1959 Fully Restored Chevrolet El Camino on 2040-cars
Bakersfield, California, United States
This is a
one year old total restoration. I can’t
think of another think that could be done to this car to complete the job! It has less than 100 miles on it since it was
finished. The car was a
grandfather/grandson project and it pains us to be selling it but we have to. The project
was a ground-up total restoration. We
tore it completely apart and restored everything. All but a few special fasteners were replaced
with new. The entire
body was searched for signs of rust and all of it was replaced with new metal
(see picture). All floor pans were
replaced with new steel (see pictures).
The bulkhead between the ‘smuggler’s compartment’ and the interior was
removed so there is a bunch of storage behind the seat. A sealed roof was welded over the smuggler’s
compartment (see picture). The body was
block sanded to perfection before painting.
It is painted with epoxy sealer and catalyzed urethane Chrysler Deep
Water blue pearl/metallic. All the
chrome is redone, the aluminum grille is perfect the headlight rims are new all
the stainless is restored and polished.
The rear window is the only original piece of glass, all the rest is
new. All the rubber on the car is new.
The bed is unique – it is done in tiger wood with polished stainless steel bed
strips. The wood was painted with
several coats of clear catalyzed urethane, color sanded and polished. There are a couple small spots that need to
be redone since we didn’t get the bed tarp made as planned and it got a little
weathered (gray spots in photo). Still
looks great though. The gas tank
was in great shape but we lined it with tank liner and coated the outside with special
stainless steel urethane paint. Everything
that wasn’t painted with the body color was first wire brushed to as clean as
possible. It was then coated with a rust
converter. Finally it was sprayed with
Noxudol rubberized undercoating. We left
no rot anywhere on the car. There will
never be rust in this car again! A picture
shows the Dodge Dakota spare tire hoist we adapted to the frame at the back. It cranks down easily from a fitting hidden
in the rear wheel well. This is where
the spare tire should have been in the first place, not behind the passenger
seat in the interior like the factory did it. The engine
is a warmed up 307 Chevy with rebuilt QuadraJet, new corvette cam and 283
PowerPak heads. It was bored 10 over and
has all new pistons, bearings, roller tip rockers and screw-in rocker
studs. It has ‘noisy’ timing gears
instead of timing chain. It is like new. It has a 60 amp chrome alternator; a few
chrome dress-up items, new water pump.
We converted the stock distributor to electronic using an ACCEL points
eliminator module and. We added an MSD
6A ignition module. It has a new
high-torque mini-starter. The small size
keeps it away from the damaging exhaust pipes which was always a problem in
this vintage GM car. The
transmission is a GM 200R4 OD automatic that is totally rebuilt with a shift
kit and hardened input stator which is the main weak link in these units. We programmed the shift points by trimming
weight from the stock governor which is the proper way to do that. People try doing it by adjusting the throttle
cable and that is the best way to burn up a transmission. The throttle cable on this transmission is
controlled from the QuadraJet with a BowTie Overdrives adjustable linkage. It is done right and is a very good
transmission. We used restored stock
exhaust manifolds and built a 2” dual exhaust system with Smitty’s glass-packs
and 1980 Trans Am chrome tips. We have a
set of stock type turbo mufflers that can be put back on. They are milder than the Smitty’s. We properly moved the transmission mount
cross-member to accommodate the slightly longer transmission. The chassis
was stripped to bare metal and painted with black urethane chassis
coating. It was coated internally with
Noxudol penetrating rust preventative.
It has front and rear sway bars and rear air bags in the springs to
adjust carrying capacity. We made all
new body mounts from 3/4 ” thick Buna-N rubber and pieces of steel and rubber tubing (see picture). They are better than factory mounts. The car came with a factory posi-traction
rear end. We rebuilt the posi and added
all new bearings, seals and a new Richmond 3:54 gear set. The drum brakes were totally restored. Of course we added all new brake lines and
hoses. It has a new
power brake master cylinder and a GM 605 power steering gear. We adapted a GM tilt steering column with
1959 Impala steering wheel. Since this
car has a floor mounted B&M MegaShifter, we eliminated the key boss (’59
ignition switch is on the dash) and column shifter from the tilt unit so it
looks like a stock 4-on-the-floor column. The radiator
is a reconditioned stock unit with factory tranny cooler. We adapted a Lincoln Mark VIII two speed
electric radiator fan to the El Camino fan shroud (see picture). We installed a speed controller so the fan
adjusts the speed to the cooling load. The Interior
was totally redone. All lights gauges,
turn signals, heater controls, wipers, etc., work. The tach on the dash works. We installed an EZ wiring harness, a Vintage
Air A/C, heating unit, and a Retro Sounds vintage look radio that plays CDs and
has ports for I-Pod and cell phone play.
It has a new stereo speaker set In the stock speaker location and two
speakers behind the seats. The seats are mid-80s Cadillac split bench full
power. They were widened to fit this
car. We adapted a late model Buick
center arm rest with storage and cup holder.
It has 3 person shoulder/lap belts.
A new factory type headliner was installed and all new loop-pile black carpeting. The upholstery is custom 2-tone gray
Naugahyde. The custom door panels have
custom made arm rests and a tiger wood accent strip to tie the bed and interior
together. The 2-speed wiper motor was
rebuilt and the washer works. Notice we
used the stock 1959 heater enclosure in the engine compartment to cover the
Vintage A/C hoses. Grandson added the
Dixie air horns! We just put a new
battery in it last week and the BF Goodyear tires and Cragar SS mags are brand
new. The only
thing we wanted to fix was the package tray.
We tried to upholster the steel one in the car and that didn’t
work. The upholstery won’t stay
glued. All that is needed is to cut out
most of the stock steel one, make one from 3/4 ” plywood, upholster it with solid
stapled upholstery and screw it to the remnant of the steel one from underneath. It will be a pretty easy weekend job. You couldn’t come close to duplicating this car for our reserve price. |
Chevrolet El Camino for Sale
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Auto Services in California
Z Best Auto Sales ★★★★★
Woodland Hills Imports ★★★★★
Woodcrest Auto Service ★★★★★
Western Tire Co ★★★★★
Western Muffler ★★★★★
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Auto blog
GM recalls full-size truck, SUVs and vans over faulty shifter mechanism
Mon, 07 Jan 2013Twelve different General Motors vehicles from the 2013 model year, up to 54,686 units in total, are being recalled over two potential issues with their steering columns. The models in question, all full-size trucks, SUVs or vans, are the: Cadillac Escalade, Escalade ESV, Escalade EXT, Chevrolet Avalanche, Express, Silverado, Suburban, Tahoe, and GMC Savana, Sierra, Yukon and Yukon XL.
The affected vehicles were built with a fractured parking lock cable or "a malformed steering column lock actuator gear in the lock module assembly." As a consequence, they could shift out of park without the brake pedal being applied or with the key removed or in the off position.
A bulletin from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicates that the recall should begin on January 17. GM will notify owners, at which time they can take their vehicles to their dealers for repair free of charge. Have a look at the bulletin below for more information.
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For these types of challenges, a little ingenuity and plenty of muscle are needed to get the job done. Scroll down to watch these four men snatch the V8 out of a Chevrolet K1500 using nothing but a chain, landscape timber and good ol' fashioned brute strength. Good work, gentlemen.
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According to an Automotive News report, high-risk lending expanded to 24.8 percent of total loans in Q3, up from 21.9 percent for this time last year. As this level increased, average credit scores of borrowers dropped to 755, down from 763 a year ago. In that time, the average financing amount increased $90 per vehicle, to $25,963.
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