To many, the 1962 Chevies with a 409 cubic inch V8 are considered iconic. And those with twin carburetors raise the bar even higher. This 1962 Bel Air 2-door sedan has a 409 twin carb engine and a 4-speed manual transmission. But no one has said whether the car was built this way. Out of long-term storage, this Chevy has had a ton of mechanical work done, leaving the rusty sheet metal to the next owner. Located in Gilroy, California, this sleeper of all sleepers is available here on craigslist for $17,500. Another great tip from T.J.!
The 409 big-block was introduced in 1961, and it put out 360 horsepower with a single 4-barrel carburetor. It inspired a song by the Beach Boys, “409”, which included lyrics like, “she’s so fine, my 409”. A year later, the dual 4-barrel carburetor version was introduced, and it was said to produce one horsepower per cubic inch. These engines, especially in the lighter Chevy Biscaynes and Bel Airs, were menaces at the drag strip. 8,900 409s were thought to have been installed in a 1962 Chevy, with 10% estimated to be the twin version.
Once liberated from storage, the seller went to work on righting this car mechanically. That includes the brakes, fuel tank, carburetors, shock absorbers, exhaust, battery, and probably more. The odometer reads 50,000 miles, but it’s broken, so who knows what the true mileage is. And we assume the Bel Air is driver-quality at this point. But no mention is made as to whether the engine or transmission are numbers matching or even period-correct.
The interior in this Chevy is okay, but far from perfect. When the Bel Air was new, it was finished in black, but that got changed to white some time back. Corrosion is an issue, but the machine has never been wrecked, so hopefully, no hidden damage is afoot. You could drive the vehicle the way it is, more or less, but it’s probably worthy of a complete cosmetic restoration. With more than 400 hp, this car should certainly be a handful in city driving.
What? Another one? Just a second, let me find my tuning harp,,me, me, me, “my 4 speed, dual quad, positraction 409”,,( I never liked that “giddy up” part) and precisely what this person was going for,,,in S.California. Never saw one in Beer City. We were small block central, maybe in a truck, but I never remember seeing a 409 anything. The song aside, the car itself was not really drag race material, too heavy, and took a truck motor to get it down the track. Not to bash the motor, but was short lived as Ford and Chrysler had them beat.
This car was a tire smoking monster, and could indeed get rubber in all 4 gears,,,oops, wait, different song, great find here, and like most cars with song history, will be collectible for ages. Now, how to drive the darn thing? 1st 1-2 power shift will require a stop at Walmart for new underwear. Really, think about it, what today has the power of a Saturn V, and the humbleness of grandpas Chevy? Nice, NICE car.
“not drag race material”? You might want to look up Dave Strickler, Bill Jenkins, Hayden Profit, and a few others. They somehow managed to get those old truck motors boogieing pretty good.
Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins!!! I had a car magazine in my teen years that had a fantastic life story article on him, his cars, Dave Strickler too.
Hey oldrodder, boy howdy, got that right. Dyno Don Nicholson got his name from being one of the 1st to utilize a chassis dyno at a Chevy dealer in S.Cal. on a 409, I believe. His car ran in the mid 12s, but Ford was close behind. I think he jumped ship for Ford in ’64. But the king of all racing back then was Chrysler. Not many 409s beat the Ramchargers or Richard Petty.
Too cheap for a real one, it must be a clone….
I have my suspicions but it is rusty so that should factor into the price. Would need to verify in any event.
Unless it’s so rusty it’s about to break in half the price is way off, it’s either a screaming deal or the ad is fake.
Steve R
I was gonna say……..this one’s priced (IMHO mind you) about $40K too low “if” it’s original. But even so, if it’s a transplant like so many cars are it could be a dream come true for someone in the market for a dual-quad 409 4-speed. Do a repaint in the original paint code, re-do the interior with one of the available kits, and you’re set!
I pitty the fool having to buy gas for this! Better have deeeeeep pockets.
These are very easy to clone. And they we’re very tempting to clone because they were dirt cheap and all you had to do was swap in the engine and tranny.
