, quick once-over, some new gaskets, and a paint job and it was ready to set in. Decided to go with a 3 gear manual transmission since everyone loves a tri-five with 3 pedals, fabricated my own shifter mount since the transmission came from a column shift vehicle. Got the engine set in using some mounts and brackets I had picked up from a swap meet down in Brooksville Florida, started to play around with exhaust and found these Sanderson block huggers to work just fine. Car looked pretty decent at first, but unfortunately had some rust that needed to be taken care, my buddies ripped into me about not leaving the "patina" but to me the car was too rough to leave as is, besides, I had an idea... Started to knock all the ugly off after getting the body half-ass straight. Here is the car in 2K primer, yes I know I painted the bumpers, they were rough and starting to peel, and brand new chrome bumpers for a '57 Chevy were NOT in my 22 year old budget. The next thing I did was start on getting the engine running reliably, and getting the car wired up. The wiring was cleaned up and tucked once I was finished, looking back I REALLY should've painted the radiator black. Onto interior, yet again all parts were second hand from swap meets. Now onto the fun part, cool paint! Grill assembled, Bumpers painted in Kirker silver, for that faux-chrome look I guess. Only two miles of tape later, FLAMES! FLAMES! Ignore the atrocious 17 inch wheels, they did not stay on the car long. Found these 15 inch Cragars on marketplace and found the wide whites at Moultrie swap meet. Cool little front plate to finish it off. And this is what I ended up with as a finished product, I drove it daily for months before trading it off to a man for a custom '54 Mercury, It was his 80th birthday and he had always wanted a 1957 Bel Air, He was ecstatic and I was happy to trade for another cool hotrod.
Moved to the off topic forum. Large diameter modern wheels are off topic on the main board. And the traditional hot rod forum is reserved for 100% period perfect 1965 and older build styles
Yes I am, currently in paint jail, going back with Deep emerald green and a gold lace roof. Got the jambs sprayed and roof base laid out.
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