We were able to get the interior completed.....only a few small items remain. Now on to the front of the car so we can finish the front clip.

 

That is flat out sweet! Nice work!

 

Thanks!
As far as originality goes....there are a couple of items that are not exactly correct. The Bel Air exterior trim pieces were painted white no matter what color the car was......we liked red better so we customized it slightly.

Secondly, the polished aluminum seat shells on the front seat are from an Impala. The Bel Air models aren't supposed to have the seat trim but we did it anyway. However, the fabric pattern and stripes are 100% correct.

Now that the car is starting to come together....I have to admit that I really like the solid white exterior with a simple red stripe paired with a solid red interior and simple thin (white, black and grey) stripes. We tried to talk our dad into going with a different exterior color but he insisted that we stick with the original white color. He was right, its coming out nice!

I'll post more pics when we get the engine and front clip installed....

 

Boy you do great work. If I lived closer I'd see if you wanted to do my 71 Blazer. I took my drivers test in a 58 Pontiac bonnieville.

 

Thanks.
I have a line of vehicles waiting....
1955 Bel Air
1968 GTO Convertible
1973 LeMans Sport Coupe 400ci 4 speed

Its' a good thing I have a couple of Super Duty trucks that seldom need repair....just basic maintenance. Alvin (my truck) has 340k miles so far, had to slap in a water pump a few nights ago. First pump lasted 250k miles but I only got 90k from the second pump. Hopefully this third pump will last a bit longer.
My wife's truck has about 215k now....still runs great. Can't believe how great these trucks have been to own. We really lucked out when Ford created the 7.3/Super Duty combo....

 

Greg that interior is beautiful. I really like the gray, black and white stripes. It is hard to believe that GM had such good taste back then. I thought that was one of your styling Q's and I also really dig all the little details you added or changed.

After people seeing you do this bubble top I am sure there are many that would like to see you restore another one or do one for them. My old butt has only one more car build/ restoration left in me and that is going to be for my little girl. Mind you she is only 6 yrs old so I have some time. But for myself my next build will be a rat rod pick up. I'm thinking a '46 Ford or '38 Studebaker pick up if I can find one with original panita.

And as owners of the 7.3 Super Duty's I'm glad that I had a enough sense go with the 7.3PSD over following the masses and going with the newest latest greatest thing that comes out. So thank you Ford for using the 7.3 for as long as you could.

 

I was thinking the same thing. The '61 Bel Air interior design is quite unique and pretty awesome if I say so myself. I was hoping the upholstery would come out good but it's exceeded my expectations by a fair margin.

If I can find a nice '38 or '38 Ford truck or panel van then I'll probably move it to the front of the project line.

 

Wow, you ain't messing around!

 

OT in the OT thread: I had a 1966 Ford Mustang GT with the 4-speed stick - right up until the 32-car pileup on I90 back in the late 80's. I was number 16 in line, so things got pretty hairy in my little section. My car was dollied and I got a ride home in a motorhome with the spare tire embedded in the bathroom by a Greyhound bus.

 

I forgot to post photos of the completed project. We ended up presenting the car to our parents at the beginning of March. They were very excited and thrilled to see the car as it was when new. We've done several car shows and have been driving it quite a bit.

 

Nicely done! Really a beautiful ride. You sure did it right!

 

Love to have it myself. 348 or 409? Seem to forgot.

 

It is a 348. The 409 didn't come out until later in the '61 model year. Apparently the Bel Air Bubbletop cars are pretty rare...less than 10k built and of those less than half were V8 cars. Of those, nobody knows how many were W motors....probably not too many. In our case we can document this is an original W motor car so that enhances it's rarity somewhat. The 348 was available in several HP levels....ours is just the base 250hp model. Has a manual trans, 3 speed on the column. Driving it is kinda fun....a bit nostalgic to shift on the column.

 

It's a great car. I was into those back in the day. Brother in law had a 59 chev with the 348. Couldn't keep cranks in it. Later I believe a friend of mine had a 63 or 4 with the 409, burned the hole side of my hair off listening to the motor over the carb when I pulled on the throttle. Was trying to hear a nock. They should be very happy for sure.

 

I'm sorry bud!!! I was just going back on this and saw that you had posted this a while back. I hope this helps on your project.

The place is called "The Filling Station and as far as I can tell that have everything. Tad bit pricey but quality.

This goes to the decal and hopefully the one you want is in there.

http://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb.dll?parta~partsort Edit: I'm not sure why but I can't get this to work. Go to their web page and click on "catalog" then "shop online" and put in what your looking for. I will try and look through my paper back catalog and try and find it there.

This one is for their web site. I personally like flipping through the catalog that they send then looking through their web site.

https://www.fillingstation.com