1955
Chevrolet Convertible
My name is Terry Van
Slooten and I am the proud owner of a 1955 Chevy BelAir. I became
interested in cars at a very young age. My dream was to own a
corvette. Which did come true, but I needed something more. I set out
for a new adventure; I sold my 1962 corvette and began looking. A
friend of mine had a 1955 BelAir Chevy convertible sitting in his
garage. I approached him and after many discussions the car became
mine.
The car was in pretty
good shape with its 1964 409/425 HP, 4 speed, maroon body and black
interior, it was pretty hot and the car could fly. As an added bonus I
found out the car was featured in the February 1977 issue of
Chevy Power magazine.
In October on 2002 I
drove home my new prize procession. I had promised my wife that I was
going to drive the car for one year before I started a restoration
process. Well I did drive the car for about one week before I got the
itch to start. I called my friend Dave Muscato to put together a game
plan on how to restore this 1955 Chevy. I had decided that the car was
going to be stock as possible while retaining the 409 set up.
Below are some of the
things we encountered as the project unfolded:
New interior needed, it
had been replaced with 1964 Impala SS seats, steering wheel and consol.
Due to the era of when
the engine swap was made the engine and transmission was set up
incorrectly. The motor mounts were poorly set up and interfered with
the lower radiator hose. It also made it impossible to add power
steering. There were clearance problems with the valve cover and the
air cleaner which had been remedied with a hammer. A major problem was
the width of the motor. The exhaust manifold hit the steering box and
as a result of this part of the exhaust manifold had to be cut and
welded restricting two exhaust ports. The center link for the steering
didn’t clear the oil pan, and to correct the problem the link was cut
and was dropped below the pan. Now I know where the phrase “opossum
catcher” came from.
The engine cavity had to be reengineered in order for the engine to sit
property in the car before removing the body off the frame. One of the
first areas that we started was the steering box. We looked at numerous
choices and finally decided the only way to gain enough clearance was to
put rack and pinion steering in the car and change the motor mount.
After test fitting the rack we found we still lacked clearance with the
oil pan. I decided to leave the set up and custom make the oil pan. In
the end with the power steering we added disc brakes and lowered the car
2” to make it handle and drive like a dream.
When all the major
engineering issues were taken care of, it was time to start taking apart
the car. The body panels were sent out to be plastic media blasted and
the frame was sand blasted. The body was mounted on a rotisserie so it
could be rotated to work on the under carriage. After the frame was
blasted it was primed and painted with three part epoxy stain black
paint. The motor and transmission were rebuilt and it was time to get
the chassis put together. Once we had a rolling chassis it was time to
start work on the body of the car.
The next area we
tackled was the convertible top area. As many of you know who has owned
one they are prone to rust. One of the reasons I purchased this car was
the fact that it had virtually no rust. The only area was rust was
found was in the front of the driver’s wheel. This had been repaired
many years before with lead and rust had not returned. Because this was
a detailed restoration it was decided that it would be restored as well.
Dave cut that section out of the quarter panel and fitted it with a
patch panel from a section of a repro skin. His brother Mark mig welded
the new panel in place, and then closed up numerous holes that had been
drilled in the car through out the years.
Next was the paint, the
easiest way to began was to paint the undercarriage and the lower
section of the body Gypsy Red and put the body back on the frame before
applying the Shoreline Beige to the upper body. After this was
accomplished the car was transported to Mark’s large equipped garage to
be painted.
After the painting was
complete the car was transported back to my garage to be sanded and
rubbed before final assembly.
Another good friend of
my Dick Simonetti helped with the rest of reassembly of the car and
interior, especially the tedious job of wiring. Many hours were
involved in this process. What was a breeze to remove and restore
seemed to take forever to fit them now.
All the stainless was
sent out to be buffed, hard to believe there are over 100 pieces of
stainless steel trim on a 1955 Chevy. This is one time consuming job.
While doing the final
assembly we discovered a few problems that we had not planned on. The
air cleaner still would not clear the windshield wiper motor and I
definitely wanted to use the factory dual quad air cleaner. Dick had
the idea to have the base of the plasma cut off, rotate it 180 degrees
and Tig welded it back on. By doing this is moved the air cleaner
forward ¾” and cleared the wiper motor.
One of other problems
that we encountered was the exhaust system. We had to get the 2 ½”
exhaust system to fit under the car since it has to run through the X
frame on a convertible. The manufacturer I chose had indicated that
this would not be a problem in clearing. I purchased the system and
tried to install several times, but after many attempts it was just not
going to work. I then located someone here in the city that does custom
bends exhausts for all kinds of cars. After a week the new exhaust
system was finished and fit like a glove.
In early May about a 1
½ years after I began this process it was ready to start and feel how
the new suspension drove down the road. Well I’ve got so say I’m
thrilled it’s beyond my expectations that an old car can drive like one
new from Detroit. I look forward to many years of enjoyment from this 55
which was made possible by so many of my close friends and family, I
can’t thank them enough for all the help.
