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Australia and the United States share a number of interests.
One thing their people share are a love for big V8 powered cars.
Many an American car has ended up in the Southern Hemisphere because
of this love. Many others were built in Australia, and remain
popular collectibles. In fact, an Australian `59 Chevy figures
prominently in the futuristic 1979 cult classic Mad Max.
Sadly, it gets destroyed about half way through the movie. Peter's Bel Air (shown here), is an right-hand drive Australian original, not a recently-purchased import. He restored the body to the original color scheme from an all-white scheme that was not original (why would someone NOT keep their car red & white? His car is beautiful!). Read below as Peter describes his great car! |
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----- Original Message ----- From: Peter To: mail@chevy59.com Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2001 10:28 PM Subject: `59 Chev Hi Kurt: The 59 chev I have was in storage for over 18 years . I am the 4th owner. It was imported from Canada in 1959 and assembled at AUSTRALIA GENERAL MOTORS HOLDEN`S PTY LTD in Port Melbourne Victoria. The original colour was light maroon and off white. It had the 6-cylinder motor with the 2-speed Powerglide. In the mid 1970s the original owner resprayed the car white, but left brown leather trim. After the original owner died, it was left sitting until 1998 when the second owner purchased the car and removed the 6-cylinder engine and put a 350 small block. He also removed the steering box and installed the wrong one. (Australian Holden box). Approximately six months later the car was sold to the third owner. This owner just changed the interior. I then purchased the car off this owner in February 2001. (This will the third `59 Chev I have owned). As soon as I bought the car, I started working on it. The steering box was changed to the original Chev box. Front end was rebuilt. Front and rear breaks were all redone. Engine mounts had to be changed because previous owner used the 6 cylinder engine mounts. The tail shaft and transmission all had to be re-aligned. In September of 2001 body restoration started. (Refer to photo attachments). The car was stripped back to bare metal. To my surprise the body was in mint condition. There was no body filler on the entire body of the car. All glass on the car has been replaced with new glass. All chrome parts have been re-chromed and the dash and trim will be changed. The car will be re-sprayed in red and white two pack baked enamel. (See latest photo attachments). These photos will just show the beginning stages of the car being re-sprayed. (20 December 2001). Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you again. Peter |
