1955 Chevrolet Del
Ray
Owner: Mick &
Susie Hunter, Sisters, OR
This is my 5th 55
car since 1965. I have had one 55 chev pickup as well. Big back
window short box. 350 hp 327 4 spd. I had that one for 7 years and
accept for paint it was ready to go.
I have had four posts (
One standard 210 and three Del Rays ) and one 2 BelAir door hardtop
plus the 55 pickup.
I have had three
62 Impalas. 67 RS Camaro. 78 Camaro. 95 Z-28. 85 Corvette. 89 Corvette
roadster. 94 corvette roadster and all very enjoyable. I still keep
coming back to the 55 and I know at this stage of my life this is
where I want to stick.
As for my current
55 Del Ray – – – – – –
I got the car on consignment from
a man that had it at Premium Motors when they were in fife.
For
over 4 years I was driving the Corvettes and going to the cruise’s.
I wanted a 55 every time I looked at one. I kept saying to Susie
that I need to get one of these again and we agreed to look seriously.
I wanted one I could work on and not pay 30 grand. For the four
years I looked and talked with people I could not find one that
was for sale that wasn’t almost completely finished or if it needed
work they wanted too much for the car compared to the ones that
I looked at that were turn key ready to go.
I was getting a
bit discouraged.
One day in Feb.
2001 I was going to take my Granddaughter to help her practice and
we took the Corvette I looked over and saw the 55 on the lot. I
told Brittany that when we were coming home I thought we would stop
in and look at it as I did almost ( Susie says EVERYTIME ) I saw
a 55 on the side of the road or in a lot.
When we stopped
at Premium I parked the Corvette in the lot next to where the 55
was sitting out front. There were 4 or 5 people looking at it and
James came up and asked if I wanted to trade in the Corvette in
a kidding manner. I told him ” I was just looking” as
usual.
I noted it had a
4 speed and the engine had some fairly nice parts polished. The
body was fairly straight and it was most definitely a driver. It
had a 87 IROC 305 and the tires were good. It had a single AFB on
a polished manifold and Centerline Hurricane wheels. I’m a 5 American
mag guy myself.
The paint looked
good for a driver with some bug chips in front. 4.10 posi and power
front discs.
The engine compartment needed a lot of work to
be as detailed as I would like even for a driver.
A driver was
my goal from the start. I knew I needed to have one I could drive
dependably for the many trips Susie and I take to see our 3 children
and all of our Grandchildren. 9 to be exact. Too many for a two
seat Corvette.
At any rate I noticed
the asking price for what I saw as the quality of the car was about
4 to 5K less than most I had looked at over the past 4 years.
Brittany sat in it. ( My 11 year old Granddaughter at the time and
thought it was a neat car. She enjoyed the Corvette with the top
down very much though.) the car had papers and phone numbers to
verify all information. The car was built in 87 in Ontario Canada.
94 Olds Crimson Red and off white two tone. I made an offer to trade
the Corvette and Rich Marsh bought it and I ended up with my 55.
I have not been much more excited over buying a car since my first
55 I think.
When I drove that
car off and started shifting that Hurst linkage I felt as most that
grew up with these cars and owned them when we were 16 yrs old.
Thank you to my
friends at Premium motors for working hard to get the deal for me.
James and Rich. You guys are great!!!
I took it straight
to work and the typical comments from the non-mechanical non-Hot
Rod people was – – You guessed it ! – – – – – Are you going through
you second childhood? My immediate reply was this. No — I never
did get out of the first one. You assumed from your own experience
and limited knowledge that forces you to blurt out conventional
clich
|
