My 8700 mile 64 Belair

[4onthefloor]

Since it runs under its own power now I figure you guys might like to see a few pics. I found this car thru a contact on another website. As found it had been parked in 1968 with a 1958 6cyl with a 3speed on the tree. But there were telltale signs of something special. Missing emblems above the cross flags. Dual exhaust hangers,spot for a factory tach on the dash,ballast resistor,reverse light switch,return fuel line,and a perfect untouched torch cut 4 speed hole in the floor. I decided to throw the dice because I love the color...Daytona Blue. When it came home I went over it top to bottom and took pics of everything. There were plastic seat covers still on the interior. I talked with Verne many times and documented what we found. This is an original 409 4 speed car !Sti;; has the original spiral shocks and coils springs..with the spring tags still visible, Even the reinforcement on the upper rear control arm is there...the firewall looks like a billboard with all the crayon ! It shows every trim and color option as well as the 4 spd call out and the factory Body,Paint,Trim, checking station stamps. The car was equipped with a rear speaker,remote mirror and day/night mirror. The original lacquer buffed up nicely too. Should I restore it ? Heeeel no ! I removed the plastic covers, buffed it, cleaned it put on some missing interior pieces and left the rest alone. I had Jack Gibbs put together a LITTLE engine backed by a brand new Auto Gear Muncie M22...it is supposed to have an Aubrey Bruneau rear end in it but after working with Aubrey for a while we got it shipped out and guess what ? Yellow Freight actually LOST an entire drum to drum rear end !!! Back to the drawing boards for that ! As you can see...its turning out pretty nice...chosing the wheels is my next step. I have the steel 09 wheels for 63 with dogdish...but I also have some period mag sets so I'll throw the dice again...this one is gonna be a blast !!I'll start with some of the as found pics (Bob I know pics eat up a lot of space on the site...feel free to edit as many out as you like)

 

[Ronnie Russell]

Bob, What a rare find... Hope you bring it to our next "get-together" for all to see. Congratulations for bringing her back to life.

 

[4onthefloor]

Progress so far

 

[Tom Kochtanek]

Wow!

Bob, that is just awesone! A great find, interesting history, and now a retrofit back to the way she once was, you can't ask for much more . It would interesting to learn more about how this vehicle was once outfitted and how it got the way you found it. If cars could only talk!

So tell us more about the current engine build and when you're going to bring this to our next get-together!

Best,
TomK

 

[walkerheaders]

good job, Bob.
quite an amazing transformation. keep up the good work. and keep us posted.

 

[jim_ss409]

That's a great story! And a very happy ending.

 

[4onthefloor]

Truth is guys...other than knowing it was an 09 by the detective work...the story ends there . It came out of a garage where the woman, most likely the daughter of the original owner had kept it. She was apparentlynot able to give any input whatsoever as she was suffering from Alzheimers or something. Where did the engine/trans go ? Why ? we will never know. All of the 3 speed on the column parts were bought new at a dealer apparently. The GM stickers were still on all the 3spd linkage rods ! In the one pic you can see the column parts are still natural metal and were never painted. The 409 scripts were removed with a screwdriver a long time ago. I found the broken off pins inside the fender area. There was putty closing the holes that I picked off with a fingernail. A lot of guys took the emblems off back then so as not to alert the guy in the next lane what he was up against. The odd part is the rear speaker, remote mirror. Maybe the original owner was a little quirky but a remote is a rare thing to see . One thing is certain...I do not think the car ever really drove with the 6 cylinder in it...there was no real clearance for the air cleaner to the underhood ! In fact the hood hit the upper hose at the thermostat housing when closed ! They took the time to remove the entire engine and trans and related parts and installed 6 cylinder frame mounts and all the 3 on the tree stuff !!! Makes no sense...but we will never know. The engine was put together by Jack and is a very healthy little stroker ! we used a correct 64 block and 583 heads. A little bitty cam and just good stuff everywhere. The trans is a real nice piece too. New case...good gears. I wish there was a buildsheet in the car but I checked places that are easily accessible and no luck. I just dont want to booger anything uo too much.The car made it this far so I dont want to screw it up by taking too much apart. The paint shines but its definitely 42 years old. The underside has a nice coat of surface rust everywhere too. I just dont want to restore anything. I DO have to open the brake system and bleed all the crud out of it. The original fuel tank had 6 inches of thick varnish and it was rotted on one side. Other than that...its just a cool find that I will just play with and not restore. The interior is really something to look at. A real time capsule. I will post a few more of the firewall...some pretty cool stuff there. The paint and trim codes are UNDER the firewall blck paint...the rest are on top of the black.

