Now that is quite a story! The car looks like it will be in excellent condition when they finish. Every rotted area has been taken care of and it is now solid. Good for another million miles.Many of you may remember when I was able to finally get my hands on my dear aunt’s old ’61 Chevy Bel Air. Over the past several years, I’ve been working on getting it back running and, more recently, getting it restored. Here are a couple photos of the “progress” to-date, as well as something very interesting that was found while working on the car.
Here’s a reference photo of the car. This photo of my aunt and me was taken on Easter Sunday, 1961.
This is what the car looked like when I was finally able to get it back from my sister (who had kept it parked in a field for about seven years).
After a lot of work (and $$) getting it back running – and it is now running like a new car – I was finally in the position to start on the real restoration work. There was a lot of rust to deal with. The floor pans had to be replaced, as did the trunk bottom. Rusted places along the bottom of the doors and around the lower parts of the car have all been cut out and I’m anticipating the replacement work being completed within the next week or so. The next step will be final sanding and painting. I’ve got a time set for later in the week to pick out the materials and colors for the interior work. Hopefully, we will be back running with a finished car within the next two months.
Now, for the interesting thing that was found today. When they were cutting out the rusted area around the rear wheel-well, out fell these two butcher knives. I remember the only time I ever met my great uncle Sank. He had left home here in western NC around 1910 and “went west.” He lived for a while in Deer Lodge, Alaska before he finally settled in Washington State. As an old man (he was born in 1885), he came “back home” to visit. I remember him buying a watermelon, and we drove my aunt’s car over to my great aunt Ada’s house. We had the watermelon and the knives in the trunk of the ’61 Chevy. After we cut the watermelon and enjoyed the time visiting, we came home. Later, my grandmother couldn’t find her butcher knives we used to cut the watermelon. Everyone assumed they somehow got accidently thrown away with the newspapers used to cut the watermelon on. This was in 1967.
Well, after 48 years the long-lost knives turned up. Apparently, they somehow managed to fall down into the wheel-well and became lodged there. When a rusted spot was cut out today, out fell the knives. I remember this well, because the knives were two of my grandmother’s favorites. For years afterwards, everyone was reminded when throwing out any kind of trash after a picnic to “check to make sure nothing you want is in the trash.”
I wish my grandmother and my aunt were still here to finally know what became of those two knives. I think they would get a big laugh out of it all.
Great job keeping the memories alive!
Now that is quite a story!The car looks like it will be in excellent condition when they finish.Every rotted area has been taken care of and it is now solid.Good for another million miles.
Are you now going to clean up the knives and use them?I would.
You still have the rest of the set too?! You have to clean up the new found ones then to complete the set.
Alden 403 Moc Toe Boot - Brown Chromexcel - $680 The classic "Indy" style Alden Boot in the classic Horween brown Chromexcel. 
Grant Stone Diesel Boot Dark Olive Chromexcel - #395 Goodyear welted, Horween Chromexcel, classic good looks. 
Himel Bros. - The Ross Mk. 1 Leather Jacket Classic D-pocket motorcycle/aviator style jacket.
Just in case someone thought I was making all this up,
I am still using things my grandmother used. No need to buy more. Just use what you have.
Just in case someone thought I was making all this up,
Those handles look like they were turned out of solid steel! They'll outlast me.
