History of the car

The history of the car that I currently know of is interesting.  The car was bought brand new out towards Cypress Texas in 1963.  The car was then drove up till the late 1970`s early 1980`s which is when the orignal owner died.  That is when the car ended up at the place where my father worked at by the son who also worked there.  My father paid $700 for the car then, the car looked brand new and everything worked on it.  He drove it till the engine finally went out and started smoking.  That is when the engine was rebuilt but was built up and the ac compressor was removed due to the fact the ac STV had to be rebuilt every few months.  After that in the 1980`s a tree fell on the carport the car was parked under after a hurricane.  The carport fell on the car but luckily the steel beam wedged into the ground and only creased a small edge of the driverside fender and busted the windshield out.  The windshield was replaced and then the car was put in the garage.  The car proceeded to sit from the 1980`s till late 2002 when we both started working on it as a "father/son" type project.  Started off with just simple work such as polishing the chrome out and such.  It wasnt till 2003 when we were able to pull the car out of the garage and thats when the work started.  As of the writing of this (July 8, 2009) the car is I would say 98% complete.  The engine has been pulled taken apart and problems repaired (two valves were stuck open from carbon and made the engine run bad and lack the power it had).  The engine has been repainted and as of now awaits being dropped back into the car to have the oil put in and the system primed and pressureized to set the rocker arms.  The engine will then have the old freshened up Holley Dominator highrise intake manifold bolted down as well as the brand new reproduction Corvette finned valve covers which will also be painted the same hi-temp aluminum as the intake manifold to make everything match.  The valve covers will then get a HP decal which I have not desided on yet, I have thought of a 300 HP decal, a 350 HP decal, or a 375 HP decal.  That is not a problem though that is just cosmetic and can come later.  Besides that the transmission is going to be dropped and be drained and overhauled since the rest of the car has been rebuilt.  Then the only thing left is sodablast the body and paint the car and then upholstry on the interior and paint on the interior.  After this is done the car will then have to be reassembled.  If lucky and the engine runs right (the heads were redone but the shop did more work than we authorized.  They were only to replace the valves if need be and put in harden unleaded valve seats.  They resurfaced the heads after they were already done when the engine was built in the 80`s as well as lied and said the valve springs were wore out even though the engine had less than 500 miles on it and they didnt even know the specifications of the valve spring pressures to know if they were good or not.  Not to mention two of the exterior bolt openings fractured but we both feel we got the heads trqed down enough to prevent a headgasket from blowing) I will most likely get a video of the engine running.  If the engine doesnt want to run right or like it used to we will most likely end up junking it out and just getting a crate motor from a swap meet (most likely a 327/300hp one) and just install it and get rid of the gearing the car currently has in it and use it as a driver.

Update Blog

July 8, 2009

For those that visit this page of mine some have no doubt noticed my last update has been August 10, 2008.  Some probably have wondered if I gave up on the car.  Quick and simply answer is no.  I just have been dealing with other things that has taken time away from me that prevented me from working on the car.  Not to mention I wasnt really in any mood to attack stripping the paint off the body to bare metal by use of a wire brush wheel attached to a drill.  So as of now I have a soda blaster from Eastwood and I am currently awaiting when temperatures are cooler before I proceed to try out the sodablaster on the driverside fender, which is currently still attached to the car.  I figured I should have the fender sodablasted and the hood sodablasted fairly quickly once I do start (that is if the sodablaster doesnt eat through the 100 Lbs of blast media before I get through the fender and hood).  I will update the page again once I start work on the car again and there will be photos.

