Tampa Bay Classic Chevy Club Member Projects
Whether its a big project or a small one, most of us are doing something on our classic Chevy.
Find out who is wrenchin' on what right here!
Bob Hendryx 57 Nomad
After sandblasting and welding up some small holes, Tom cut out the larger rusted areas in preparation for patching.
It looks much better now!
The insie of the tailgate is painted and looks like it did the day it came from the factory.
Bob Hendryx '57 Nomad
I knew my Nomad had a lot of rust when I bought it. The seller had described it as being in excellent driver condition, which was a bit of a stretch. As everybody knows, you can't tell from pictures what you are getting into with a classic Chevy, so I flew to Nashville, Tennessee, took a cab to the nearest UHaul and drove the truck and trailer to Tullahoma, Tennessee to see the car. From first glance, I was a little disappointed, but my desire to own a Nomad overrode that disappointment almost immediately. Chevrolet only built 6,500 of these cars and there are supposedly only 2,000 of them left. An hour later after a complete inspection, I handed over the funds and we loaded the car. That was a year and a half ago.
Since owning the car, I had the engine rebuilt by Engine Lab of Tampa, the tranny was rebuilt and we started redoing all the mechanical systems, such as brakes, front end components, etc.
There was about a half pound of bondo in each of the fenders.
Tampa Bay Classic Chevy Club Tech Director Tom Dufour and Club Photographer Peter Gonzalez are right in thick of it! The next step is to weld in the new rocker panels and floor. And, a week later, here are pictures of the floor going in: Peter Gonzales welding floor While Peter is welding the floor, Tom is doing body work on the roof and quarter panels. Frank Foglia's '64 Impala Frank did a fantastic job on the body work himself and took the car to a paint shop in Tampa. After being promised he would get the car back in two weeks, it took more than a month. Worse yet, they painted the car the wrong color! Instead of the factorty original color you see on the car in this picture, they had painted it a light powder blue!
Typical area of rust in a '57 Chevy
My Nomad sat in a junkyard in Birgmingham, Alabama for several years before the amateur restoration it received from the previous owner. I think the bottom of the doors rusted while it was awaiting some TLC.
At the June meeting, Tom Dufour did a before and after body work presentation about the fenders, hood and doors, telling about all aspects of body restoration.
The body work on the fenders, doors and hood has been completed and Tom turns his attention to the rust-eaten floor.
We have also ordered new wheelhouse sheet metal and the rear cargo area floorpan, which will go in next.
Frank Foglia is working on his 64 Impala. He just got the car back from the paint shop and is installing the exterior stainless and bumpers.
Needless to say, there were some very unhappy moments. A couple weeks later, they repainted the car in base coat/clear coat and color sanded it to a beautiful finish.
Frank is in the process of installing the rest of the stainless and front bumper and looks forward to getting his 64 Impala back on the road.