 

[4onthefloor]

Nice Port-a-wall

 

[4onthefloor]

firewall

 

[4onthefloor]

spring tag

 

[4onthefloor]

another interior because its cool looking !

 

[4onthefloor]

Paint Body Trim inspections

 

[Ronnie Russell]

Bob, I have yet to disassemble one of those old cars without finding frozen wheel cylinders. I am afraid that bleeding will not provide the brake system that I know you want for that car. Much safer to replace the wheel cyls. Time does nasty things to car parts that are not used for long periods of time. Time has been nasty to me , too!! Good luck.........

 

[Ronnie Russell]

Bob, Been giving your car some thought. But this post is not to address your car, but to address you. It would not have been a difficult feat to put a numbers matching engine and trans back in the car. It would not have been difficult to keep quiet about the whole project. It would have been easy to represent the car as original and unmolested with the new engine/trans.. Yet , you choose to be up-front and honest about all the details. Your character has been exposed. It is people like you that make this web-site something very special. Hat's off to you, sir.

 

[dq409]

Thats a million dollar interior for sure !!!!!

 

[LongIsland63SS409]

4onthe floor:

Very nice!!

My car was built in Tarrytown. I have a paint inspection stamp on the drivers side of the cowl. The stamp is visible with the hood open. The stamp is paint and not a sticker.

Where was your car assembled?

Mike

 

[4onthefloor]

It is what it is Ronnie...thanks for the kind words. I think its cooler with what it has in it now...and the mystery of what happened to this car will never be known. No bull**** dreamed up stories.I don't like fake ****....and what comes around goes around ! Plus if it was all original with 8700 miles on it and the drivetrain was still there...I would probably put a cover on it...but now I can take it out and beat the living stink out of it !!! I enjoy seeing an unmolested car(relatively speaking) and see what they really were like. Here is a pic of the package shelf that had a Life magazine and a paperback book sitting on it since 68 !! ...damn I wish a car like this could talk ! I even thought hell...maybe something happened to Pops and someone offered the daughter 50 bucks for the entire drivetrain and promised to still keep it running for her and never quite got there...who knows. The few parts that were removed were the 409 related parts, engine , trans, tach...nothing else..oh yeah the rear speaker and radio too !!!..I know for sure they changed the oil at 2400 miles because the Mobil sticker is on the door frame !!

 

[4onthefloor]

Ronnie...the engine Jack put together is the most amazing sounding beast I have ever heard from a W block.I haven't heard many around here . I had a stroker in a 64 Impala SS several years ago..474 ci with Hookers on it...but this thing sounds just WAY hairier than that one. BTW...anyone out east ever run into a Satin Silver w/ ORIGINAL black vinyl top,4 speed and black buckets with a stroker in it...I have your buildsheet for the car which was originally a 327/300 horse...that silver car was virgin too...I loved it. Only have one polaroid of it !! 64's just seem to keep finding me...61-2 are my favorites though.

 

[4onthefloor]

lolol...that was my skinny Irish girlfriend in the 61 not me !!! Taken in about 1985...I guess I need to get out more...the pics of the 64 are in almost the exact spot !!!

 

[4onthefloor]

Long Island this is a Flint built car...it was found not far from there too !!!