The Chevrolet Bel Air got a redesign for 1965, which pretty much carried over to the ’66 model, although it did receive a minor facelift and revisions in the tail lights. The standard 6-cylinder grew from 230 to 250 cubic inches, followed by the 283 V8. Next in line was the 327, then the fresh 396, plus you could even equip your new Bel Air with a 427. This particular Bel Air started out life as a 6 banger, and while it looks like a sleeper there’s a real eye opener under the hood, and if you like the tame look with a big surprise in the engine compartment this 1965 Chevrolet Bel Air may be a good car for you to check out. It’s located in Franklin, Ohio, and can be found here on eBay with a current bid of $30,200, less than the amount it’ll take to make it yours.
The seller says his Bel Air is a true 60,000-mile car with original sheet metal and a paint job that is claimed to be around 30 years old. The body presents well from every angle we can see, and the finish looks nice and shiny to have as much age as it does. The trim and bumpers are also original, and the seller stresses that the car is not a trailer queen but was built to enjoy and can be driven anywhere.
Here’s that surprise I was telling you about! Gone is the original 6-cylinder, with a healthy 468 cubic-inch big block taking its place. The dyno registered 477 horsepower at 5,000 RPM but that was before the Demon tri-power and aluminum heads were installed, and the owner thinks it now produces slightly over 500 HP. There’s also a photo of the paperwork and dyno information included.
Things down under are looking really sweet, and there have been numerous suspension upgrades such as upper and lower tubular A-Arms and polyurethane bushings. There’s also now a Muncie 4-Speed and a 12-bolt limited-slip Eaton rear end with 3.73 gears. The seller says the Flowmaster exhaust system makes the lumpy cam sound great, but he also states that the Bel Air runs down the road like a normal car until you mash the gas pedal.
Inside, everything is said to be original, including the carpet and headliner. It all still presents very well, with the one blemish mentioned being a small spot in the outer seam of the driver’s seat. All of the gauges are functioning, as are the dash lights, and there’s also a column-mounted tach plus a trio of aftermarket gauges under the dashboard. The seller claims to have had several 1966 Bel Air and Biscayne cars over the years and says this one is his favorite and the most fun example he has ever owned. What are your thoughts on this 1966 Chevrolet Bel Air?
Sleeper in need of South of the Border and “This Car Climbed…” stickers…VERY nice build…
Unless I missed it, the seller says nothing about brake upgrades. I hope they were on his list, as even 477 horses are going to put a strain on those front drums….
The upgraded master cylinder is a disc brake master, but funny the seller didn’t mention the brakes! Willing to bet it has discs, but you never know, there are some builds out there that leave you scratching you head.
I saved the picture that shows the front end and then opened it with another program and zoomed in and it does not look like it has disc brakes. But I guess if you got the bank account to buy it the price of disc brakes on all 4 corners isn’t going to hurt much. But all in all it’s a great looking car.
I agree with Ray, hoping the brakes are upgraded. I’m assuming they are as the A-arms are upgraded and it is hard to imagine doing that work then throwing the old drum brakes back on. I do like this build and imagine it is difficult to keep those rear tires from going up in smoke. We’ll, it would be for me anyhow.
Strange highlights other modifications and with so much time and money spent on the chassis would think brakes were done up too. Be bizarre if they didn’t. Nice ride, no air for us southern guys.
I wonder what the yearly cost to own one of these would be (Insurance, gas, speeding tickets, maintenance…you know, the usual stuff)?
Love it! Great looking car. Perfect color too.
What’s a disc brake master cylinder?
The front bowl on a disc/drum has a greater fluid capacity than the rear, this particular one appears to be an 67-72 disc brake master, the front bowl is substantial. Disc’s use more fluid on operation, thus the larger bowl capacity.
Nice build, but the builder seems to have phoned it in on a couple of things. The brakes appear to be drums, which is very surprising for a car that’s been so extensively modified and upgraded. Also, the exhaust is press-bent, which pinches the pipes. I would expect a proper (but more expensive) mandrel-bent exhaust system.
Instinct would tell me to open up the exhaust as much as possible but maybe it helps the “sleeper” effect. So add dump pipes!
On the subject of brakes. New mustangs have great disk brakes and they crash into everything.
My old b-body dodge would run near 120 at the drags and pulled down HARD from speed with stock drum brakes with aftermarket radiused shoes. But that’s a Mopar for you.
On the other hand, I once stomped the brake pedal in my IROC Camaro at around 100 and literally ruined all four disk brakes. They bit for about 3 seconds and simply let go, like I took my foot off the pedal. I had to replace everything to get them back in shape. My pickup stopped better than that car with stock parts.
I don’t understand why people get so hung up on disk brakes for daily driving or just showing off once in a while. Maybe it’s a chevy thing. I’ve upgraded the brakes on both my chevys now that I think about it.
BTW; stoppingest car I ever had was my 01 Cobra, which was a pretty fabulous car all around.
Assuming that IROC was 80’s, several GMs of that era had minimal brakes. We had Corsicas and Barettas on our fleet that wouldn’t stop if there was any pressure on the gas pedal (yet all the attention was focused on Audi).
Yeah, It’s an 89. I changed to 12″ ‘LS1’ f-body parts, front and rear, years ago. Night and day.
The key advantage to disc brakes is that they are far better at dissipating heat than drum brakes, since drum brake components are contained within the drum rather than exposed to air like disc brakes. Once the brakes become saturated with heat, they cannot effectively stop the car. You wouldn’t generally notice this with a single high-speed stop, but a few high-speed stops without sufficient cooling time will result in noticeable fade in a stock drum brake setup.
If you keep drums adjusted proper they work just fine,also keep front wheel bearings serviced or you can lose tire ,wheel and drum at the same time.
Not to belabor the point, but radiusing the shoes with a press to the ID of the drum is mandatory for great drum brakes, and almost nobody does it.
A properly set up drum brake can actually perform very well. There are plenty of vintage racers still running drums because of class requirements, but it can be done. I remember 60’s era drag racers would swap out discs for drums to take a little weight off as well as reduce the parasitic drag. Things have changed a lot since then, but there were aluminum drums available to also shed some weight, and even some relatively “trick” brake shoe materials also.
This is a beautiful ride. Good luck selling it.
No one has answered my question ,what is a disc brake master cylinder,19sixty5 has 9 thumb ups someone muy know the answer.
That was the answer, unless someone can provide more. They all operate the same way, it basically boils down to fluid capacity.
Bevel the shoes helps
Meant chamfer,my correction.
Probably scoots pretty good. I dynoed 475 hp at the wheels in my ’79 Delta 88 and it really hauls the mail; this may be a bit lighter so it could be a pretty good race.