Lovefordgalaxie Posted March 13, 2015 Posted March 13, 2015 The fake story: Found this car inside a house garage in Pomerode, a small town of German colonization here in southern Brasil. The car was last driven back in 1980. The original owner had just sent it to São Paulo to be repainted at a big Chevrolet dealer, as the original paint was fading badly. The car came back with a brand spanking new paint job, and two days latter the owner passed. The Chevy then spent the next 35 years inside a closed garage and was forgotten. When the wife of the original owner died, her son took a look at the car under a inch of dust, and called me as he didn't like "old cars that only give you problem" as he said. Got there and the car obviously didn't run...Or even move as the brakes were seized. Had to bang the drums with a sledge hammer to be able to pull the car to the flat bed truck and haul it home. Once home, I washed the car and found the still nice looking paint job. All chrome was a little faded, but no rust. The paint buffed out quite nicely to a reasonable shine. The interior was perfect!! Original and almost like new (if you go over the moldy smell). The engine was a problem. At first I thought it was seized, but after some transmission fluid in the cylinders, and lot's of WD-40 it moved free. Had to send the entire fuel injection to a guy that only deals with this kind of stuff, and while it was away, I added a rebuilt brake master cylinder, new flexible lines, new wheel cylinders, a front wheel bearing, had the radiator tested, rebuilt the wiper vacuum motor, and got some new reproduction parts from overseas, like a battery, the fuel filter and support, plug wires, plugs, radiator cap, and wiper blades. When the fuel injection came back, the 283 fired and I almost died with the smoke of all that oil I poured into the cylinders. After a while the engine stopped smoking, and even idled!!! After a while I changed the oil, the filter, and went for a drive. The tires are pretty much deformed, and by 40 MPH the car starts to shake. Will have to bite the bullet and get a new set of wide white bias Firestones from Coker... The car runs great!!, but I found a rust hole, on the spare tire well, the one on the entire car when, when I had it on a lift to change the rear end oil, and transmission oil. In the near future the Chevy may need a new rear main seal, and a new differential casing seal, but that is about all. The true story: This model is a restoration job I did to a kit I got already built. That was a lot of work, and I had to use all my spare parts to built this one. Had to rechrome all the chrome parts, and used a mix of foil and Alclad to do so. Not a big fan of Alclad tough. Big thanks to my friend Mario, that gave me the front bumper from his spare box. Also did my first casting to make the hood spears, and it didn't turn out very nice... The casting I did of the front fender "Fuel Injected" badges turned much better. The car is far from perfect, and with the chrome not being real chrome, and some imperfections on the frame, I decided to make the barn find/driver, so I could actually hide better the glue spots and defects on the parts with weathering. Hope you guys like it. Before pictures: 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Before the Resto. by Lovefordgalaxie, on Flickr 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Before the Resto. by Lovefordgalaxie, on Flickr After: 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Restored Model Kit by Lovefordgalaxie, on Flickr 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Restored Model Kit by Lovefordgalaxie, on Flickr 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Restored Model Kit by Lovefordgalaxie, on Flickr 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Restored Model Kit by Lovefordgalaxie, on Flickr 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Restored Model Kit by Lovefordgalaxie, on Flickr 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Restored Model Kit by Lovefordgalaxie, on Flickr 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Restored Model Kit by Lovefordgalaxie, on Flickr 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Restored Model Kit by Lovefordgalaxie, on Flickr
wayne swayze Posted March 13, 2015 Posted March 13, 2015 Beautiful re-build! Your work is always top drawer. The paint is super nice. The interior looks like the real deal. And I love the hole in the spare tire well. Nicely done sir!
Lovefordgalaxie Posted March 13, 2015 Author Posted March 13, 2015 Thanks!! I guess the spare tire well was full of water when they parked the car. It's the only part of the Chevy that looks like a Plymouth.
Lovefordgalaxie Posted March 13, 2015 Author Posted March 13, 2015 Well done. 1/12 scale? Yep, the Monogram kit. Now it has parts from almost all reeditions the kit had, Monogram and Revell...
1972coronet Posted March 14, 2015 Posted March 14, 2015 Germans colonised Brasil ?!? ( ) That is some fine , fine reworking , Tulio ! Excellent restoration ; I expecially like the weathered engine and undercarriage ! Keep up the great work , my friend
Lovefordgalaxie Posted March 14, 2015 Author Posted March 14, 2015 Germans colonised Brasil ?!? ( ) That is some fine , fine reworking , Tulio ! Excellent restoration ; I expecially like the weathered engine and undercarriage ! Keep up the great work , my friend Here in the south you can almost say that!! Germans came and went up the Itajaí Açú (Native South American name for bent river) and founded colonies that became cities like Blumenau, Taió, Pomerode, Timbó, Gaspar, and many others. The Italians came next with cities like Nova Trento, Rodeio, Ascurra, São Jão batista, and others. The state capital itself is a Portuguese colony, Florianópolis. The guys from Pomerode call themselves the most German city in Brasil. Google the city, and you will see the architecture. Very cool. There is a big car show that happens there this month. Saw some really nice "barn finds" happen there, and the myth of the "old german guy" mint car is well known, like our version of the little old lady car, only used to go to Church and give rides to the grandsons.
Lovefordgalaxie Posted March 14, 2015 Author Posted March 14, 2015 That is a beautiful model Tulio Spacibo Yuri
mustang1989 Posted March 14, 2015 Posted March 14, 2015 Man that's a nice job!!! At first I was just glancing and thought the black car was a 1:1 !! LOL
charlie8575 Posted March 22, 2015 Posted March 22, 2015 Another well-done model. Black paint doesn't like me...one of the reasons I don't build a lot of Model Ts. Charlie Larkin
gbdolfans Posted March 22, 2015 Posted March 22, 2015 WOW !!! What a great job.The paint is flawless!!! Attention to detail is great. What did you use for the trim on the side and the wing? on the side. I have a '57 I am doing and love yours. :wub:
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