racingdude24
Member
Hi everyone, I posted about this in the welcome forum, but this will serve as the project record for the 1967 Belvedere race car I am restoring. So first, some background on the car:
This car was being built by my grandpa's cousin back in 1975 to be a sportsman car for their local dirt ovals in SE Wisconsin. At the time this car was being built he was racing a 67 Belvedere with a Norm Nelson built 340 in it. The car I have now was never finished, but my dad and all of his brothers have fond stories of helping build it and helping at the track with the race car. This car sat in a garage until my grandpa's cousin passed away in 2005. At that point my uncle pulled it out and put it in a storage building near his auto repair shop. It sat there until a few years ago when the storage building started collapsing and the car was rolled outside and wrapped up in tarps.
How I came into possession of it:
I've been asking about this car for years, wanting to restore it or at least get ahold of it to get it stored back indoors. This past August I was finally able to fulfill that wish as my uncle allowed me to take it. My dad and I spent a Saturday getting it rolling, which entailed putting correct torsion bars in it, finding some used 13" used tires, hooking up the steering, and of course clearing out a couple wasps nests
. From there I loaded it up on trailer and filled the bed of the truck with any parts that went with it and towed it back to upstate New York. It's now living safely (and more importantly dry!) in my insulated and heated garage.
As it sits:
Right now the car is in the state it was left when work on it stopped. It had been totally stripped to just the body, floor pan, and frame rails; inner fenders, trunk pan and extensions, door guts, etc. are totally gone. Even the hood and trunk lid are just the skin with none of the factory bracing. It has the roll cage mostly built. The only area not totally finished is the rear section where the upper shock mounts need to be located, as well as bars to mount the seat and belts to, and a few other miscellaneous bits. It has a Ford 9" rear end that has had the sides evened up on it. The front suspension was based on the Chrysler kit car, so the upper A arms have been cut and welded to help with camber, there is a splined sway bar, and the shock mounts are beefed up and set up for tie rod end Monroe shocks. The front engine mounts have also been moved to center the engine. Speaking of engines, the car came with two 340 engines, unfortunately neither is the original Norm Nelson race engine.
Current state of the restoration:
Between August and now I had been focused on finishing a couple motorcycle restorations I had been working on previously in order to clear up my project slate, so I am really just getting started. I drove to Texas around Thanksgiving to pick up a clean 4 door 67 Belvedere that I intend to use as a donor. The race car is surprisingly solid for as long as it sat. The main rust areas are the quarter bottoms, rear bumper mounting area, last 14-16" of the rear frame rails, and a spot in the passenger side footwell. Everything else - from my preliminary judgement - is only surface rust. I was even able to climb in and sit on the floorboards (aside from the one bad spot) without any issue. I already know as I tear into it more I'm sure I'll find more rough areas though, so I'm keeping my expectations in check.
This car was being built by my grandpa's cousin back in 1975 to be a sportsman car for their local dirt ovals in SE Wisconsin. At the time this car was being built he was racing a 67 Belvedere with a Norm Nelson built 340 in it. The car I have now was never finished, but my dad and all of his brothers have fond stories of helping build it and helping at the track with the race car. This car sat in a garage until my grandpa's cousin passed away in 2005. At that point my uncle pulled it out and put it in a storage building near his auto repair shop. It sat there until a few years ago when the storage building started collapsing and the car was rolled outside and wrapped up in tarps.
How I came into possession of it:
I've been asking about this car for years, wanting to restore it or at least get ahold of it to get it stored back indoors. This past August I was finally able to fulfill that wish as my uncle allowed me to take it. My dad and I spent a Saturday getting it rolling, which entailed putting correct torsion bars in it, finding some used 13" used tires, hooking up the steering, and of course clearing out a couple wasps nests
. From there I loaded it up on trailer and filled the bed of the truck with any parts that went with it and towed it back to upstate New York. It's now living safely (and more importantly dry!) in my insulated and heated garage.As it sits:
Right now the car is in the state it was left when work on it stopped. It had been totally stripped to just the body, floor pan, and frame rails; inner fenders, trunk pan and extensions, door guts, etc. are totally gone. Even the hood and trunk lid are just the skin with none of the factory bracing. It has the roll cage mostly built. The only area not totally finished is the rear section where the upper shock mounts need to be located, as well as bars to mount the seat and belts to, and a few other miscellaneous bits. It has a Ford 9" rear end that has had the sides evened up on it. The front suspension was based on the Chrysler kit car, so the upper A arms have been cut and welded to help with camber, there is a splined sway bar, and the shock mounts are beefed up and set up for tie rod end Monroe shocks. The front engine mounts have also been moved to center the engine. Speaking of engines, the car came with two 340 engines, unfortunately neither is the original Norm Nelson race engine.
Current state of the restoration:
Between August and now I had been focused on finishing a couple motorcycle restorations I had been working on previously in order to clear up my project slate, so I am really just getting started. I drove to Texas around Thanksgiving to pick up a clean 4 door 67 Belvedere that I intend to use as a donor. The race car is surprisingly solid for as long as it sat. The main rust areas are the quarter bottoms, rear bumper mounting area, last 14-16" of the rear frame rails, and a spot in the passenger side footwell. Everything else - from my preliminary judgement - is only surface rust. I was even able to climb in and sit on the floorboards (aside from the one bad spot) without any issue. I already know as I tear into it more I'm sure I'll find more rough areas though, so I'm keeping my expectations in check.
from Ky, very neat project.
