As promised, I can tell you now the whole story behind my recently acquired
'58 Belvedere 2-door Sport Coupe.
My trip to the US proved unsuccesful, mainly because no good leads were
found before going there but also because, frankly, my wife would not let me
spend much time looking for one while on holiday there ! Furthermore, the
euro/dollar rate was going to the stratosphere so buying a car in the US and
shipping it back home was becoming less and less attractive ...
Anyway, shortly before departing for the US, Daniel Andersson (which we all
know) emailed me saying that he had one for sale, right here in Europe, for
a price that suited me. Upon return in France, he sent me a lot of digital
pictures of the car and after a week or two of reflexion, my
mind was made up, this was the car I had be waiting for !!
So, last week-end, I rented a van and a trailer and headed north towards
Sweden for a 2200 km / 1400 miles trip (forth and back) to take the car back
to France. I never had driven before an almost full of parts van coupled to
a trailer loaded with a big american car so it was quite an experience !
The car has everything I was wanting for my first restoration project :
. solid body, some rust and dents but nothing major (Arizona car) to the
exception of badly welded lower rear quarter panel repairs
. nice tinted glass
. 318 cid 2-bbl V-8, Torqueflite, power steering and brakes
. Sportone trim (but no aluminum inserts)
. Bumper wings option
The only thing is that I seem to be cursed with finding only dissassembled
cars : body is on chassis with V-8 and tranny but everything else is in
boxes ! We took five hours though to go through every parts to be sure that
nothing was missing. I still have to verify a second time, though, with the
help of a parts book.
Now, the car is in my garage and my first restoration projects awaits me ...
Vincent Van Humbeeck (France)
'58 Belvedere 2-door Sport Coupe (at last !!!!!!!!!)
|
|
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network