Dad's 1950 Chevrolet

This was essentially what my Dad's 1950 Chevrolet looked like when he first got it. Although in this picture, he'd already started to remove some of the side chrome, the chrome headlight rims and started filling in the seam in the hood.

How many of you recognize these?

Before you can start any project, you need a place to work. So, I went in Dad's old shop and cleaned off one of the work benches. It was piled up with all kinds of stuff, but it got put up where it belonged or thrown away if it was trash. Once I had the workspace cleaned off, I decided to give it a coat of flat white paint so that when I start laying out the engine parts, (I'm going to assemble it first), they'll stand out. From top to bottom, the three stages of cleanup - before it was started and was piled high, middle when it was cleaned off, and after when I gave it a fresh coat of paint.

These were a few of the engine parts I had located by late this afternoon. It may take awhile to find all of them because Dad had parts of his 1950 Chevy scattered all over the place: His shop, the bedroom, the rest of the house, the basement and the shed. Locating them all will just take a lot of looking and hopefully finding. One thing that will add to the confusion is that the car originally came with a 216 straight 6 engine. Dad decided he liked the 235 straight 6 Chevy truck engines' oil system better, so he found another engine. It came with an additional 216 engine, so I've got three engines that look a whole lot alike, and parts for all three strewn everywhere. Fortunately, there are only new parts for the 235, so that should help a little. When it's all said and done, I suppose I'll have two nearly complete Chevy 216 straight 6 engines to sell. They have been taken apart and need some parts to get them back up to shape again, but they're in sound condition. Plus, those Chevrolet 216 engines last forever and are workhorses. There are farms that still have them in use for various applications.

This was Dad's 1950 Chevy after he had started to remove the chrome.

This is an old shot, from October 16th, 1999, showing the 1970 Chevy Nova taillights as Dad was test fitting them into his 1950 Chevrolet. That have a slight curve to them on the outside edge of each one that fits perfectly into the contours of the back of the 1950. Dad always did have a good eye for customing. He started doing it in the 1950's. The angle I took the photograph from makes them look a little crooked - they aren't really and when you're standing behind it at normal height, they blend perfectly. Kodak Gold 100 14df

Dad painting his 1950 Chevy. He painted it these colors because he had them on hand. Later, he said he wanted to repaint it because he really wanted it blue and white. So, that's what color it will be repainted. Taken on October 12th, 1999, using a Polaroid 200 Bf 35mm camera and Kodak Gold 100 film. Kodak Gold 100 12df

This is a shot showing some of the front end work my Dad did to his 1950 Chevrolet.