Day 1. What a way to start a project. The chain holding the car on the hauler snapped, sending it off the trailer. The kingswood almost rolled all the way back and would have hit my co workers 96 Impala SS. Fortunately, it got caught between the skids stopping it and almost stopping my heart.

Using the bosses forklift, we managed to lift the car back on the hauler.

If you look closely, you can see that the rear tire now sits a little forward. This is because the rear end got bent during the roll back. Luckily, I had another rear end in the yard to replace it down the line.

Safely on the ground finally. The car came with a weak 283, powerglide combo that will be replaced with a Ramjet 350 and 700R4. The factory AC system was sold to my boss and going in his 60 El Camino. It will be replaced with a Vintage Air sure fit system and Front Runner serpentine belt drive.

After front-end disassembly, the frame was taken down to bare metal and thoroughly cleaned. I must of scraped a hundred pounds of Texas dirt and old oil off. Plus this was a factory under coated car and all of that stuff had to go. The frame was painted in epoxy chassis black available from Eastwood paint supplies. The 283 and 2 speed was sold off for $200. The original motor did run but needed a rebuild.

The original nine-passenger gas tank is a very rare unit. Most 59-60 wagons share the same �kidney� style gas tank as the El Camino�s and Sedan Deliveries, making this one very hard to replace. I�m very lucky, mine was in good shape except for a minor dent in the front. I sent the tank out to Renu gas tank in Greensburg PA. There the tank was thoroughly cleaned and coated inside and out. Keep in mind that you will not get a nice galvanized finish back. Instead, you will have a durable coating that is sure to outlast the car your putting it into. Before this process was started, we had to move the gas tank pick up to the bottom of the tank. We welded on a sump with two provisions. This way I can always drain the tank if I need to without removing the line. Some people prefer to have the gas tank pick up at the top since this requires little fabrication. Im from the school of thought that EFI engines perform the best with the sump at the bottom and the pump as low as possible.