One of my favorite car personalities is the so-called sleeper look, when a base model car is equipped with few options but has the largest engine under the hood the brand offers. And it works exceptionally well with the 1962 Chevrolet Biscayne, as the car was such a low-cost model to begin with, aimed primarily towards budget-minded buyers who wanted no-frills basic transportation without all the bells and whistles. Many of the components available as luxury options on higher-end Chevy’s couldn’t even be had on the Biscayne, but the good news is buyers had a fine choice of engine choices to equip the car with, including the legendary 409. This ’62 Biscayne here on Craigslist has the bad boy under the hood and can be yours for $69,900, so make your travel destinations toward Salina, Kansas if you want to check this one out.
The seller starts by claiming his Biscayne is like new from top to bottom and goes so far as to say it’s one of the finest examples in the world. That’s a tall order and some large shoes to fill, but at minimum, the car is certainly one of the nicest examples I’ve come across in a very long time. No expense was spared in the rotisserie restoration, with the body stated as laser straight with tight gaps, plus that Roman Red paint is looking mighty fine all the way around. The red wheels and dog dish caps complete a minimalist appearance that’s just hard to beat, in my opinion.
It’s pretty easy to understand what’s new inside, as the owner simplifies it by just saying everything, and it’s hard to spot anything in there that’s not immaculate or close to it. I’m totally digging the dash layout with those gauges under the speedometer, and the steering wheel is growing on me as well. The bench seat with the floor stick shift just works so well here, and in this case, I’m cool with there not being a radio.
Ah, the 409… what a thing of beauty to find nestled under the hood! If there is any bad news here, it’s that we’re not told for sure the Biscayne was a factory 409 car to begin with, and if it was whether or not this is the original block. Regardless, the engine compartment sure looks keen, plus there are dual quads on top of that big block and the transmission is a 4-Speed manual. Even the undercarriage is nearly as detailed as the rest of the car, and with less than 2,000 miles driven since the completed restoration this Biscayne seems like it’s raring to go. Is right at $70k a reasonable price to pay for what you’re getting here?
Cost a lot more then 70k to make this car into what it is now . I like it original or not.I think it’s a deal .
Nice car but no power steering, no power brakes, and no AC?……..70k?
Ya, what were they thinking, trying to sell a car for $70k that doesnt even have a satellite stereo, Onstar, USB ports, or power windows.
Yeah. Not so much as a single cup holder…
I’m also a Tom P but goes by Tman. And no remote start, heated and cooled seats, backup camera, 10 speed automatic, AWD, 4 wheel disc brakes traction control.
Just the standard power nothing, optional radio and heater posi rear bare bones rude and crude muscle car
A lot of car. A lot of engine. Not much brakes.
I love it but I do not miss non-assisted drum brakes at all. Not even a little bit.
no keyless entry..what is the world coming to?
I think it is obvious what the original owner had it mind…driving it a 1/4 mile at a time.
The paint job looks incorrect and over the top; done with modern products. They should have used 1962 paint technologies and methods to make the car correct.
Slow day? Didn’t y’all just cover this car last month? It’s been for sale going on six months or so. Either way, nice car. You can find non #’s 409 post cars for less money, although, maybe not as nice as this one. Still, pricey for what it is.
Correct, Adam Clarke did a write up on this car January 9th.
That car is def not a pig, but the lipstick still don’t look right
Even if it were lipstick on a pig, it makes is a mighty fast pig!
Love the bench seat and the 4 speed. I’m weird like that.
If it isn’t original, I think I’d like to add AC (it’s hot in Mississippi), and PS, PB. I love the old one finger steering that the old power steering equipped cars had.
Awesome car, but for $70k, I’d have to buy something I could take a family vacation in like a newer crew cab truck. All of our vehicles have over 150k miles and I don’t think I could road trip a big block car with no AC!
Buy it! – then you could visit every gas station
along the way.
This one just comes off as over restored.
Would be nice if it was actually done as it came out of the factory because they were never this nice new. I don’t think they’re going to find many buyers at 70K
All that this is missing is a couple of red lights, a chrome spotlight and some gold leaf lettering.
OLD SCHOOL at its finest!!!
Red rocket ship 🚀
You know, part of my frustration, is being “logged out” mid comment, but another is, I’m feeling my age. I know now how my parents felt when I didn’t care for their Glenn Miller music,,but FOR CRIMINEY SAKE,,not ONE Beach Boys comment? Sigh,,,”she always turns in the fastest times, my 4 speed, dual quad, positraction 409″( I never cared for the giddy-up part), and while they never said it was a red ’62, the song came about then and everybody figured it was the ’62. That song graced many an AM radio, and crappy one speaker, but we were singing so loud, it didn’t matter,,There’s absolutely no question, the restorer had that song in mind, it single handedly made the car famous. And so it goes,,, cool find.
Howard, I’ve got it on 8 track…you want a copy?
Ha! That sure dates us, The Beach Boys on 8 track in my ’58 Volvo. Yeah, I hear some punk snickering in the background, go ahead and laugh, an 8 track was more important than good tires. It’s not the tape so much today, as the tape player. Most bit the dust or were thrown away as technology developed. I can still remember when hearing some classic songs today, where the track changed, remember? That annoying , CLICK,,,
I’ve still got an 8 track RECORDER, and you can still get blank 8 track tapes on eBay. I saw a 65 Mustang the other day that had a half-year factory option of an in-dash 8 track player IN PLACE of the factory AM radio. Shoulda bought the car (it was pretty rough!) just to get the player!
The only complaint I have is I don’t have the money!
I am holding out until I see a 1969 ZL-1 Corvette. I don’t think the Mopar boys like that car. It was very very fast. I was a Mopar man and never knew about. That was my lucky break that I never ran into one.
