Chev Constantia

1973 Chev Constantia V8

The Chevrolet Constantia was only built in South Africa. The house in the emblem represents the House at Great Constantia and the wheat are those of Malmesbury.

There are similarities between the Holden Statesman which was available in Australia.

The vehicle I bought had some rust, but the body was in good condition, no prior accidents and still original. These vehicles odo trips over on 100,000km, the previous owner said it had 126,000km on the clock when I bought it. Judging from the condition of the disc brakes, brake drums, etc, I can very well believe that it might be the case.

I quickly learned that most rust forms from the inside. When you see the rust on the outside it is already too late.

It is an expensive exercise but I decided to spend the money to have the rust remove the proper way, ie. cut it out and weld in new metal.

I have learned to love the rust. At least when you buy a rusted vehicle you know what you get yourself in to. If you buy a vehicle which has already been fixed, you never know how it was fixed. Did they just hide the rust which will come out again after a year or two. After stripping this car I decided that it is better to buy a car with rust you can see and have it fixed yourself. Unless of course the owner can provide documented prove that they fixed the rust by cutting it out.

Here are some before and during pictures.

Before:

Late, after I had the air cleaner and tappet covers sandblasted and powder coated.

During

After the rust were removed the whole car were primed and then sprayed with filler.

Then we started with the colour