Car Features: Bob Funke’s 1959 Chevrolet Bel-Air

The RacingJunk Editors

13 Sep 2021

Click Here to Begin Slideshow Recently Bob and his Chevrolet Bel-Air took home the gold for our On The Road with RacingJunk contest, so we wanted to dive a little deeper and find out more about Bob and his awesome car! RJ: Hey Bob, can you tell us a little about yourself and your Chevy? Bob: I have been a car guy since I was old enough to build and customize model cars, after that, it was a labor of necessity, not enough money to pay someone else to fix our update my current set of wheels. Family, houses, kids, jobs and school slowed my personal cars down, but I was always fixing something in the garage or driveway for me or someone else, the extra spending money kept me in tools anyway.
Then the kids married and moved away, so more time and money for dad. I found a wrecked 1959 Biscayne not far from where I lived that started the quest for a 59. The Biscayne was wrecked on two corners but the guy had another one with enough parts to make one from two. As I was contemplating the scope of the project and my abilities, both monetary and skill level he sold the parts car. So I set off to find a 59. I would consider any of the 59 models, Impala, Bel-Air or a Biscayne, but I would like to have the Bel-Air and a 348 W motor. I looked for 1 1/2 years and covered a lot of miles with lots of phone calls and trips to places like Pine Bluff Arkansas, Columbus, Kansas and Excelsior Springs, Missouri.

I looked at a lot of rust buckets. I finally found a Bel- Air in North Kansas City, It looked good on the internet but it had one BIG problem, someone had cut the roof off and made a what I called a parade convertible, no working top, but they had gone to the upholstery shop and had a top cover made so it looked like a convertible from a distance. I believe this saved the car from the rust monster because they had to park it in the garage which kept it out of the weather with no top. I drove to KC looked at the car, it looked like a possibility. No rust, 348 motor, 2 speed power glide.

I returned home, went to the guy that started this quest, with the wrecked Biscayne, checked out the top and made a deal to buy the car. Called the guy in KC and made the deal for the topless Bel-Air and the 4-year project began, starting with replacing the top. The Powerglide was replaced with an ST-10 4 speed, front disc brakes, upgraded 2 system master cylinder, tubular control arms, period-correct 3 deuce set up with progressive linkage, new side glass, interior, paint, etc...

We'd like to thank Bob for sharing his Bel-Air with us!

Click Here to Begin Slideshow

Car Features: Bob Funke’s 1959 Chevrolet Bel-Air — Click Here to Begin Slideshow Recently Bob and his Chevrolet Bel-Air took home the gold for our On The Road with RacingJunk contest, so we wanted to dive a little deeper and find out more about Bob and his awesome car! RJ: Hey Bob, can you tell us a little about yourself and your Chevy? Bob: I have been a car guy since I was old enough to build and customize model cars, after that, it was a labor of necessity, not enough money to pay someone else to fix our update my current set of wheels. Family, houses, kids, jobs and school slowed my personal cars down, but I was always fixing something in the garage or driveway for me or someone else, the extra spending money kept me in tools anyway.
Then the kids married and moved away, so more time and money for dad. I found a wrecked 1959 Biscayne not far from where I lived that started the quest for a 59. The Biscayne was wrecked on two corners but the guy had another one with enough parts to make one from two. As I was contemplating the scope of the project and my abilities, both monetary and skill level he sold the parts car. So I set off to find a 59. I would consider any of the 59 models, Impala, Bel-Air or a Biscayne, but I would like to have the Bel-Air and a 348 W motor. I looked for 1 1/2 years and covered a lot of miles with lots of phone calls and trips to places like Pine Bluff Arkansas, Columbus, Kansas and Excelsior Springs, Missouri.

I looked at a lot of rust buckets. I finally found a Bel- Air in North Kansas City, It looked good on the internet but it had one BIG problem, someone had cut the roof off and made a what I called a parade convertible, no working top, but they had gone to the upholstery shop and had a top cover made so it looked like a convertible from a distance. I believe this saved the car from the rust monster because they had to park it in the garage which kept it out of the weather with no top. I drove to KC looked at the car, it looked like a possibility. No rust, 348 motor, 2 speed power glide.

I returned home, went to the guy that started this quest, with the wrecked Biscayne, checked out the top and made a deal to buy the car. Called the guy in KC and made the deal for the topless Bel-Air and the 4-year project began, starting with replacing the top. The Powerglide was replaced with an ST-10 4 speed, front disc brakes, upgraded 2 system master cylinder, tubular control arms, period-correct 3 deuce set up with progressive linkage, new side glass, interior, paint, etc...

We'd like to thank Bob for sharing his Bel-Air with us!

Click Here to Begin Slideshow

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