Restoring a Junkyard Christine Clone, 1958 Plymouth Belvedere
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- Опубліковано 29 лют 2020
- This is a five year restoration of a junkyard car. It was as rusty as anything you ever saw and we took extraordinary care to completely de-rust and rustproof the resulting movie-car clone. The text below goes into much greater detail if interested. Otherwise, just enjoy the show!
History:
This 1958 Plymouth saw her first restoration attempt abandoned long ago. When I found her she had 1972 newspapers still taped in place and many pounds of lead melted into the rusty fender caps, there were two sets of replacement rocker panels screwed in place, the first of which was also rusted away. We reused the second. I suspected that the owner may have passed away part way through the work and the family kept it garaged and untouched for the next 27 years. Changing circumstances eventually led to the car being junked.
I happened by just in time, she was sitting low to the ground along with some other new arrivals. My first thought was to buy the side trim off the car as I knew it was quite valuable. My second thought was a little more bold.
Whatever you want, I thought, it's not enough! When Jim Swaine said $700 dollars, I nearly fell over. My dad and I raced to the nearest bank. I had them deliver it to my parents summer home, 50 miles away. The driver stopped at the first gas station and the first customer to walk past correctly identified her by name.
I trailered her back to Illinois where I began to confront the cars desperate condition. I ended up storing it for a decade myself. The motor was stuck but I rebuilt the 2-barrel and replaced the plugs and wires and after freeing her up, she actually ran. The Powerflight had to be driven about 10 miles in first gear before it would warm up enough to shift into second so I located a Torqueflight at the late Eldon Millers junkyard in Viola Wi. He charged me $35 since he was winding down the business. That one was unsalvageable but I never told him that, I just asked to buy a second some months later and had it rebuilt by Randy Foltz in Rockford. Pfeiffers in Freeport Illinois rebuilt the engine .040 over and I had many parts chromed and powdercoated. I installed NOS springs and torsion bars and did all the alignment and other mechanical details before restarting the long stalled restoration. She was remarkably complete, but needed bumper wings which I located online when that was still possible.
I have made many changes including Hazard Flashers and a custom re-created wiring harness, which was altered to correct the oddball turn signals. These cars used the same side for both left and right turn indications and the other side, with a red lens, for the high beam indicator. That's just nuts! I salvaged another green lens and drilled a hole for an LED high beam indicator in the common aluminum part. I rolled the odometer of the authentic eBay sourced Fury speedo into the correct position to allow her to pick up where she left off and relocated the mirror, welding the dash hole shut.
Kevin McCracken did all the heavy lifting as seen in the video. He converted western '57 Plymouth front fenders using NOS '58 headlight panels and buckets and went well beyond the four NOS patch panels seen in the rear quarters. The car took two 4x8 foot sheets of original gauge steel to save. I ground all the welds. I also did the gas tank conversion and hereby dedicate the result to Virgil Exners exceptional crew, the plan had been to hide the filler from the '57 Forward Look cars onward, but budgetary issues pushed that back until the 1960 model year. The K-Car filler I used works perfectly with no spillage during refueling. She has a 20 gallon 1961 Chrysler tank which fits a little tight but works very well.
Upon learning what I had drug home I had fairly low expectations. The plan was just to fix it up and paint it. Somewhere along the way she began to blossom and I owe a debt of gratitude to everyone involved.
Thank you for your interest!
-KevFin
Kevin Mueller, Rockton, Illinois. - Авто та транспорт
Thank you for restoring her she is a beautiful machine
This man isn't human!! OUTSTANDING JOB!👏👏👏👏
Beautiful work. My favorite car ever…Christine
Great job. Great editing with the music, too.
Awesome resto job. Long live Christine
she is BEAUTIFUL again!
Lets face it. We all want a Christine. And this one...…. Say no more apart from WHAT A GREAT JOB!!!!
VauxhallVictorMan yep.
I'd rather not own one but I can certainly appreciate the design and craftsmanship behind them.
The cars used in the movie "Christine" were also "Belvederes", not "Furies"
No don't want a Christine. I want a Eleanor.
@@jakekaywell5972 m
Man it would be a dream to sit in the passenger seat of this car while the owner drives it. Great work bringing history back to life!
Thanks Matthew, I'd be fine with that if it weren't for this Covid mess. Be safe!
Actually I'd wager the owner just sits in the passenger seat and lets the car drive.
❤👍
0:30 R.I.P Little Richard. . .
