Part two of three
by Joe Reinschmidt
On February 6, 2012, after working over 18 months on restoring a 1955 Chevy Bel Air, Bill Bennett was very happy to meet Madeline, the cars original owner.In May of 2010, Bill Bennett acquired the 1955 Chevy and commenced the restoration project. The fact that Bill and his wife were both born in 1955 seemed to give them a special connection to the car. Also Bill’s father, Bob Bennett, was a part time mechanic at Rowley’s and Martin “Pooch” Cunningham, a relative of Madeline’s worked there part time and did most of the routine service on her car.
The extent to which the restoration would go wasn’t immediately determined but as Bill started removing various parts he noticed most of them were date coded. That is, they were stamped with the month and year they were made which is significant in the restoration trade. It wasn’t too long before Bill decided this would be a “frame off” project, which meant removing everything down to the frame and starting to sandblast, prime, paint and reassemble the vehicle piece-by-piece like it was built. Most of the car’s components were restorable. Those that weren’t, had to be obtained from vendors or by searching on the internet, in trade magazines or elsewhere. Word of mouth was also helpful. It took a lot of time and effort and luck was a factor. When Bill needed front fenders he heard that Dave Cooley had a set. Dave had purchased them from Heinrich Chevrolet for his own ‘55, but had never used them. They had been in his garage since the late 1950s and Bill was able to acquire them.
The process took much more time than one might expect. Once you locate a source for a part and order it, there is the waiting for it to arrive and the concern that it is the right piece. Some are quite unique as were the headlights. They were a “one year” component; that is the particular unit was used only on the ‘55 models. While other headlamps would fit, they would not be the optimum/correct unit from the restoration point of view.
Bill had a lot of help from his son Cody who is 19 and currently a lance corporal in the US Marines. Paul Ekstem is a friend who provided both help and advice to the effort. Some of the heavy work, such as sandblasting, was done by vendors and the finish paint was applied by B& C Auto Restoration.
While the extensive work and delays were frustrating, Bill’s determination to get it done was influenced by the fact that Madeline was still alive and that hopefully he would be able to drive the car to her current place of residence, show it to her and maybe take her for a ride. On February 6, 2012 Bill met Madeline, who turned 87 in April, and he described her as “the nicest person you could ever meet.” She is said to have some difficulty remembering things but when Bill told her about his work on her ‘55 Chevy she recalled a surprising number of details. They had a good visit which ended with a promise that sometime in May, Bill would bring the restored car to her, and take her for a ride in her first new/old car.
Next: Driving Miss Madeline
