Mods
Pretty minimal mods to date. Trying to keep her mostly factree. I am relocating the gas tank from behind the seat to in/under the trunk (in progress), painting her dark purple, and putting some nice new smooth running boards on her.
Build story
My uncle, Bill (hence the 'gram handle) bought this car in 1967 from its 1st owner, an old family friend in Sunnyside, Washington. My uncle rebuilt the engine and tinkered with it a bit, then promptly got drafted and went to Vietnam. After Vietnam he got married, and life priorities changed so the Chevy was parked. It remained parked in Seattle, WA, then Tacoma, WA until he finally let me have it in 2018. I had only seen it once in my life, and he always thought I'd turn it into a hot rod so he was reluctant to let go of it. I am now on a mission to restore the car to mostly factree condition, with a new paint job and some odds and ends here and there, but stock drivetrain (at least for now). I'm doing everything myself, including all the bodywork, paint, everything mechanical, and I might even give the upholstery a good ol' college try. I've replaced all the break hard lines and hoses, and everything but the drums. The engine just needed some Marvel Mystery oil, a fuel pump, new carb, plugs/points/cap/rotor/coil and she fired right up! My dad is a mechanic and I grew up fixing some pretty crappy cars, so I'm decent with a wrench but there's a lot of uncharted territory here. It's only an 83 year old car and I have no real experience but that's not even slowing me down! I love every minute of it! \r
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My uncle passed away in January 2019 from cancer and other ailments partly resulting from agent orange exposure in Vietnam. I included the video above at the end of a slideshow at his funeral service. When my aunt saw the car running and driving, she was in tears. They were married for over 50 years, and this is the car my uncle picked her up for on their first date. She is well into her 70's now, and damnit I'm going to pick her up in this car when I get it done and take her out to lunch! \r
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It's certainly not a finished product yet as you'll see from my Instragram, but this pesky pandemic is giving me a lot of extra time to make progress. I hope to have it painted in the coming weeks, then get started on reassembly. I'm sorting out a new gas tank and as soon as I have that back in it she'll be running and driving again!\r
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If college football happens this year I plan to take it tailgating at a University of Washington Huskies game or two! Go Dawgs!
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My uncle passed away in January 2019 from cancer and other ailments partly resulting from agent orange exposure in Vietnam. I included the video above at the end of a slideshow at his funeral service. When my aunt saw the car running and driving, she was in tears. They were married for over 50 years, and this is the car my uncle picked her up for on their first date. She is well into her 70's now, and damnit I'm going to pick her up in this car when I get it done and take her out to lunch! \r
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It's certainly not a finished product yet as you'll see from my Instragram, but this pesky pandemic is giving me a lot of extra time to make progress. I hope to have it painted in the coming weeks, then get started on reassembly. I'm sorting out a new gas tank and as soon as I have that back in it she'll be running and driving again!\r
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If college football happens this year I plan to take it tailgating at a University of Washington Huskies game or two! Go Dawgs!