So absent concrete evidence to the contrary , I would assume it’s a clone, in which case the price is probably way too high given the rust.
This seller doesn’t claim that this is original and numbers matching, and I think the price reflects that. I also don’t believe that the ask is out of line just because this makes an ultra cool hot rod.
If this was the “real deal” it would probably be close to double the asking price, even in this condition.
Fair enough, but my concern wouldn’t be with this seller. It would be with one or two sellers down the line who may conveniently forget that the vehicle is a clone when they go to sell it
very true and some are really 348s being passed off as a 409 they look the same except for the dip Stick is on opposite sides
Chevy Super Sports were quite popular out in the Chinook Belt. There were lots of 409-powered versions but quite likely they only sported a single 4bbl. One guy in my hometown came back from the army with a ’62 similar to this one, only running 3-2bbls.
There was a guy, showed up with a Canadian Pontiac Parisienne SPORT, that was essentially a Chevy SS in Tin Indian regalia. It had a 409/4speed, and was quite a mover.
Anyways, this might be someone’s dream. It will attract a fair bit of attention when it’s done…
chevy never made a 409 with 3 2 barrels only 348s had 3 2 barrels
seems way under the number even with the heavy rust. something seems funny.
What an absolute JOY that must be to go through 4 gears with a 409 sitting on a bench seat!
I agree with Steve R, something is screwy here. This either the deal of the century, or the ad is bogus.
On a different note, this car reminds me of a ’62 white Biscayne that a local car lot had for sale in probably 1966. They were advertising it as “The Fooler” because it was packing a 365 horse 327 with a M-21 Muncie. Absolutely one of the coolest cars I have ever seen!
This ad doesn’t add up?
If the ad is real, it could be the real thing. Look where the heater core piping is located.
Not far from me so I called, no answer, so I left a VM and sent a text with my info. We’ll see what happens. If I can go get eyes on it and it’s legit. Pics would tell me that the car was at least photographed in the area it is supposed to be located in. I don’t need another car, but…actually I should say I have no where to put another car in my 2 car garage.
I chatted with the seller. Seems legit so far. I am off work this week so I am free. I am supposed to call him back between 12:30 and 1pm today to schedule a time to go down and look at it this afternoon. We’ll see what happens. I’ll let y’all know…
Good luck, I hope the ad is legitimate and you can get it if it isn’t too bad. Even a car with a swapped in high horsepower 409 isn’t a bad deal, if the body isn’t too rusty.
Steve R
Steve, et al: well, it is very real and the seller is legit. He’s and older gent, old school drag racer that still races. He was really cool and awesome to chat with. I checked out several of his other cars, from a 62 Dart wagon with a stroked 440 to an amazing all original 57 Plymouth wagon. He had some sweet rides and we chatted for a little over 2 hours.
The 62. Originally from Pennsylania and he bought it sitting out in a field in Hollister where it’d been languishing for a number of years. He, nor I, believe it was original 409 car. The driver’s side fender shows some black paint (car was originally black), and the 409 emblem holes had been drilled. Later year block with an M22 attached to it. The engine sounds stout. It has a gear drive and most likely some other performance goodies in it. Fires right up with 65 psi OP. No smoke, no noises (other than the whiny gear drive.). The braking and fuel system (minus the hard line) have both been gone thru. The seller redid the exhaust, with headers, 409 manifolds come with the car. The tires are starting to show some cracking on the sidewalls. Now for the rust. There’s a decent amount, nothing that could not be repaired, but still, there’s several areas. The front windshield channel is pretty minor with what you can see, the rear is worse, with some small spots at the corners. The C pillar on the driver’s side has a couple spots of rust through. Both rockers. Both fenders at the bottom and lips in the front. The pass side quarter could be patched around the wheel well to the bottom and lip area. I’d just replace the entire driver’s side quarter with the small crunch it has in it. The pass side door has some prior body work and crude patch panels. Inside of the decklid has some small mostly surface rust around the inside lip. The trunk floors have a couple of rust through spots where the floor angles up. The undercarriage is not that bad. Floors look pretty clean. The middle floor support has a couple inch area that’d need to be sectioned in or replaced as it’s rusted through. There’s also a small spot on the driver’s side of the firewall and in the corner of the cowl.
