1962 Biscayne.....

[Phil Reed]

Not quite sure how to start this thread but here goes.

Just received an email about this car being in the Mecum Auction next weekend in Kissimmee, FL. This is a car I know well!!

I found this car in west Texas about 19-20 years ago. A friend took me to look at it and he didn't want it. Just a body out behind a shop. The owner told me the story about how he got it. He priced me the car for the same price he had told my friend. I asked my friend one more time....are you sure you don't want it? NOPE!! So I asked one more question.........what all came with the body. The owner said a 409 engine and transmission was inside!! I walked up to the engine, took about 1 second to look at the data pad, and said SOLD!!!

This 62 Biscayne STILL had it's ORIGINAL MATCHING NUMBERED 2X4 ENGINE AND MATCHING NUMBERED T-10 4-SPEED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The real kicker..................5,159.4 ORIGINAL MILES!!!!!

I brought the car back to KC. Gary Anderson, the owner of A&M Soffseal, bought it and then we spent 2 years doing a frame off restoration.

The original owner was Dave Cates of Dayton, OH. He bought the car brand new. Ault-James was a speed shop who sponsored him. We got all the original paper work with the car including Dave's chattel mortgage where he made 36 equal payments of $88.39 a month!! It was a 409HP with metallic brakes. There was a dealer invoice in the paperwork where Dave paid $1.25 labor to install one seat belt so he could go racing. The car still has it's original decals on the windows were he raced at The Nationals in Indy in 1962, 1963 & 1964!!!

I went back to Dayton to meet Dave. He had a radiator shop on Dayton-Xenia Road. The car had Mickey Thompson fenderwell headers. I only got one with the car. He still had the other one!! I got the slicks from him....he bought the M&H Race Master slicks in 1964. Those are the ones on the car. He gave me about 12 8"x10" black & white trackside photos from Kilkare Raceway drag strip and some time slips. And then......the biggest gift of all. He went back into his shop and took a bunch of boxes piled in the corner. In the bottom box.........................was the original black 2x4 air cleaner that was on the car when he took delivery!!!!! It was an incredible day to say the least!!

Anyway, Gary sold the car about 4 years ago. The present owner took this car to the Mecum auction in St. Charles, IL about 2 months ago. It was a NO SALE at $185,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The owner wants $250,00!!!! And all this on a car that was finished 17 years ago!! I am having a very hard time realizing that something myself and my bodyman and mechanic did that long ago would be worth this kind of money!!

If anybody goes to the auction next weekend, I would like to hear what happens with it!!

http://www.mecumauction.com/auctions/lot_detail.html?LOT_ID=FL0107-47775

 

[MileHiSS]

Phil,
It's a beautiful Biscayne. Thanks for helping preserve a part of history. Do you remember where in West Texas that you found it?

 

[61belairbubbletop]

Not quite sure how to start this thread but here goes.

Just received an email about this car being in the Mecum Auction next weekend in Kissimmee, FL. This is a car I know well!!

I found this car in west Texas about 19-20 years ago. A friend took me to look at it and he didn't want it. Just a body out behind a shop. The owner told me the story about how he got it. He priced me the car for the same price he had told my friend. I asked my friend one more time....are you sure you don't want it? NOPE!! So I asked one more question.........what all came with the body. The owner said a 409 engine and transmission was inside!! I walked up to the engine, took about 1 second to look at the data pad, and said SOLD!!!

This 62 Biscayne STILL had it's ORIGINAL MATCHING NUMBERED 2X4 ENGINE AND MATCHING NUMBERED T-10 4-SPEED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The real kicker..................5,159.4 ORIGINAL MILES!!!!!

I brought the car back to KC. Gary Anderson, the owner of A&M Soffseal, bought it and then we spent 2 years doing a frame off restoration.

