"Betsy"

A 1956 Chevrolet Restoration Project

I've had this car since I was 14, helped my Dad with the initial restoration, maintained and drove her for 11 years, and am helping my husband with the current off-body restoration. Yes, she's "just a car", but we've been through so much in the past 23 years: rain storms and snow storms, hail and blistering sun, pulling trailers over mountains and back again, growing pains and labor pains and even teething pains

When my husband and I started this off-body restro in April of 2000, we knew that we would put more money into the car than it would be worth on the sales floor, but to me, she is priceless.

For her full story that was released Jan 2003 (at least her story up to Dec 2002 when I published it on the Club website), click here. Betsy's story was also published in the May 2003 issue of Classic Chevy World Magazine.

We started the off-body restoration in April 2000. The pages below capture much of the work, sweat, blood, and sometimes tears that are going into this multi-year off-body restoration.

Step 1 - Dismantling
 
  • Page 1 - original condition to start of off-body
  • Page 2 - and the car comes apart slowly

Step 2 - Sheet Metal Replacement and Welding
 
  • Page 1 - initial floor pan replacement
  • Page 2 - (Nov 2002 - Nov 2003) Bottom sheet metal via rotisserie
  • Page 3 - We did extensive work to rebuild the rear door dog legs that had been totally consumed by rust.

Step 3 - Chassis, Motor, Suspension, and Undercarriage
 
  • Page 1 - (Nov 2002 - Nov 2003) Frame restoration, engine rebuild, chassis, and undercarriage

Step 4 - Body Work
 
  • Page 1 - (April - Aug 2004) Old paint removal, weld grinding, and metal prep
  • Page 2 - (Aug 2004) Initial stages from Epoxy primer to first layer of filler
  • Page 3 - (Aug - Oct 2004) Priming and and featherfill work

Step 5 - Painting
 
  • Page 1 - (Oct 7 - 8 2004) First spraying of white base and clear coat
  • Page 2 - (Oct 8 - 10 2004) First spraying of green base and clear coat, then second white round
  • Page 3 - (Oct 11 - 12 2004) Small parts and taping off for final green
  • Page 4 - (Oct 12 - 13 2004) Final green and untaping
  • Page 5 (Oct 23 2004) Reassembled, minus her jewelry
  • Spray booth - some information on how we created a booth in our garage

Step 6 - Reassembly
 

Before and After
 
  • Page 1 - Air Cleaner, Generator, Fuel Bowl, Starter, Engine Bay, Rear Fenders
  • Page 2 - Interior
  • Page 3 - Complete car shots

 

"What's left?" you ask. Wheels, stereo, and interior window trim. The home stretch!

 

(Note: the above icons will appear at the botton of the subpages for navigation ease, along with arrows that will cycle through the pages in chronological order.)