Just what I was looking for 👍 great video
Thank you Captn! I've got some really cool videos on a patented engine design coming later this year if you want to take a minute to subscribe. Really radical stuff!
She is a beauty , my father had a 57 plaza sedan , got pictures of me playing in it 1960's ,thanks for sharing your talents and car 😎Doug
Man, you did such a lot of restoration work on that 58 Plymouth “Christine” classic car. Such a labor or LOVE, fantastic my friend & take it slow & easy with whoever you have in your life. You don’t want to UPSET CHRISTINE, we all know what could happen!!! Great movie & beautiful car.✌️❤️🙏🏻💚👍
Quite a restoration but definitely worth it in the end.
Thanks Dr., I was lucky the frame was in such excellent shape! It might have made more sense to do a frame off, but I just couldn't handle it psychologically! It would have seemed much more insurmountable to me.
Thank you for subscribing, I have something really interesting coming up in a series of truly remarkable videos!
@@kevinmueller5284 Your welcome, I can't wait to see them.
Great restoration, but unnecessary, all you had to do is say "show me" to the car, & it would've done the rest.
@@TFD1982 No, only GOD is everywhere.
Calvin Edgar fuck off would ya go spam somewhere else dick head
Not something you can just order floor/body panels for. Tedious work to say the least. Just don't ever piss her off..
My sister had a black 1958 Belvedere years ago. I loved that car. It had the black and red interior, but someone had switched the bench seat for two, what we were told, Mustang bucket seats. They were blue vinyl. The back seat material had worn and so she had a Native American type blanket on the back seat custion I remember when she said she had to junk it because the rear end was going out. I was so young, I thought the trunk was going to fall off - as that's what is in the rear end of the car. She put it out in front of her house and within 2 hours she sold it. I miss that car.
Awesome. I adore your work. Perfect. Five years…. That is a long period of time. I love it. 😊
Only one way to explain this car. BADASS !!!!!!!
It looks great, wonderful job. I loved the movie Christine and the other movie The Car. I took my girlfriend to both and they scared the hell out of her. Thanks for bring Christine back🙂
That's a hell of a save job
Cool as the tip of the ice man's tool !!! Fair play to all who crafted this ultra Awsome machine back from the dead. Much respect 👍👍
Just say SHOW ME job done .lol nice job gives you the shivers
Fine craftsmanship
Wonderful , rewarding labor !
You sure did a hell of a great job. Christine is just beautiful 😍
Amazing work. Definitely a labor of love.
Wow...what a *BEAUTIFUL* automobile and restoration! : )
That is a beautiful car....gorgeousness......I would take that over ANY 50s Caddy, Chevy, or Ford
Very beautiful job
The beauty of it is, Christine can easily fix herself after a minor (or major) fender bender.
I remember when they were common! Outstanding 1950s design! Good job!
👍👌👏 Unbeliiiievably fantastic! Congrats.
Best regards luck and health.
Waw it is breath taking how beutifull that car is what a dream car
Sweet. My favorite movie car. Such attitude
That is a seriously Killer car!!
Awesome job and awesome car. Thanks.
Cool video thank you 👍😊👍 great job 👍👍👍.
Christine is a beauty of a car ❤
11 people had to be scraped up with a shovel!
Isn't that what you do with shit? Scrape it up with a little shovel? 😁
Shit wipes off
I am right behind you and some of these photos were very helpful. Getting ready to dip the frame in citric acid this week.
Excellent! Be sure to get in touch if there is anything I can do to help.
Save the Old Vintage Cars, they need to be saved! ❤❤❤😊😊😊
Congrats. Awesome job!👏
BEAUTIFUL JOB
Nice job! This would be cool to go to the Drive-in and watch Christine on the big screen. I'd be afraid to park next to it😅
You're a purist and a genius. Love your work.
Shame she couldnt just put herself back together like in the movie! Awsome work amazeing car!!!
Good to have another Christine back on the road!
👏🏼😍 that’s totally awesome !
One day I’d like to restore pretty much any classic car....but I couldn’t imagine knowing even where to start on a project that huge!
Not to mention finding the stuff you need without a time machine.
Beautiful, 58 was a really good year.
When people Restore Cars it's great at the finish.They are like works of art but it takes alot to get to the finish product.
Nice I love Christine my favorite movie ever I would completely dark out the windows but other than that it’s awesome I’m 17 now senior in high school I plan on having a Christine really soon
A tremendous job! Congratulations!
