1959 Chevy Biscayne

de31168

Well Known Member
Well I bought this junk 4 years ago, and the progress has been slow on it so far, but I'm finally feeling enough motivation to get somewhere with it. I have a ton of pictures but i'll condense it to as few as I can so as not to bore all of you.

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That was the condition I got it in. Pretty picked apart, no steering column, left rear wheel locked up, no motor or trans, no front seat, badly repaired rear floors, and rusted thru front floors. What the hell was I thinking?

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de31168

Well Known Member
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A few weeks later and I was pretty ambitious, did some roof repair and fender repair, got the wheel unstuck, got some taillight assemblies.

From there I didn't do much except try to acquire parts. I got a 59 Biscayne 4 door and a 1960 Bel Air 4 door from a field in Iowa I think it was. They didn't have a whole lot of good left on them but I saved extra gauges, gauge pods, a radio, steering columns, and pulled a 283/turboglide out of the 60. I saved alot of linkages and clips and other odds and ends stuff you can't really get anymore. I wish I had pictures of those cars but I regretfully didn't take any. I still have a TON of old postcards and roadmaps and tourguides i saved from that 60. I wonder if they are worth anything? In retrospect I should have saved a whole lot more off of them before sending them both to the crusher. Lesson learned.

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I also managed to grab a 327 with a 350? trans out of a 67 Chevelle to use, since that ol' 283 ended up being locked up tight. I did save the valve covers off of it though. This round of pictures was taken when it was all thrown together to be moved from the shop (where we didn't have room) to my house at the time. I did start to do more to it there, including having it completely off the frame and on jackstands, starting removing what undercoating was left underneath, and starting to disassemble and clean the frame components. Well then I moved from that house to another, so it went from a bare chassis and a body, back to a complete car with full driveline and body parts installed in about 8 hours. These old cars sure are easy to fix compared to ones today. Needless to say after having it completely apart and then back together again, I was less than ambitious to start over in a new smaller garage.

I had also bought ANOTHER 60 Biscayne parts car from ebay. It was cheap, and a 2 door. I was able to keep the front seat out of that one, along with ANOTHER set of gauges, pods, steering column, wiring, etc. Sadly that too had to go to the crusher with way more on it that I didn't get to save, just for the lack of room for it. Believe it or not, this thing had sat for 30+ years, and was an inline 6 with a 3 speed on the column. While I had it at the shop taking it apart, just for the hell of it I threw a new battery in it. Would you believe the lights still worked? Then the kicker of it all.. I didn't have a key, but I used a power probe to mess with the ignition switch wiring, and after a few thuds... the motor actually turned over! The gas tank had rotted out and it was missing plug wires, so it wasn't going to run, but it was still good. I regret crushing it. Here are some pictures of that car...

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de31168

Well Known Member
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Also, during the winter I was unable to do anything because my 2.5 car garage was stuffed with 3 old american classics. 2 1958 chevy's and my 59. As I type this out, I realize over the last 4 years, I've owned and still own a LOT of old cars. Only one has actually run and driven. :roll:roll

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But finally at the beginning of last year I was able to bring the 59 down to our new shop and really get busy with it. We had a rotisserie made for it from the steel company next door, and this time when it came off the frame, it's not going back on til it's done.
 

de31168

Well Known Member
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First major step was getting the frame cleaned, sanded, primed, and painted. All done by hand. I wish we had a huge blaster to do it with! Meanwhile, the floors were being cut out and repaired one at at time. I'm on a budget build so I couldn't buy the full floor for 600+ bucks that they offer, nor the $120 per section floor either. We settled for a $50 per floor pan section from an aftermarket company. They don't have the drain holes in them, and you gotta beat them into shape, but I know by the time i'm done I can make them look good. Not going for a full restored look, but a somewhat nice repair since I've gone this far.

I'll post those pictures tomorrow.
 

bobs409

 
Administrator
That's a great ol 59! Looks pretty solid to me. :clap This is another year I would LOVE to have but probably never will. :cry

I love the picture of the '60 with the headlights on. Reminds me of that scene in the movie Christine, "Show me". :D
 

de31168

Well Known Member
That's a great ol 59! Looks pretty solid to me. :clap This is another year I would LOVE to have but probably never will. :cry

I love the picture of the '60 with the headlights on. Reminds me of that scene in the movie Christine, "Show me". :D

That was my thought too! Unfortunately she didn't.. :doh and much like Christine, ended up in a little cube.
 

ARKAR

Active Member
Looks great! Love seeing progress pictures, keep them coming.
The '59 is looking good, keep up the progress!

Keith
 

de31168

Well Known Member
Well here was the start of the floor repair.. with the first pan to be installed. My brother in law did all the welding, since I don't know how to. I think he did an excellent job!

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Then the front passanger side.

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The thing about doing it, is as soon as you do one thing, you find another section that is bad and needs repair, or is thin. This appeared to rust from the inside out, as alot of the underneath still had undercoating under it, but was soft from the inside. Such a shame.

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de31168

Well Known Member
The inner rockers needed repair also, and it was time to flip her over and start on the driver side floors. The left rear was especially bad, as it was rotted all the way up to where the seat risers are. It still needs more small pieces cut and some detail work done in that area. As long as it is sealed off to the underneath I'll be happy. We also learned on this side to drill and use the floor braces to do spot welds where possible.

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de31168

Well Known Member
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Still needs lots of grinding and smoothing to make it perfect, but atleast it has a solid floor in it again. About the same time I started to sandblast the interior trim and put them in etching primer to be painted later.

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A shiny new driveshaft...

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I think the paint I bought is a little too... bright?

Most recently came the front suspension and brakes.. which amazingly.. all came apart with relative ease.

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de31168

Well Known Member
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Always good to take reference pictures to help you re-assemble.

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Time to sandblast and clean these up too...

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de31168

Well Known Member
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Paint mark from the factory... or the junk yard because it was a used component?

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From...

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To...

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de31168

Well Known Member
Of course after all that... I noticed something a little odd about one of the lower arms...

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Good one!

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Bent to hell one!

Crap.

So this brings me up to date to now. I have all new bushings and ball joints for the front suspension. I am getting the new bolt kits from Late Great to assemble. I know the old ones would probably clean up and be okay to use, but why risk it? I'll be driving this thing all over the place, no need to chance a failure. The 327 is currently out being reworked and i'll do some more body repair and the rear suspension in the meantime. The end result will be the 327 mated to a 4 speed transmission. I'm looking to go really dark navy blue with the car. Something similar to that Oregon State Patrol car with the 348. Not a great shot but something like this..

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That's what inspires me and I hope it turns out half as nice. I'd be thrilled!
 

18htan

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
Hey Mate...

That looks bloody great! Can't wait to see the end result.

I have a ton of pictures but i'll condense it to as few as I can so as not to bore all of you.

I highly doubt you will find anyone on here that will get bored looking at your build.

Keep heaps of pics coming! :clap
 
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