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Rod and Jean Ulven of Onawa, Iowa are the proud owners of this sharp, ’60 Chevrolet Belair. Actually a kickback to his youth, Rod owned a ’60 Biscayne as he left high school and never really forgot the good times he had with that car.
In the early nineties, with the kid grown-up and on his own, and things settled down to the point where he though he was ready to relive a little of his own youth, he began his search for another ’60 sedan. Of course, Rod had a little ‘better’ cash flow than he did when he was younger, so this one would have all the ‘neat’ things he couldn’t afford on his first ’60.
This car showed up at a swap meet in Fremont, Nebraska, and was actually spotted by William Wonder, a friend of Rods who immediately called him on his cell phone and took the car owners name and number. A week later, and after a call to the owner, he was in Fremont looking over the worn, but presentable ’60.
A typical ‘little old lady’s car’, it appeared to be pretty clean and straight, with the exception of minor scrapes and bruises from where the old gal had difficulties navigating in and out of her single stall garage. The original colors were blue metallic with a powder blue top, but Rod already knew that this one would have to be black.
The original 283 ran good, and the Powerglide shifted smoothly on the 60-mile drive home. After getting the car home, Rod immediately began disassembly and taking stock of what he had. He removed the front clip, replacing the fenders with straight, rust-free fenders he acquired from another friend, Rod Cutler, in Colorado.
When Rod removed the interior, he became a little disappointed, discovering he needed to replace three floor pans and one floor brace. This job was tackled by Rod, but made easier by another friend, Tom Templeton of T & L Auto and Truck, who loaned Rod his plasma cutter and assistede with replacing the sheetmetal.
The rest of the body and paint work was farmed-out to Donnie Kuhlmann at Kuhlmann Collison Repair in Onawa. Kuhlmann straightened out all the grooves and creases done by the old gal, installed lower quarter sections, filled the extra seams, nosed and decked the car. Rod also cleaned up the car to look more like the even cheaper Biscayne by removing the taillamp surround trim and the Belair quarter spears and “rockets”, replacing them with smaller “rockets” from a Biscayne. Donnie then covered everything in four coats of PPG Ebony Black, buried beneath three coats of clear. . .this thing looks a mile deep!!
While considering powerplants, Rod ran across the deal of the century. . .a fellow with a ’68 Corvette wanted to replace his ‘Vettes smallblock with a big block, and offered the running and very healthy sounding 327 to Rod for $275. . . believe it or not! What Rod ended up with, was an original ’68 vintage, 365 h.p. 327. . .what a deal!!
While on the stand, Rod added an Edelbrock RPM aluminum intake with matching Edelbrock 600 cfm carburetor, a set of Hedman headers, Accel electronic ignition, Holley mechanical fuel pump, and a set of polished aluminum Corvette valve covers he’d had hanging on the wall of his shop for years!! He also dressed it out with a chrome, hi-output alternator. For a little extra bling at the drive in, Rod recently added a dual four Edelbrock aluminum intake and a pair of 550 cfm Edelbrock carburetors. More recently, Rod added a set of polished billet pulleys to his rumpy smallblock!!
Cooling is handled with a ’63 409 3-row radiator and exhaust is vented through an aluminized 2 ¼” exhaust with 3-chambered FlowMasters.
All this is backed by a ’68 Muncie close-ratio 4-speed with Hurst Competition Plus shifter and power’s put to the pavement via a 3.55 geared Posi rear end.
To make heading this beast down the road a little easier, Rod has added a newer 605 power steering gearbox with adaptor plate, hoses and pulleys from Late Great Chevy in Orlando, Florida. To assist in stopping, he upgraded to power disc brakes from Classic Industries and to provide a good ride, added red urethane bushings to the suspension. Rolling stock features B.F. Goodrich Touring T/As (215/60R 15” front and 255/60R 15” rear) mounted on 15 x 7” and 15 x 8” chrome Cragar Street Pros.
The interior is a work of art, although it took much longer to finish then expected. Chas Dillender of Oakland, Nebraska handled all the needlework. . .down to custom-stitching a padded dash in gray naugahyde. The rest of the interior is all gray naugahyde and gray salt ‘n pepper tweed, with custom Chevy Bowties stitched into the seat backs. Door panel emblems are actually late model Malibu ‘wave’ emblems. A seventies vintage Oldsmobile steering wheel was covered in gray naugahyde to match and features a custom center horn button.
Rod added a set of black ‘Designer’ Autometer gauges, an Autometer tach and Freddie Wonder (that’s my son) installed a custom Autosound AM/FM stereo with Kenwood amp, Pioneer 6-stack CD changer, and 6 x 9” Infinity speakers. . .
So, whether he’s cruisin’ or swoonin’, Rod can make beautiful music with that smallblock rumbling under the hood, the deep black paint, comfy interior, and a sound system to set the right mood. . .just like the song of the same name, “Night Moves” fits this ’60 Belair to a “T”. . .but we’ll have to ask Jean about the line in that song that says something about “In the back seat of my ’60 Chevy”!!
. . .Keep on Cruisin’
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