On a side note though for those of you that know, I have had a 1956 Ford Fairlane page up that has suddenly disappeared.  To answer those questions even if no one asked I just have to say I hidden the page from public view.  I did this because the car was my grandfathers car and he passed away in march 1986.  I finally was able to get confirmation from grandmother and uncle (grandmothers oldest son) that I could have the car.  Then things got drama filled with him proclaiming that me and my sister was stealing his mothers money by accepting money for mowing and edging her two lot sized lot.  Given the money wasnt as much as a yard company would charge.  But besides that I personally feel he has lost his mind, because he is now saying he never said anything about the car just like hes saying he never said anything else he said that he would do.  So I desided to try and buy the car which resulted in grandmother proclaiming its part of the estate.  Which is crazy to say considering uncle bought his fathers 1960`s fairlane 500.  So I am sure this is probably too much personal information but I figured might as well be honest because as of now theres a 50/50 chance of me getting it.  If I do not get the car I can say for sure the car will end up sitting in a field rotting away with 50 - 100 other cars that uncle has rotting away ranging from five to six jeeps from the 40`s to the 70`s, some vehicles from the 1910`s such as one milk truck, down to even my parents 1970 Montecarlo that was sold to him years ago as well as a MG roadster.  This car would be just like the 1957 F100 pickup that he bought back in 2002 when he saw photos on the digital camera of me restoring this 1963 Belair.  He talked big about how he was going to pull a 460 and AOD transmission out of a old lincoln he has sitting on his land and put in it.  This truck I saw was in great shape body already been repaired and sodablasted and primered grey.  Just needed engine/transmission/interior/paint and it would be done.  As of now 2009 and as of writing this post I have not heard another word of that truck.  Odds are it is sitting and rotting out in the field, sad thing is if someone else got it that truck probably would be on the road by now.  So if he gets the car which is a 50/50 chance this orignal 1 owner car that has been sitting in a shed all its life and hasnt been drove since 1986 will be hauled out and sit on a field to rot away.

I know this is a long text update but the second text has nothing to do with my 1963 Belair or my 1978 Cougar.  It has to do with a one owner 1956 Fairlane Townsedan that was bought new and has all the orignal paperwork including all the orignal parts (minus the tongue that goes to the bumper jack it could still be in the shed somewheres like the jack was at).  So those that are inclined that are car people feel free to pray or hope that the car ends up in a home like mine where it will be stripped and restored back to 100% factory orignal condition.

August 10, 2008

Been a while since a update but I have took some time off from the car to give the enamel body paint time to dry before reassembly on some parts. Wirebrushed the tops of the front fender and the gutter that the hood bumpers sit atop of, filled in the pin rust holes on the driverside gutter and sprayed the passengerside gutter before reinstalling the wirebrushed and semigloss black painted passengerside hood hinge mount. Also reinstalled the A/C & Heater box on the firewall and the metal A/C connection duct to the box

June 11, 2008

Carburetor to throttle pedal linkage was reinstalled after being wirebrushed to bare metal and then sprayed with High Temp Aluminum paint. Transmission linkage bar from column to frame linkage was reinstalled after being wirebrushed and painted Aluminum itself.

June 5, 2008

Late 1959 - 68 High Performance "Corvette" valve covers came in. Awaiting to be sprayed with High Temp Aluminum paint.

June 2, 2008

Firewall repainted with OEM "Saddle Tan Poly" paint. Frame rails were repainted Semi Gloss black along with the brake booster and the master cylinder. The master cylinder cap and latch along with the steel brake lines were cleaned and repainted with a High Temp Aluminum paint.

April 21, 2008

Body to Bumper Panel sprayed in OEM "Saddle Tan Poly" color.

April 13, 2008

Body to Bumper Panel wirebrushed to bare metal and primered awaiting OEM colored paint to be sprayed.

April 12, 2008

Front sheet metal removed (Grill Assembly, Body to Bumper Panel, Bumper and Bumper Supports) to make ease of restoration.

March 11, 2008

Condenser fins straightened, cleaned, and painted high temp aluminum.

March 9, 2008

Radiator support removed from car.

Feburary 14, 2008

Engine back together fully and repainted waiting to go back into car.

January 5, 2008

Engine removed to be cleaned up and repainted.

August 24, 2004

Page back up. Complete reformat is finished as of 1:10 p.m. Central Time.

Feburary 29, 2004 6:00p.m. Central

At 6:00 p.m. Central Time orignal page had 9,200 hits before page was messed up beyond repair. This page was started.

March 24, 2003

1963 Belair "GoldRush" orignal page started.

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