This segues in nicely with the business coupe thread. Assuming all was original, this was built as a street racer. A strippo Biscayne coupe was the lightest body available from Chevy that had the big block V 8.
Beautiful car! That’s all I can say.
That red does this car no favors.
Won’t last long at that price. Great car…only problem is I’d be afraid to drive it! Oh, one other problem…”She Who Must Be Obeyed” won’t let me have the money!
How exactly does a rotisserie restored car qualify as a Barn Find car , I’m confused
Original or not. Over restored or not. Absolutely beautiful!
Best thing about this car is no power anything. It’s a street racer and a very nice one. But be a bit of a chore to stop but if you won who cares!
Drum brakes did about as good a job of stopping a car like this as front discs…once! For drag racing they are fine. But beware the fade if you have to do it more than once without some cool down time. Dual diagonal master cylinder in the long run was a bigger deal.
in every other drive way back then. 6 motor choices, 4 transmissions, 3 or 4 models (2, 4 dor, wagon, vert, +?… no fast back/sq back choice yet…) 2 or 3 levels (more chrome, less, etc)…
I think this car once belonged to a close friend of mine. Bill was a Chevrolet mechanic beginning in the golden early 60s. He was always performance oriented and once told me that when he went to the Chevrolet technician training introducing the 396 in 1965, he had a new Impala SS with a 396 in the parking lot – even the instructors had not yet seen one on the street. He could nit pick the bolt heads, hose clamps, pulleys etc. of 409s at all the shows because he had had dozens of them apart when they were new. He bought this car (or one identical to it) as a restored car. We did give him crap for the dual reservoir master cylinder, the incorrect steering column and wheel and a few other esoteric items and he corrected a few of them. I’m wondering if a correct no shifter column was in the trunk as it was when he sold it? Bill sold it several years ago, shortly before he became ill and passed away. He was probably the best technician I ever knew – when he fixed something it was right. He’s been gone for several years now but is still a legend in our car group.
Great story whether it was your old friends car or not. Exactly the reason I read all the comments. I’ll give anyone a pass on using a dual reservoir master cylinder !
Absolutely beautiful automobile, In every possible way. The only thing I might change is the steering wheel( nice wheel just not for that car). I would change it to a stock wheel.
What a piece of history!
I noted a 2nd drive belt on the engine. Does anyone have a clue as to what it is for? No power steering, so what does the belt power?
I also do not care for the aftermarket gauges in the instrument panel. With all the $$,$$$ spent, why not a factory tach?
The factory tach is there, you can see the top of it, it is oriented about at the 10 o’clock position of the steering column. You can also see the factory Stewart Warner tach sending unit under the hood. The 3 gauges in the dash are also original they are a temp gauge, clock (if ordered) and a fuel gauge. The second belt goes around the crank, water pump and an idler pulley. As I mentioned in my above post, my friend Bill was a performance tech at a large MPLS/StPaul Chevy dealership beginning in the early 60s. He told me that Monday mornings after drag strip weekends the 409 cars would be lined up in front of the dealership, usually with blown clutches, trans or broken axles. The 409s generally held up pretty well but were really tough on the rest of the drive lines.
As I also mentioned above, I believe this was Bill’s car. I showed the pictures to a friend and coworker of Bill and myself and he confirmed that it was most likely Bill’s car. It sold at Barrett Jackson about 8 or 9 years ago.
The factory tachometer was built by SUN Tachometer as was the under hood sending unit. The sending unit under the hood required two special batteries. These tachometers worked quite well.
@ 427t-jet: Yes, I you are correct about the tach location in this unit. Perhaps I was thinking of the OEM tachs on the 63s. I feel that the way GM mounted them for 63 was “cleaner” and more integrated in to the instrument panel. Bob T. also noted It was a “SUN” brand. I was not sure, but now that Bob T. brings it up, he is correct. About the BATT, I recall having to run out to Radio Shack to get replacements for it. My family had a 62 C-60 w/OEM tach. When it was scraped, (25 years and 1 +/- million miles and more engines that I can recall) I saved the Instrument panel and send/unit. It went to a person that was building an early 60s truck. They where quite tickled to get it.
The three gauges in the in the I/P are not OEM. OEM was a black gauge face with a red pointer. In the photos I found today, it seems at times the temp and fuel gauge location would be different. I think some units had lamps for cold/hot(?)
As for the 2nd belt, I’m still a bit puzzled by it. Why would they run a 2nd belt? Odd that it only run over crank, water/p and tensioner. On the 62 C-60 it had a double pulley on the GEN. I recall having to change the pulley over when replacing the Gen.
You are correct on the tach. It’s been a long time since I monkeyed around with them. Back in the day we would harvest the sending units out of big trucks – a lot more of them than passenger cars with factory tachs. Sometimes we went to the trouble of taking the actual tachs out of the dashes, but they were low rpm and we usually didn’t bother.
I think the 2nd belt just gave more purchase area to spin the water pump. These engines were often run rapidly to high rpm and required deep groove pulleys and I think Chevrolet wanted more positive engagement of the water pump.
I personally hate modern cars, too much junk to break. And modern cars make people fat because they don’t have to do anything, just push a button. Just take a look in Walmart, elephants waddling around everywhere. Seems cheap at $70,000 with the cost of restoring cars today. Just one nitpick, why a C3 Corvette steering wheel?
Wonder how many of the cars made now will be on the road 50 to 60 years from now. It is great to see old cars that was made out of real metal. American companies knew what real metal was until greed sit and they wanted more profit.
Corvettes, some Mustangs, some Camaros, Challengers, maybe a few Chargers, that’s about it. Everything else looks the same, smells the same and is equally as ugly.