Welcome To Chris Pinto's 1953 Chevy Hot Rod Belair Wild Custom Site!

  • Garage
    • Cool Stories of my ’53 Chevy Hot Rod – The Blog
    • About Christopher Pinto, Designer/Author
    • Mystery Novels by Christopher Pinto
    • Privacy Policy
  • In the Beginning…
  • Why, Man? Why?
  • Body
    • 1990 Backyard Restoration
    • Second Restoration, and Changing the Body
    • The Fins
    • How I Did It
    • 2020 Pearl Paint Job
    • Driving Around 2000-2020
  • Interior
    • 1938 Digital Dash Cam
    • Trunk
    • Cabriolet Top
  • Power Plant
    • Brakes, Wheels, and Mechanical Mischief
  • Futurama
  • Photo Galleries
    • ’53 Chevy Belair Stardust Vintage Photos
    • ’53 Chevy Belair Stardust New Photos

Second Restoration, and Changing the Body

When I first bought her back in April, 1990, I didn’t have a lot of money, and just wanted an antique car to drive around in. First I got it running good (with my old man’s help, of course). Put a new water pump, fuel pump, rebuilt the carb, tuned it up and got a set of (used) tires on her. I had a lot of trouble with 6-Volt batteries dieing on me. I had to re-do the brakes too, but by September 1990 it was on the road, and the body work was started. Man, was it a pain. I didn’t have a garage, so everything I did had to be done…and done before I went to sleep. So if I sanded a fender, I had to prime it before nightfall, outside, under oak and pine trees. I think I spent more time picking bugs out of the primer than I did fixing it up!

Stardust 1953 Chevy Belair after paint job, 1991. I realize that I took this picture while there was a trash truck next to her. I remember I had a few photos left on a roll of film and was going to be late to work if I waited for the truck to move, but wanted to get those shots in.

10 Years in outdoor Jersey Weather took a toll

I didn’t have a garage when I lived in Jersey, and the harsh winters, road salt, salt in the air from the bay (I didn’t live far from the bay) and acid rain took a toll on Stardust for the 10 years I had her in Jersey. By 1998 the paint was starting to peel in places, rust was popping back through, and the shiny gold and brown bumpers/grill weren’t so shiny anymore. At this point in my life I had spread myself thin with my career, my traveling mystery theater company, dating, and owning as many as three vintage cars at one time. My daily driver was a ’56 Buick Wagon and my weekend car was a 1975 Buick Convertible, and they took up a lot of my time. I still drove Stardust, but I didn’t have the time to do the work she needed, to be done right. So in 2000, when we moved to Florida into a house with a two-car garage, I paired down to one driver and the Chevy. That’s when I decided to strip her down to the metal, do the bodywork right, and do the custom mods I had wanted to do for so long.

  • By the late 90s, Stardust’s paint job was not looking great
  • 53 Chevy Custom, Stripping down the paint
  • 53 Chevy, stripping paint, French Tail lights
  • 53 Chevy French Tail lights
  • 53 Chevy body work
  • 53 Chevy Custom
  • 53 Chevy Custom
  • 53 Chevy working on the custom cabriolet roof
  • 53 Chevy Custom, working on the top
  • 53 Chevy Custom
  • Working on it was killing me
  • 53 Chevy Custom
  • 53 Chevy Custom
  • 53 Chevy Custom
  • 53 Chevy Custom
  • 53 Chevy body work
  • 53 Chevy Custom body work
  • 53 Chevy body work gettin’ done
  • 53 Chevy Custom body work
  • 53 Chevy, stripping paint, working on fins
  • Early Hub Cap Idea

Between 2000 and 2005, I worked on stripping down the paint to the metal, removing old bondo and fixing rust with metal ( I learned how to weld! Not well, but well enough), and getting small dents and dings straightened out. I did a better job at straightening the door jam that was bent in the collision in the early 90s, and spent a lot of time straightening the body-door separator and getting the doors lined up. Then, in 2005, with an infusion of cash from a home re-fi, I started on the fins…

Recent Posts

  • Gotta Replace 2nd Gear in the 1953 Chevy Belair Custom
  • New Photos of the 1953 Chevy Custom Belair
  • ’53 Chevy at the Mai Kai, Fort Lauderdale February 2021
  • Living in Spotlight Hell with the 53 Chevy
  • New Door Striker So I Don’t Fall Out – 1953 Chevy

Recent Comments

  • Pat Lanspery aka TikiPaka on ’53 Chevy at the Mai Kai, Fort Lauderdale February 2021

Archives

  • November 2021
  • March 2021
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020

Categories

  • 1953 Chevy Stories
  • 53 Chevy Repairs & Mechanical

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Note: All photos and stories ©2020 Christopher Pinto. All rights reserved. Any duplication of any part of this site, text, or images for commercial use and/or without permission the owner is a violation of copyright laws. Please only share photos for non-commercial use (no selling). Please feel free to “Pin” photos or share on social media (non-commercial use only).

Pages

  • ’53 Chevy Belair Stardust New Photos
  • ’53 Chevy Belair Stardust Vintage Photos
  • 1938 Digital Dash Cam
  • 1990 Backyard Restoration
  • 2020 Pearl Paint Job
  • About Christopher Pinto, Designer/Author
  • Brakes, Wheels, and Mechanical Mischief
  • Cabriolet Top
  • Cool Stories of my ’53 Chevy Hot Rod
  • Driving Around 2000-2020
  • Futurama
  • How I Did It
  • In the Beginning…
  • Mystery Novels by Christopher Pinto
  • Photo Galleries
  • Privacy Policy
  • Second Restoration, and Changing the Body
  • Stardust…The Famous Finned ’53 Chevy Belair!
  • The Engine
  • The Fins
  • The Interior
  • The Trunk
  • Why, Man? Why???

Archives

  • November 2021
  • March 2021
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020

Categories

  • 1953 Chevy Stories (6)
  • 53 Chevy Repairs & Mechanical (1)

WordPress

  • Log in
  • WordPress

CyberChimps WordPress Themes

1953 Chevy Hotrod Wild Custom Belair ©2020 Christopher Pinto