The transmission options included the standard three-speed manual transmission, an overdrive three-speed offered with the 170-horse-power six or the 170-horsepower V8, a two-speed Powerglide automatic offered with all engines except the 409s, and a four-speed stick offered on the 327 and 409 V8s.
The Roman Red 1962 Chevy Bel Air pictured here started showing up at the Southern California version of Cars and Coffee last year. Owner Börje Forslund of Yorba Linda, California originally hails from Sweden. A well-known collector, Forslund, like many of his fellow Scandinavian car enthusiasts, is an aficionado of classic American iron from the Fifties and Sixties, especially Mopars and big-block muscle cars.
His 61,000-mile Bel Air two-door hardtop, now available for sale, was built in Chevy's Van Nuys, California plant. When he purchased the car about a year ago from a private collection in the San Diego area, the previous owner told Forslund the Bel Air had spent much of its life in Wisconsin.
The VIN verifies that the car was originally equipped with the Z11 409 engine and a four-speed stick. Save for the 409, the four-speed stick, and the tach, the car is optionless.
In 1962, it represented the apogee of Chevy's muscle-car hierarchy and was the scourge of drag strips from coast to coast. Such cars could be driven right off the showroom floor and into the winner's circle.
When he bought the car, Forslund was told it had undergone a complete restoration about six years prior.
It has been driven fewer than 1,100 miles since its restoration and presents itself exceptionally well. At last year's Goodguys Del Mar show, it won the title of Best Muscle Chevy, beating out, among others, eight different Chevy bubbletops, including one major magazine cover car.
The chrome is near perfect, and the glass, all of it original, barely shows even the kind of wear expected on a
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