Dad's '56 - What to do with it?

[MR Bill]

Well after a few more years of sitting in the garage, it's time to figure out what's next for dad's car. He bought it used in 1960 and drove it for many years and then parked it in a garage. Many years ago I retrieved it and it has sat in my garage since then. I have tinkered with it brakes etc. but it has not seen streets in at least 35 years. I did replace the rear cross member as it was rusted. Therein is my question. I purchased the replacement cross member from ZIP, t was manufactured in Michigan. Does anyone know the company that manufactured those pieces in Michigan? Thanks.

 

[Toms007]

I can't help with your quest for information MR Bill. I hope someone can come through for you on that matter. My question is what are your plans for the car? Just get it running as a driver? Restoration to original? RestoMod? Not that it matters to anyone, just wondering. We have a lady here in town who has a 56 red/beige red interior 225HP/auto, well dual 4s anyway and she was hoping to get it running well enough to drive around town. Asked me if I knew anything about tuning the dual 4s. Unfortunately, I don't. I just want to see this car back on the road and would love to hear that you have gotten yours to a similar place.

Good luck!

 

[MR Bill]

Vette Products in Michigan

Well after a few more years of sitting in the garage, it's time to figure out what's next for dad's car. He bought it used in 1960 and drove it for many years and then parked it in a garage. Many years ago I retrieved it and it has sat in my garage since then. I have tinkered with it brakes etc. but it has not seen streets in at least 35 years. I did replace the rear cross member as it was rusted. Therein is my question. I purchased the replacement cross member from ZIP, t was manufactured in Michigan. Does anyone know the company that manufactured those pieces in Michigan? Thanks.

Update 08/24/17 - Found my answer, it is Vette Products. They manufacture many metal stampings and other Corvette parts. Their quality is very good from my experience.

 

[MR Bill]

Dad's 56 - What to do with it...Continued

Well Toms 007 that is a good question. You are correct there are many possibilities, fully restore or restore as a nice driver (replace paint, interior, carpet, top, chrome, etc), or resto mod, or sell, or part it out. Actually it is the car I was allowed to drive (occasionally) when I got my driver's license. It's all there, original engine, trans, wheels, original soft top (really shot), redone interior, one bad repaint. It even has a hard top and the original washer fluid bag. It is a dual quad with a powerglide. What would you do?
As for the dual quad tuning....I would rebuild both carbs and as I recall they are not to difficult to adjust. A good, older mechanic would probably think it would be fun to fiddle with those. Much easier than fuel injection. Thanks for your feedback.

 

[Toms007]

What would I do? From the sounds of it, I'd probably turn it into a nice driver, if it were mine. That's what I keep telling this lady here too. It's too original to mod it out much. But they say the best ones to restomod are the nice originals.

IIRC, those were Carter 4bbls (WCFB ?) and yes they weren't too bad to rebuild. Tinkering with the duals to get them in tune would be tricky.