The original owner was Dave Cates of Dayton, OH. He bought the car brand new. Ault-James was a speed shop who sponsored him. We got all the original paper work with the car including Dave's chattel mortgage where he made 36 equal payments of $88.39 a month!! It was a 409HP with metallic brakes. There was a dealer invoice in the paperwork where Dave paid $1.25 labor to install one seat belt so he could go racing. The car still has it's original decals on the windows were he raced at The Nationals in Indy in 1962, 1963 & 1964!!!

I went back to Dayton to meet Dave. He had a radiator shop on Dayton-Xenia Road. The car had Mickey Thompson fenderwell headers. I only got one with the car. He still had the other one!! I got the slicks from him....he bought the M&H Race Master slicks in 1964. Those are the ones on the car. He gave me about 12 8"x10" black & white trackside photos from Kilkare Raceway drag strip and some time slips. And then......the biggest gift of all. He went back into his shop and took a bunch of boxes piled in the corner. In the bottom box.........................was the original black 2x4 air cleaner that was on the car when he took delivery!!!!! It was an incredible day to say the least!!

Anyway, Gary sold the car about 4 years ago. The present owner took this car to the Mecum auction in St. Charles, IL about 2 months ago. It was a NO SALE at $185,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The owner wants $250,00!!!! And all this on a car that was finished 17 years ago!! I am having a very hard time realizing that something myself and my bodyman and mechanic did that long ago would be worth this kind of money!!

If anybody goes to the auction next weekend, I would like to hear what happens with it!!

http://www.mecumauction.com/auctions/lot_detail.html?LOT_ID=FL0107-47775

Phil,
That's an incredible story! Wow! Thanks for sharing.

 

[jim_ss409]

: Yeah, Great story. $250 thousand's a lot of money, but in a world where some COPO's and hemi cars are going a million or more, maybe it's not so bad.

 

[Tom Kochtanek]

Is that the one?

Phil:

Is that the car you had painted and stripped and painted and stripped several times before it was perfect? I recall it was the lettering that drove you nuts? Hope that's not the one that caused you to end your "restoration career" on .

Best,
TomK

 

[tripower]

Phil, Great story... ... Who would of thought that these cars would be bringing 185,000 let alone 250,000 twenty years ago. Just goes to show ya.

 

[Phil Reed]

Ault-James

To answer a few questions. I bought the car from Don Hardy in Floydada, Texas. In fact, I bought 2 cars that day from Don. He also had a completely original black 64 SS, with 425HP 409 and 4-speed. It was all matching numbers too!! Still had the 4-speed intact. I sold that car to a friend and he still has it today.

Yes Tom, I had this car painted 5 times before it left the shop!! We started out with Dupont lacquer and after 3 paints jobs, switched to Ditzler. I don't paint myself but in buffing out the car, we kept getting solvents pops....just little holes in the paint. I was finishing the paint under flourscent lights because they show every imperfection. We stripped the car after the 3rd coat and started over. I finally hand rubbed the paint myself to get the finish I wanted. Yes, this was the LAST car we restored at the shop. The customer pays for the first paint job.....guess who got to foot the bill for 2 3 4 & 5!!! Dat's right!!!! I have a plastic package in my display cases...of some of the paints chips when I removed the 3rd paint job completely. They are there to remind me if I even think I want to do that again............I just go look at that bag and remind myself of the money that cost me!!!

After I had gotten the car to KC, I decided to contact the original owner because I like to find out about the history of cars like this. Now whenever you call somebody like this, you are taking a chance!! The previous owner could be really p***ed that you have "his" car and he doesn't anymore, or he could embrace what you are doing. Dave chose the latter. I drove back to Dayton just to meet him. Spent the day and got all the history of the Biscayne. Basically, Dave had to sell the car because of a divorce. He sold the car, 4 409 engines and a couple of 4-speeds to a guy in Ohio. The guy in Ohio sold the car, 1 409 engine and 1 4-speed to Don Hardy. Now this was before "matching numbers" really became an obsession. What are the chances that the one engine and 4-speed, that were original to the car, stayed with the car during the 2 sales!!!!! I thought that was unbelieveable!!!

