Daddy's Car Page

Welcome to my cars page. As you can probably tell by now I like old stuff. I own a 1955 Chevy Belair 2dr. hardtop and a 1957 Chevy 150 2dr. station wagon. I also have some more modern iron parked in the drive. I would prefer to drive my old iron but, things being as they are I can't now.
I have had my 1955 Chevy since 1973, it is not much to look at at the present time. This car stayed for years in storage at a farm which belonged to my fathers family. After both of my grandparents had passed on my car was stripped of most all of the "valuable" parts. I had not spent enough time on her and I guess this is my reward. Anyway somewhere there is a black and white 1955 Chevy Belair 2dr. hardtop with the VIN and cowl tags off my car! I sure hope the person that now owns these tags will be prepared to find the true owner may be knocking at his/her door someday. At the current time I have no plans to start the rebuilding process on this car. At this point in time if I was to start on this car I would probably not try to restore it as I had planned. I would look real hard at the PRO STREET option, a future project. But this is a popular model today and may still make it back to its original big, beautiful, black and white state someday.
I now have in my possession a mostly complete 1957 2dr. station wagon. It is in good shape and I am planning to start working on this car after we all live through the beginning of the year 2000. This car has most of the original parts still on it it appears someone had parked it and slowly sold parts off it. I say slowly because the only major part gone are the easily removed parts. It appears that at one time someone needed the parts to repair a side swipe type accident. All the parts on the drivers side of the car have been removed, fender, door, mouldings, the hood and all bumper parts on the outer end (this car has 3 piece bumpers). Some other items removed are the front seat (2dr. seat are kinda hard to find), motor parts such as the head and intake/exhaust manifold, carburetor, tranny, driveshaft and rear axle. All these parts are fairly easy to find today. This model is semi rare as there was only about 14 thousand made in 1957. Who knows how many are on the road today but I am sure not to may have made it into the 1990's. In the Oklahoma City area I have only seen a handful of them over the years (since 1990). I will update this page as I work on this car.
The car that spends the most time parked in the drive lately is the 86 Caprice. This car has been one of the best cars I have owned. It has been a very reliable set of wheels. At the current time it is in a state of waiting. As I have not had much time to work on it this year. I have not determined the cause of it being in the still position. I believe it has a problem with the heads I installed not to long ago. It is my option that these heads had not been properly rebuilt. So as a result I have not been able to start it lately. Time to save money for some NEW ones I guess, or maybe I haven't spent enough time with it and now I am paying.
Now I have to admit the Chevy I am driving now is no Rolls Royce but, all things considered I have to say it works well. I do prefer to drive a large car and the 1980 Malibu Classic is a mid-sized among it peers. Compared to most of todays cars it is large. A nice car and I happen to have bought this one from the proverbial "grandma". It belonged to this very nice lady who just happened to be about 90 years old and had decided to stop driving after she had came a little to close to a support post in her lean-to car cover. In very nice condition and a dream to drive it is quiet, reliable, cheap and for the most part very easy to work on. When you factor in the initial cost and other factors it is a most fun car to drive and a very economical car.
UPDATE It is July 15th, I have decided to update what is happening. The Malibu it still currently the main driver of the bunch. I have worked on updating some things and replacing items old and worn. A few weeks ago the old tired R-12 Freon air conditioner was replaced with a new and more environmentally friendly R-134a system. All parts except the condenser coil and wiring did get replaced, even the blower motor and switch are new. After getting an estimate (in July 1999) of $ 925.00 to have the system repaired I decided to tackle the conversion and repair. I must say $ 410.00 and a few hours fixed this and this new system seems quite up to the challenge to 'keep me cool' in Oklahoma this summer. New air shocks have been installed. This was due to the fact I had installed a trailer hitch and needed to pull a trailer. Installing new rear coil springs is in the future for this car along with a freshening of the rear suspension. Battery had to be replaced. I had pushed the limit on the old one. On the way home from vacation I had the fortune to have the water pump go south. The motor heated up so fast and pressure could not be released fast enough for the cooling system the radiator burst open. I had luck on my side that day as I only spent 2 hours in the broken down mode, I found and replaced the radiator with a new heavy-duty model and made my way home. The new water pump followed the next day and since I had the engine somewhat undressed I replaced the old valve cover gaskets. Only one small leak now coming from the oil pan. Also replaced was a major part of the exhaust system. All parts behind the catalytic converter had to be replaced. This job was performed by persons other than myself. The speedo / cruise-control also decided it was time for some attention and required work after 2 speedo cables and a recycled cruise-control head it was fixed. The radio in this car was the original AM unit, I have now replaced it with a factory AM/FM unit. A stock factory push button unit was located and purchased, now for an upgrade of the speakers... Next big item for this car is a replacement of the tired old 267ci (4.4liter) 2bbl. V8 engine for a 350 4bbl. and perhaps a 700-R4 transmission swap.
Some of the ONE'S THAT GOT AWAY.
1955 Chevy Belair Convertible * 1953 Corvette * 1955 Belair 2dr. Hardtop (another black and white specimen) 1955 Belair 2dr. Hardtop (green) 1955 Belair 4dr. Sedan (mean and green, had a VETTE engine) 1958 Delray 2dr. Station wagon (green) 1968 Camaro RS (red with white RS stripes) 1972 Nova 2dr. sedan (red) 1976 Chevette 2dr. (cute little car for my first wife) 1982 Chevette 2dr. (nice car, the girlfriend cried when I traded it) 1986 Astro Van (I know its not a car) Best van I ever owned 1986 Caprice (red) 1957 Belair 2dr. Sedan (black) ** 1955 Belair Convertible (basket case) * 1956 Nomad 2dr. station wagon ** * Money in hand, backed out of deal. ** Option to buy from friend.

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