Bel Air Rat Rod Bought By Mistake

I won this one on eBay by mistake!

Fortunately, it turned out to be a pretty good mistake. When this 1961 Chevrolet Bel Air arrived, it was actually in surprisingly decent shape. It drove, it stopped, and the previous owner had already done some of the expensive mechanical work, including fitting a late-eighties LT95 engine and disc brakes all round.

Which meant that pretty much everything else was left for me to do.

The bodywork needed plenty of attention, the paint had seen better days, most of the trim was missing and the interior was, to put it politely, horrible. Under the dashboard was a mass of wiring, some labelled and some not, and virtually none of the car's electrical systems were working.

The engine itself was running and its wiring was already in place, but everything else needed to be figured out. Fortunately, a good friend, Mike, was on hand to help me tackle the electrical system and teach me a thing or two about automotive wiring along the way.

This project quickly became much more than simply restoring an old Bel Air. It turned into a resto rat rod experiment involving custom wiring, LED lighting, fabrication, upholstery and a fair amount of improvisation.

This video introduces the car and the starting point for the build.

Follow the project as we turn a rather tired 1961 Bel Air into something considerably more interesting.