Cover Story // February 2008
Sometimes Keepin’ It Original is the Way to Go
Story By Joe McGuire
Although I bought my first classic in 1990, a '55 Chevy 2-door hardtop that I drove for 11 years, I had a '60 convertible in the back of my mind; I always liked that year’s styling.
While in Columbus, Ohio at a CCI International Convention, a gentleman was looking at my ‘55 and said “I want to buy this car, is it for sale?” My answer was yes! We agreed on a price and he said, “Sit right there, the check book is in my wife's purse.” Jim Bishop was his name and he wrote the check and picked the car up a week later.
Now that I had the money finding a '60 was top priority. The first car I found was at a specialty car dealership in Denver, Colorado. I made arrangements to fly out from Grand Rapids, MI and look at the car. The sales lady said she would make sure that the car would be there. I called her the night before my flight to Denver to confirm that. I arrived about noon and she met me at the airport and said I have bad news and good news. The bad news was that one of her co-workers had sold the car the night before after I had called. The good news - she gave me a check for $500.00 for my trouble and a ticket back to Grand Rapids. The next car I located was supposed to be in great shape. It had four new tires, but the rest of the car was a disaster. No deal on that one.
On the way home I bought an Old Car Trader magazine and found a '60 convertible that looked kind of bad. I thought it over and gave the seller a call. He said that this was not his car in the picture and would send me some pictures via email, which he did right away and they looked pretty good. We talked on the phone the next three nights and agreed on a price. The car was everything he had said it would be; he was very honest about the car. I took the car to a few car shows just the way it was – it wasn't a show car, but everyone loved it.
A friend of mine, Dave Nysse, let me use a stall in his garage to work on my car. On December 1, 2001 I started to take the car apart. In about a week, I had two stalls full of parts; fenders, hood, grilel, bumpers, window glass and many miscellaneous parts. You know how there is always one part that just doesn’t want to come off a car? Well, this car had a padded dash that could not be repaired or replaced. Wes Douma, another friend, helped me remove it and all the glue that held it in place, which turned out to be eight hours of hard work. After removing all the dents from the body, fenders, hood, trunk lid and doors, they all went to the body shop to be finished and painted.
Next the engine was taken apart and sent to Northwest Auto to be cleaned and checked to see what had to be done. Very little was needed - the cylinder walls were honed, the pistons were cleaned, the crank shaft was nearly perfect so no need to regrind. We put in new rings, bearings, a new camshaft, lifters and a new oil pump. The heads were reworked and I put everything back together without a hitch.
The transmission did not want to go into park so it was sent to a local transmission shop. The shop called the next day and said I could pick up the transmission. A minor adjustment took care of the problem. They also put in new seals while it was apart.
The driveshaft needed a new carrier bearing and new u-joints. The rear end needed new seals and new axle bearings. So far everything had gone pretty smooth.
The grille and all the aluminum parts went to Pro One Polishing to be refinished. They were delivered back to me in 90 days. Bumpers and all the chrome was sent to Adams Plating and those parts were back about 3-1/2 months later.
On March 15, 2002 the body and frame were finished and I started to reassemble the car. The engine and transmission were all painted and ready for installation. I used a couple of old blankets to protect the new paint. With the engine in place, the driveline was completed and it sure looked good. The front suspension was put together with new bushings, springs, new ball joints and new shocks.
Dave Nysse suggested that I tape the edges of the doors, fenders and hood for protection during reassembly. At this point all was going well and the front clip was completed. Now it was time for the wire harness under the dash and the installation of a new firewall pad. The heater, radio and glove box were put in place and the gauges and speedometer went in easily. The steering wheel and column mast were more of a project; the air got a little blue, but it finally went together.
At this point the car was still on jack stands. All the new brake lines were hooked up on one end, but not to the wheel cylinders...now where are they? Went to Northwest Auto and found the drums and shoes just where I left them a month ago. It took about a day to pull all these pieces together.
Now I need all the glass installed. Complete Auto Glass did that while I put all the stainless on the out side of the car. The glass installer charged me only a $100 - he said he liked old cars. The wheels were put on and the car was finally put on the ground.
By now it is late April and time to start the engine. I checked the oil and fluid levels - all were good. It took a little coaxing, but the engine finally started and stopped several times and eventually it kept running and filled the garage with blue smoke. We moved it outside and started it again...more blue smoke. We later found out it was the old oil residue that was on the NOS exhaust system I had bought. After cleaning off the old oil I reset the timing and adjusted the headlights and headed to L. A. Trim for the interior, which was the final step in the restoration.
With a project like this there are always people to thank like: Dave Nysse for his garage and advice, Ben Kerkstra for the paint job, Kenny Knol for the engine work and Dale Dawson for the interior.
Since completing the car I have attended many car shows and driven the car 16,000 miles and met a lot of nice people. Most people comment on how they like that I’ve kept the car original...I think I’ll leave it that way.