This car has a lot of neat stories. I sent the original radiator and heater core to Dave, the original owner because he had a radiator shop, to redo for me. I wanted him to be involved with the restoration. After about 4 months I called and asked how he was doing. He apoligized about being so slow but he was having trouble finding a core for the radiator. I said I could send him one from my local shop. He said that wasn't good enough. He would call me back. About a week later, he called and said he found a core. He found an NOS core in a Delco-Harrison warehouse in California!! So this car has an NOS radiator core!!


One more story. Candy and I delivered the car to Gary Anderson just before Father's Day weekend. If memory serves me right, I believe it was 1989. Gary had reserved a spot in a Concours-de-Elegance car show in Cincinatti for his red 62 409 convertible. But since the Biscayne showed up...he took it instead. In a show like this, everything on the car had to work...headlights, backup light, radio, engine, etc. The car had the Mickey Thompson fenderwell headers...open. Gary said the judges had him start the car up 4 TIMES just to make sure the engine ran!!! He said they loved the sound of the open headers. Anyway, at trophy time.........Gary was handed a chrystal trophy representing Best in Show!!! The second place owner was p***ed!!! He had won the show the last 2 years and thought his car was much better. It is hauled around to car shows in it's own climate controlled trailer to preserve it. The car.............a 1929 Bugatti!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just a cheap ole Biscayne beat out the million dollar car!! Gary is a very quite man but when he called me after the show, he talked for an hour and a half before I could get a word in edgewise!!

Well, probably have taken too much of your time but this was, besides my own 63, the most special 409 car that I could say I owned!!

 

[Garbageman]

Thanks for sharing, Phil. It's great to hear stories about a car how it can be put right again and how the original owner got envolved in the restoration.

Thanks again.

Paul

 

[Tom Kochtanek]

Getting up the cash...

Great stories, I love 'em!!!

This car was, if I remember correctly, well chronicled in a back issue of Chevy Rumble, right? Really nice car. Love the lettering, especially on the trunk deck .

So if one of my condos sells in the next few months, maybe I can go to Florida and buy it back for you? Wouldn't my wife love that? Not!

Cheers!
TomK

 

[61bubble]

That is an awesome car. I knew as soon as you mentioned the air cleaner that I had read the story in a magazine.

 

[409z28]

trunk

Had this on trunk of my 66 Biscayne 427

 

[409z28]

words

It says,,,From Chevrolet With Love..Little boy has slingshot in hands and Boetie on back of shirt. Sorry bout pic quality. Quite old. Mike ???? What was on trunk of 62?

 

[Phil Reed]

Ault James 62 Biscayne

Yes, this car was featured in the very first issue of Chevy Rumble. In fact, I did not know Doug was writing the article.

Here are a couple of pictures I took of the magazine. I'm going to try to find my original files and I'll try to post some of the old black & whites from the car racing at Killkare Raceway in Ohio.

The cartoon on the decklid was only about 15% there when I got the car. So before we stripped the decklid, I got some tracing paper and traced everything that was left. And I took all the dimensions that I could. I called the owner and asked him if he had any pictures of it new. He said no. He had taken the idea of the cartoon off of a t-shirt that he had back then. I asked him if he would try to find it for me. 2 1/2 YEARS LATER HE SENDS ME THE T-SHIRT!!!! So I took it and my drawings over to my painter's house. We hung the drawings on his garage wall. We rented an overhead projector and put the t-shirt on it and WA LA........WE HAD THE CARTOON!!! So we just filled in all the lines and brought the tracing back to the shop. This entire car was hand lettered and painted. I think the painter did an incredible job!!

One other note........the car still has it's original door panels and red rubber mat!! And the copper fuel lines, these were new copper that we made for the restoration. We had the original line that Dave made as a pattern!!