Overall, I liked the car. I’d be very tempted to just address the floor support rust and make sure it is mechanically sorted and drive her as-is as an old warhorse type of beater. The car sounds effin’ sweet when he fired her up! Such a cool car as-is IMHO. I’m going to make my pitch to the CFO tonight. The seller seemed as if he is negotiable some, so we shall see, He does have a few other interested persons as well. It’d be a fun car to rip around the streets in for sure.
Good luck and good on you for actually going out and taking a look. If you get it, I hope it turns into what you want it to be.
Interesting. Let us know what you find.
Boulevard bruiser. I’d love to see this restored and given a brake upgrade.
I had a friend that had one of these but with a single 4 BB in high school. Was a screamer. He sold it and bought a 64 SS 409 again with just the 1 4BBl, and it was a convertible. Both were white as well.
Both were SS cars.
Friend of mine in 1968 had the ’63 409/425 hp. dual quad,4spd. convertible sold that and bought a Red ’64 hardtop with the 409/ 409 hp. single quad ,4spd.!!Both were SS !
in 1964 the single carb 4 barrel was a 400 hp up from the 1962 380 hp
Curious about this one…
i had some friends in 1962 buy some just like this for a drag car they all where radio delete this one has a factory radio
Black with red guts would be awesome looking on that body style!
Worth 17,500 all day for the fun factor alone. What a fun car. If I was still in Santa Clara I would have to check it out. Had to move for more car storage!
My dad bought a brand new FI Corvette in 1961, less than a year later it was stolen. 2 months later, he got it back sans the FI 283. A good friend of his worked in a local junk yard and told him about a totaled full size Chevy with a dual quad 409. My dad hauled ass to the yard and grabbed the engine and transplanted it into his 61 Vette. Needless to say, he had the fastest car in Northern NJ back then.
Numbers matching or not, if this runs and drives, and isn’t a total rust bucket, it’s a “real” good deal. If If If If…
If I could get ahold of this I wouldn’t care about VIN matching. I’d just enjoy playing with it. REAL cool Chevy!
My late B in Law bought a new ‘64 Impala SS. 409/4 bbl/ 4 speed. With 4 1/2” wide bias tires, it wouldn’t go, turn, or stop. He actually had a VW Bug drive off and leave him at a stop light. He absolutely hated it.; traded it for a ‘65 Corvair for his Dad- and bought a ‘56 Bug.
That’s a coincidence. My friend just sent me a pic of a white one he says belongs to a friend, wanted to know if it was worth $15000. It looked really clean, no rust on the out side at all. I don’t know about the floors or what engine is in it but I thought that might be fair if it ran good as clean as it looked. Am I close??
Are you referring to a 2 door 1962 Bel Air/Biscayne? If so, if the car is actually rust free and not a car that appears nice, but has a lot of body filler under the paint, $15,000 doesn’t sound bad. That body style has been sought after for decades and are hard to find in decent condition. It’s true condition can only be determined after a thorough inspection.
Steve R
Bunky, really??? My big sister had exactly the car you described and even though it definitely had a terrible relationship with traction, I can assure you that not too many cars could “drive off and leave” her.
$17,500 is about right for this collection of parts . as it would take $12,000 just to paint it . and then there’s that ” numbers matching ” problem that most certainly will hurt the sale anywhere it goes .
409 dipstick on the passenger side, 348 dipstick on the driver side, this has the dipstick on the driver side, however i believe the stick goes into the pan and not thur the block
very true but from what I understand its not that easy to change oil pans so i would have to say its a 348
I beg to differ with you. In the front on pic of the motor, you can clearly see the dipstick on the passenger side, right at the bend of the front header tube and the curve of the upper radiator hose. It is real easy to see in a full frame picture.
It would take a competent Chevrolet guy a pretty short amount of time to verify whether it is an 09 or not. I don’t believe that anyone can do it from a photo.