Calm before the storm

[lnirenberg]

I had a much needed and unexpected car guy pig heaven day last Friday. I’m planning a little finish up work for the Bel Air this winter and Justin, the guy who did an amazing job with the interior, suggested I go see the guys at Whitehall Restoration in Hopkinton, Ma. an amazing father and son shop. I thought I was lost on a residential country road until I saw the house with 2 large outbuildings and a load of cars. A beautiful ’55 New Yorker convertible was blocking a restoration in progress of the #1 Dual Ghia which (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-Ghia) had been owned by Frank Sinatra. The car had been in a rear end accident a few years ago and the current owner bought it from the insurance company. They had to fabricate from scratch everything behind the doors but luckily they had a decent template as the father owns 2 complete Dual-Ghias including the last one ever produced which was highly modified at the factory. There are only 32 known to still exist. In the bay next to the Dual-Ghia they were restoring a Chrysler Town & Country wagon, I think he said from the late ‘40s but the body was off frame and all the wood was being restored off the body which doesn’t leave a whole lot of metal to distinguish its vintage. All the original ash framing was restored and new mahogany panels had been reproduced. In the second building they had a bunch of the dad’s cars in storage including his Ghias, a bunch of very rare DeSotos and a few Chrysler letter cars. I also found out that they they were the shop that had restored the 1 off Pontiac “El Camino” and Justin reproduced a vintage interior from scratch (http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2008/03/13/the-legend-of-the-1959-pontiac-el-catalina/). I mentioned to him a few of the beautiful early letter cars I saw at the Chrysler 300 club meet a few years ago in Maine and he not only knew the colors and options but had done concours restorations on 3 of them. The dad is semi-retired and restores a lot of the small parts including rebuilding old Carter carbs from a stash of NOS and restored parts including a bunch of rare cross-ram intakes. He also restores old car radio especially Chryslers and modifies them so that they can add period correct record players to the cars. I only wish I had found these guys before I did my 300F a few years ago. All in all, enough car fix to get me through hurricane weekend.​

 

[Don Jacks]

Now that was a neat trip.

 

[1960impala283]

Where's the pictures?

 

[Tom Kochtanek]

Larry:

Now that sounds like quite the find!

Are you engaging them to do some work on the BA?

Good to hear that you weathered the storm.

Cheers,
TomK

 

[lnirenberg]

My jaw was dragging on the ground and I was so busy talking to the 2 of them and seeing their work and cars that I forgot to snap any pics.

They're just going to do a small touch up of the fire wall, work on getting the panel alignment and gaps a little better and then they're going to remove the trim and wet sand the car for me. Not much, but I will eventually find a project I can work with them on.

My 300F was 1 of 80+ known to still exist and it was a factory AC car. I spent almost 2 years just finding all the parts I needed and restoring a bunch of the small parts on the car. There is only 1 company in the world that reproduces interiors for these cars and it has a staff of exactly 2--husband and wife. The waiting list for seat covers is about 6 months and mine added about 2 additional months because he dyes his own leather and it was a very damp spring so he lost 2 months of production to humidity. The rest of the work was done by an experienced Chrysler guy who had never done a early letter car so it was over budget among other things. The dashes on these cars were orb like with no bulbs just some sort of luminescence that would glow when the headlights went on and that alone cost $1200 to restore. The major problems with the car ,were it made my Bel Air look like a mid-size, parts were rarer than the proverbial hen's teeth and my right leg would fall asleep if I was in the car for more than 15 minutes. I put it up for sale and bought the Bel Air which is a lot more fun to drive, if its ever in an accident it can be repaired without scouring the globe for parts or I can take the large insurance check and buy another and there a whole lot of places to get parts. I am always amazed given how many full size Chevy's were built in 1961 how few you see and how much attention they draw.

 

[Tom Kochtanek]

Larry aptly notes: "I am always amazed given how many full size Chevy's were built in 1961 how few you see and how much attention they draw."

That's because they represent the best of the fifties styling with the new look of the 60s . Shortly thereafter GM got a bit "slab sided" with their passenger cars (I'm thinking of the 1963 Grand Prix). Those 61s had some great cues from the big cars of the late 50s, but with sharper lines and nicer eyebrows .

Best,
TomK