Wonderful car and incredible the work you did! Have fun with it. Cheers from France
Loved the video! the soundtrack music overdub made it even better. Restoration looked great, my suggestion, if you can, move the dual exhaust out to each corner if you can. The center exit takes away just a tad of the authenticity of the look.
This guy had to literally redo most of the bodywork due to rust. AND IT TOOK YEARS, respect
*boat*
great car for great retorer !
Thank you Mitchel! You're very kind!
I will have one of these someday,gorgeous car my friend
Sir I was born in 1999 you have owned and restored this car throughout my current lifespan.
Im from belvidere illinois! Love it! Ive only seen one 58 in my life at a car show. Prob was yours!
Holy cow, nice job...what a beauty
Awesome work 😷🦠🥘💵💵💵🩸🩸💉🌪🌪🌪
It's a good sign the car didn't repair itself. But if the radio plays 50's rock'n'roll for no apparent reason, you should consider moving to another continent, just to be sure. :D No, seriously, I really like this restoration and it warms my heart there are still Christine's roaming around, looking for prey.
Not hard for Christine's to find prey she made a quick mess of buddy's car etc
There's no way that it was worth $700. if it wasn't for the Christine notoriety. But a tremendous amount of work went into it and it came out beautiful. Credit to all involved.
Most of these rusted worse than that, restorable ones are hard to find. Someone who works in west Texas oil fields said every time he goes out there he brings a car hauler trailer and almost always finds something like this that is pretty rust free but it does not rain much out there,
Wow, great work. 🙂
great job mate!👍👏
My Dream Car
My also
Me to
ua-cam.com/video/GVKZXG_2bJ4/v-deo.html
@@classicrods3142 Uhhh That's not the car we're talking about...
@@LexLovesTLOP I understand, I just thought I would Put our new video out there.. Thanks for the feedback.
Great job did bodywork for 18 yrs did a 68 Roadrunner almost 20 yrs ago.🙂
Great video and restoration. Gorgeous Car. Regards from Europe Barcelona Spain
This is one of the coolest resto vids ive seen!!!!!!! That music was spot on man!! Awesome car musta cost some serious🤑🤑 and alot of time 👍
I love the period correct boat that goes with it :)
Beautiful job
I think Christine should be mandatory viewing screened free on the telly once a week❤
Una restauración de máxima calidad,enhorabuena.
awesome vid man thankyou
Awesome job from start to finish
She's real tough.
Very nice car .اجمل سيارة رايتها في حياتي
Absolutely beautiful
Great. That is verry well done!
Carro incrível. Esse merece atenção e amor
Omg i kno this car! When i wrecked my 1980 dodge mirada n had turned it into a madmax wanna be but had gone to that same junk yard n wanted it so bad but the goal that day late 90's was to get some mirada parts! You're a lucky man! Take good care of it!:)
just awesome
Gorgeous car
Stunning!
Das ist ein wunderschönes Auto ...
At least it’s not “another one bites the dust” Rare cars nowadays. All been abandoned by their owners back in the 70s-90s
Very nice!
My first car was a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere Wagon. It was named Christine's Loud and Ooogalay sista.
That was a work of love! Thanks for sharing, sub'd to see more in the future.
Thanks for sharing. Looks like Christine II didn't kill you... but sure put your wallet in the grave. Great job...Best to you and yours
Ótimo trabalho, show!
This was a very well put together spice n dice restoration! You pretty much have to since they don't make after market posts for these models. Great video, thanks for sharing!
Splice*
Of course there's many 50s cats toy could buy panels for, such as a tri-five Chevy floor pan. Not everyone seems to want to make pasta for Plymouth/ dodge of this era..
Cars that you could buy panels for*
Parts* lol stupid autocorrect
That car was rough but you did a beautiful restoration! You"ve got to be committed.Or maybe "aughta be comitted,had a 55 Studebaker,turned out just as nice but it wasn"t nearly as bad as what you started with-Great job!
Beautiful ❤️
GREAT JOB 🏁🏁🏁🏁😁😁🤗🤗🤗😍😍😍😍 🇨🇦
living the dream! :)
Damn that’s awesome
Congratulations on a very creative and entertaining video.
Very nice
Belle restauration,
Cette voiture devient une legende
I would love to own this car best car in the world good vid and good work love the vid bro
POR 15 will stop that cancer and there are times I wish I grabbed 1 of these but I got a '61 fury and its on its finishing stages of the restoration.