Help! Early 58 fuelie, 250hpcar

[Joe 37510]

Hi Guys, I'm looking at an early 58 fuel car to purchase. Car is under serial number 2300. Owner has no paperwork to support his claim of this being a real fuelie car. He's had it since 1984. Fuel unit is off car now, but goes with sale. Numbers, broach marks,x-58 heads all look good to me. Air cleaner is still in place on drivers side inner fender.Washer bottle is on passenger side. Tach has 5,000 redline and revolution counter at base of tach.Radiator has date of 57M, a late 57 radiator for an early 58 car which I think is ok.Distributor has correct plate with fuelie info. Does anyone know what size generator pulley is correct for this 250hp car? Is it a 3 5/8" or a 4" pulley? Any other tell-tale signs to look for to tell if this is a real car or not? Any info greatly appreciated. Thanks.. Joe

[Ed Jennings]

Re: Help! Early 58 fuelie, 250hpcar

On a 250 hp car, what you have got is about all there is. Gen pulley will be standard size. 4" only on HP models. I'm curious, is it a PG or manual? I've seen a few of these cars and owned one back 30 years ago. All but one were PG's.

[Joe 37510]

Re: Help! Early 58 fuelie, 250hpcar

Thanks for your reply Ed. The car is a manual, but I have not yet seen the trans to know if its the original or not. In photos, the shifter has an unusual bend in it, right at the shifter boot. I've never seen this before.When I asked about it, I got the standard answer, "that's how it was when I bought it in 1984"Thanks for the pulley info,the one on there is correct at 3 5/8".If you can think of anything else, please write again. Much oblidged.. Joe

[Roy B.]

Re: Help! Early 58 fuelie, 250hpcar

A true Corvette cast iron PG torque Convertor will have 32 nuts around the out side cover, see pic. where as the car has haft that number of bolts. You can see them with the starter out or the little cover next to it. Many PG Corvettes may have been changed to the car trans by installing the rear housing from the Corvette for the shifter mount. That is why finding a real original Corvette PG inner's and torque Convertor is rare in deed. Many are car converted .

[William C.]

Re: Help! Early 58 fuelie, 250hpcar

Don't worry, I owned one of these beauties in '66, found the original owner in my town (actually he found me when he saw the car in the parking lot) was a three speed no radio originally. They were out there.