Our February feature car belongs to Kelvin Hunt. When Kelvin found this '66 Beaumont SD convertible it was pretty much a basket case. For some folks the Beaumont may have been beyond fixing. Kelvin persevered and I'm sure you all agree the results were well worth it. Another rare Beaumont survives today thanks to Kelvin's dedication and skill. Mr. Hunt gives us all the details:

I have owned a couple of Beaumont's in my life and in 2015 I hadrecently sold a 66 Suburban to a buddy in Langley BC so I figured it was time to get another. I had been conversing with a fellow in Ontario that had a green Beaumont SD for sale. It was 1 of 43 bult.  I had received numerous pictures and was close to sending a down payment. Then a buddy of mine called me and said he had found a 66SD ragtop in Vancouver and he wanted to trade a 62 Chevy pickup I had and some cash. I dragged a car trailer over to his house in Coquitlam, dropped off the 62 and loaded the 66 on he trailer. It had been off the road for at least 30 years so it did not run. I ordered the documentation for it which proved it to be a true A51 car that had been sold at the legendary Conroy dealership.

I started taking it apart and it was then I realized that it was going to be a monumental task to get it done. I knew after looking at it that I could not afford to pay a shop to do the rust repair. At the time I was restoring a 65 chevy truck which I was starting to learn how to do bodywork on. The frame was rotten and beyond repair so the first task was to get it off the frame and put a new one under it. I was a one man show and taking a rusty car off the frame was the most stressed out I had been in a long time. It was this task that made me realize a 2 post lift was in my future!

The more I took off the car and the more parts I ordered it became apparent I had neither the time nor the money to have 2 large projects going at the same time. This was in 2015 so I shelved the car and proceeded to finish my pickup. I did source an El Camino frame from West Coast Customs. It was off of Rusty Wallace's 66 El Camino that they did for the TV show. I sat the car on the frame and pushed it to the back of the shop until 2017. I finished my truck in the spring of 2017 and enjoyed a few months off until the rains started and moved the Beaumont back into the work bay.

I installed a lift so my life was much easier. I used it to set the body off and back on the frame at least a dozen times to ensure fitment etc. I needed 2 inner and outer wheel house sections as mine were too rotted to be used. I found a set on eBay in a complete basket case Chevelle and I actually talked the seller into cutting them out. A Chevelle is not nearly as hard to find as a Beaumont so the sacrifice was worth it. I then waited 6 months for someone on Uship to bring them from South Carolina but the price was right and they don't repop them. I then spent the better part of the next 2 years worth of weekends drilling spot welds out, learning to splice, weld, and basically make stuff fit properly. I installed a new 1 piece floor pan, a 1 piece trunk pan, inner rockers, tailpan, inner and outer lower cowls, quarters, doors, wheelhouses, windshield frame, lower front and rear fenders, and dashboard to windshield cowl. I ordered a big block hood but did not like the fit so I cut the nose off of a perfect OEM hood and welded it on the repop hood so the molding would fit better. I did both trunk drops as well. It took me 8 hours to fit the passenger side one as it was too long and too wide. I sectioned it 4 times. It was during this time that I realized repop parts are "close but no cigar" but better than nothing.

Once I had all the metalwork done and the car was rigid enough I put it on the rotisserie and started the bodywork. I never really kept track of the hours invested. What was the point? Being so anal and not cutting corners made it probably twice what it should have been. I spent hours fitting my OEM taillight housings to repop quarters, I spliced the quarters a couple times making sure they fit. I then primed and blocked for hours to get it straight even though I did a ton of repair on this car. If there was a quart of plastic on it I would be surprised.  Once this was all done I flipped it over and raptor linered the bottom and base cleared it and put it back on the frame for the last time.

I stripped and painted the frame in the shop. Next I welded an HPI frame kit on it. It's great kit and the company is based in Manitoba. I decided to run coil overs all around so I ordered Viking double adjustables and went with all UMI bars in rear. I had a 300HP 327 out of a 65 Chevelle and decided to go old school so I rebuilt it. At this time I knew I wanted a 4 speed so I did all the factory modifications needed for the conversion. If it did not say PG on my tag no one would be an the wiser! The more stuff I put on this car the heavier it became to move around so it was time to get it running. This made my life easier! Now I could take it to my buddies shop to primer it instead of getting up at 5AM and painting before my neighbors got up!

I finally got it into paint this year. My buddy painted it for free which really helped me out as I am way over budget just on parts alone. I really wanted to show it in a couple shows this year but unfortunately that never panned out. It does draw a ton of attention and is an absolute joy to drive,  it handles unbelievably. I have dropped spindles with cross drilled slotted rotors and hydro-boost brakes so it stops on a dime. I am ordering a Tremec TKX trans in the New Year since I have a 12 bolt posi with 3.73's and at 110K I turn close to 3000 RPM. I stuck with my stock seat frames but upgraded the foam and covers to TMI and they are very comfortable. My Beaumont seat belts were bad so I used new Chevelle ones.  For the purists it might not be their thing. I own a 65 C10 pickup that is concourse restored and not very fun to drive. The Beaumont is my carof choice. Hopefully in 2021 we can get back to normal and I can drive it to a few shows.

I learned a ton on this car but the most important thing I learned was to just try to restore it myself. I never slam guys that buy finished cars. I never have because I never could afford it. Had I bought that green 69 SD I would have saved 30k and 1500 plus hours of time but I would have learned nothing!