Two barn finds, and an oddity…
A 1950 Ford business coupe, fully restored.
1938 Ford Woody. ALL ORIGINAL!!! The only ‘modification’ is apparently putting what they call a banjo steering wheel in it. The only option was the bumper guards!
And this is the oddity… 1957 Bel Air 210 convertible. Sold with every available option! Bumper guards, spot lights. chrome wheel covers…
Dual radio antennas, Continental kit, and tonneau cover for the convertible top.
The oddity??? This car was ordered with a 292 six… Best guess there were only a VERY small number ordered in this configuration. The 283 was the engine of choice for most of the Bel Airs…
Now back to your regularly scheduled blogging…
My Dad’s 1st car was a Bel Air, but a standard hard top. I was six when he sold it, so have no clue as to what the particulars of it was.
A few years later, they split the BelAir into three lines. The top end was the Impala, and the economy model was the Biscayne. A 1963 Biscayne was my first car, bought from my father in 1970 when I was in high school for $400; payments of $25 weekly. I grew proficient in telling the difference between model years by looking at the design around the tail-lights. Mine was SUCH an economy model that the AM radio was a special option.
Imagine the value of that 57 convertible if it had the fuel injected 283 under the hood.
Hey Old NFO;
Cool pics, 🙂
Memories, I was in high school in the early 1960’s when a kid could buy a running early 50’s Ford coupe for $100 or less and then have fun making a hot rod out of it. My buddy went to a junk yard and sawed the gasoline fill tubes off of two old cars, complete with gas caps and then welded them into the exhaust system ahead of the muffler. All he and his passenger had to do was spent the door and reach down with a rag, caps were hot, and unscrew them to be running straight pipes. It was a thing.
At 16, I took my driver’s license test in my mom’s 1960 Chevy Impala four door hard top, it had a 348 engine big 4-barrel carb, dual antennas, nice hub caps and a Turbo-glide transmission was goofy but fast in a 1/4 mile. Driving those big hold hunks of metal with soft suspension was kind of like steering a boat but they were a lot of fun and I did not get killed’ed which was kind of a miracle.
The Turboglide was nearly a second faster than the stick shfit cars in the quarter mile. The “switch-pitch” torque convertor let the engine stay closer to its torque curve than was possible with the manuals. The top gear mode was loosey-goosey though, and people used to manuals found it disconcerting. Though if you’d been driving a fluid drive Dodge before, it felt remarkable tight and responsive…
“Now back to your regularly scheduled blogging…”
That’s good news – the drool was starting to make the keyboard sticky. 😉 Those have been some pretty sweet cars you’ve been posting photos of.
My 1st car was a 1951 Ford bought in 1960 for $200. Vacuum windshield wipers. You could have wipers or acceleration but not both. Later years Ford went with a dual diaphragm fuel pump. One side pumped gas and the other created a vacuum. Was able to fit one in the 1951.
The owner probably chose the six because it was familiar and a known good motor.
Remember, the small-block Chevy we know and love today was barely two years old in 1957. Not yet a known quantity.
Just can’t trust an engine that didn’t have ten or more years of de-bugging!
That ’57 is rare to the point of being unique. Nice pics, by the way. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go take a cold shower.
I could put that Woody to good use
Great photos, thanks for posting them. First car I remember my folks having was a ’51 Ford Coupe in red.
Except for the Continental Kit, I’d take the ’57 over all the rest. My favorite car of all time. And, yes, I’d prefer at least a 283.
You know you’re getting old when you recall having been in most of the vehicles pictured. Very good pictures!
All- Thanks for the comments! Glad you enjoyed them!
Posted from my iPhone.
Hi Jim, My first car was an old ’32 ford resurrected out of a junk yard . It would only go about 35. Next one was a ’50 Ford coupe just like the one in the pic only black and with a little bend in the frame! Another save from the bone yard. She tracked kind of funny and was hell on tires on all four wheels but I just loved that car
!
I’ve owned a ’30 Model A, ( could only go up a steep grade in reverse),Deuce coupe (5 window), ’49 Buick (The clan Wagon in high school), ’49 Jimmy, ’56 Nomad hotrod, ’57 BelAir w/301 and B&M hydro, ’62 Vette, and a MGBGT.
Then she got preggers and it was big iron or station wagons…sigh.
https://www.museumofamericanspeed.com Love this museum Lincoln Nebraska . Owned by speedway motors Take a look. Was lost in there for a day
Sigh. If I won the mega-lottery that I don’t play I’d be restoring cars. There seem to be a lot of Bel Airs still out there and I’m fond of them because of my birth era.
For years one of our family cars bugged me. I’m now sure it was a Plymouth Fury but haven’t nailed the year down.
The I-6 engine was the base engine in the tri-five cars. The v8 had to be added to the order to get it.
Not sure, but it would appear that the Conti kit was intended for the v8 models, since every one I’ve seen has that “V” emblem on the rear cover. The car has the correct emblem on the trunk lid for a six. The V8 models got the V on hood and trunk.
My ’57 ragtop had a six originally, with 3spd on the column. White, with red/white interior. Maybe red/silver. ’68 was a bad year, lost 3-4 ’57 2dr sedans, which left me with just the ragtop to put the heavily breathed-on big block into. Would yank the front wheels off shifting 2nd, on the street.
Mom borrowed that muscle car a few times. That thing scared other car drivers just at idle!