Belair62's (Gags...Finally) 1964 409 Belair!

[agtw31]

dehw31(dave) is a great guy,glad he was able to hook you up with Les,and your 409.

[Tenney]

Sharp.

[retengw31]

Wondered when the cat would come out of the bag on this car. This is a good example of what can be done with an original car without tearing it apart to repaint it. 9/10 people probably would have done that rather than work with the original stuff.

I was really happy when Bob contacted me on this car and I hooked him up with Les. I put a plug in for it here right after Les told me about it. Most people were very skeptical of what it was. Classic example of if you snooze you lose on this one. Les suspicioned himself that it was something neat as he has 2 or 3 63 409 SS cars himself.

There was a 69 Nova 2 door in that garage beside it that Les got also and sold immediately before I heard about it. It wasn't anything special, but also low mileage. Blue with a black vinyl top. Also a six cylinder, but an automatic. Car appeared to be built that way.

The old guy that had them died recently and his only heir (a daughter) was in some sort of mental hospital. Les' father either knew him or heard about these cars and the rest is history. I was surprised they came with clear titles.

Having bought a 1950 Bel Air Hardtop in my wife's family under similar circumstances (in 1970) with similar mileage I wonder if the scenario was the same on this car. It was bought new by my wife's cousin and put away when he went to the Korean war soon after. He did come home but lived in a VA hospital until he died. His dad kept the car in his garage and we got it after he died.

My guess is this Bel Air was his son's car and didn't return from Vietnam. Timing is right. There were lots of cars like this put away while the owners were at war. It wouldn't fit for the old guy to be the owner, but stranger things have happened. As far as why the drivetrain was changed, who knows.

Glad it went to a good home. Les was going to put one of his 409's in it and add it to his collection, but he wouldn't have done anywhere near the superb job that Bob did on this. The car merited someone like this to appreciate it. Congrats on a fine job.

[Belair62]

[ QUOTE ]
My guess is this Bel Air was his son's car and didn't return from Vietnam. Timing is right. There were lots of cars like this put away while the owners were at war. It wouldn't fit for the old guy to be the owner, but stranger things have happened. As far as why the drivetrain was changed, who knows.

[/ QUOTE ]

Never thought of that angle....Dave all I did was wash it, buff it, pick up a few pieces here and there, remove seat covers, add the engine and trans and thats it..BTW..Les came out and picked up the 6 and trans to put in some 58 Chev he had. Quite a character !!

[retengw31]

Les is quite a character. After you bought the car from him, he thanked me for the referral and said he'd like to take my wife and me out to dinner with him and his wife. Thought that was kinda nice. Found out afterwards that he had free coupons for dinners at that place. I should have known.

[737Driver]

Really nice job of doing just the things that needed to be done to make her look like that.

Great Car!

Regards,

Mark

[BBIGG BLOCK 396]

Belair is that the shifter handle you got from me! Sure is a GREAT LOOKING CAR!You did a fantastic job on bringing her back to life!

[Postsedan]

Bitch-N.....Gags

Dan.

[agtw31]

[ QUOTE ]
Les is quite a character. After you bought the car from him, he thanked me for the referral and said he'd like to take my wife and me out to dinner with him and his wife. Thought that was kinda nice. Found out afterwards that he had free coupons for dinners at that place. I should have known.

[/ QUOTE ]

white castles??

[retengw31]

Worse than sliders. Was supposed to be genuine Memphis style pit bar-b-q, should have known the only place for that was Western Ky and Tennessee. No wonder it was free.

So Bob, what's it going to take to get you to put that gem on a trailer and bring it to a F.A.S.T./Factory Stock or Pure Stock race? This is precisely the type of cars we run there. Much safer than driving on the street and really doesn't hurt them on the tires we run. Won't add that many miles to that odometer. You'd get a feature article in Muscle Car Enthusiast in a minute with this one.

Ask the Hillbilly Race team leader. He runs his Yenko and is probably loading the trailer right about now for Martin, MI. US131 this weekend. He just may drop into the 11's this year. We'll also be running at the York Reunion this year. All the magazines (including Hot Rod) will be there and Year One is taking good care of us again.