On this episode, we travel down to Arizona and purchase a 1959 Chevy Biscayne that has been sitting since the early 90s can we get it running and driving well enough to drive it back to Utah 407 miles? 
Pull the rubber boot at the shift lever up enough to squirt some oil down into where the lever goes.... that will free it up. I have owned a 59 Bel Air for 45 years with a three on the tree.... I had the same issues with it, when I first purchased the car in 1978.
I have owned several 3 on the Tree Chevy's and have never had one that wouldn't jam up at some point. The secret to shifting them is in the 1st to 2nd shift, go almost all the way to reverse holding the lever to you, then come back down to Neutral then over and up to second. 2nd to 3rd was never an issue but the 1st to 2nd was tricky. Good luck with it! John
You should try greasing the shafts on the column underneath the hood were the shift rods are it's probably just dried up it happens from sitting I really love the car what a sweet ride I'd leave it as is and drive it😊
A note in shifting keep the lever keep it pull toward you till "N" then push over. Secord and third are synchro BUT first and reverse are NOT synchroed. so full stop before putting in first or reverse. Take the lever's out of the trans grease all the pivot points Be sure to get the levers at the bottom of the column are line up the lever's there and put in a drill bit to be sure they are line up as they should be. Family car in high school was a 59 wagon with the 6cly and 3 speed.
I had a 59 Brookwood wagon. Did yours ever hang the shifter if you tried to pull away too quickly in first? Ours did. We would have to get out, raise the hood, thd get the linkage lined back up before it would shift. Loved that car.
I swear this was the most frustrating video I've watched in a long time!! Wish I was there in Arizona when you bought the car so I could teach you a few things about 235's (my favorite engine) and how to quickly get that linkage working properly. Also, that transmission IS NOT SYNCHOMESHED in first gear, so please stop grinding the gears. 99% of the time when a 3 on the tree binds up, it's in the linkage under the hood by the brake master cylinder. The bushings probably need replaced at that point. Regardless, if you would have lifted the hood and put a little oil on the bushings and linkage connections it would have probably worked fine. Also, you could have grabbed the linkage rod under the hood and worked it up and down and it probably would have came unstuck. EVERY old 3 on the tree I've had, and I've had MANY, was stuck and usually took me just a couple of minutes to fix. My 1960 Chevy Apache that I've owned for at least 25 years now was stuck when I bought it. A little oil, a little moving the rod up and down, been working great ever since. I don't mean to ridicule you, but damn that was painful to watch. I was screaming when you put that pipe on the shift lever!! Now, of course the problem may be in the column. If so, I apologize. But I've only seen that happen once.
Take a deep breath buddy, everything is going to be ok, well except for the column it’s screwed but everything else will be fine! Thanks for seeing the video though and don’t sue me for your upcoming therapy bills that you are going to need because of me!😬 no in all seriousness I do believe it’s the column because after the video was taken I looked a bit closer and someone has welded on the linkage under the hood. No worries I’ll fix it. Thanks for watching
@@Seewhatyoustarted 🤣🤣!! Look, I've been driving these old cars and trucks for over 50 years and work on them myself. If you're seeing some cobbled up welding on the column then fine. That just tells me a previous owner didn't know what the heck he was doing. Thank God you didn't break the shift lever off using that pipe. I wouldn't have done that in a thousand years. But hey, it's your car and I'm still a subscriber and will watch. I'm just a sentimental old man that hates seeing younger generations tear these fine old cars up. I just watched a video where these two young guys took a fine old 1953 Ford that was in good shape with decent ORIGINAL paint and slam the car to the ground, then sanded various spots on the paint down to bare metal to give it a "patina look". I just about vomited on the computer screen.
@@davesaylor5135I think they are too lazy and/or cheap to do a paint job. Personally, I don’t care for the rustier patina looks. It is ok if original paint is just a little thin, but anything worse needs a paint job, IMHO.
Great find! As far as the shifter goes from sitting for a extended time the linkages will get sticky or even stuck so I would start with soaking all the swivel points with a lubricant such a PB blaster but you probably need to do a little adjusting of the linkages. There is a few good videos on RU-vid to show the procedure. Good luck and enjoy, she’s a dandy!
I like what you are doing and how yougo about it. Many other content creators have gotten to big and their content is more annoying at this point. I enjoy the reality in your videos.
Brings back memories. We had one back in the mid sixties and my brother was running around the car and hit his head on one of the fins sticking out and wound up having a steel plate in his forehead. I kid him about it every time I see one.
How about checking the plug gap before installing or at least looking at them but nope straight from the box to the engine then he will wonder y its not running right sooo frustrating
To only be one year is a shame I think these have got the best looking tail lights of any year Impala hopefully you do more with this car it deserves it
Yeah it’s definitely a cool looking car for sure. Probably my favorite year of chevy cars lineup. I’m going to do a few things to it to make it a better driver but not a full restoration on it.
Someone who might know whats' going on with the trans is Ryan from Iowa Classic Cars. He just posted a video a few days ago about a 59 Impala he's working on. He's really into them and has a garage full of them.
GREAT CAR! One of the greatest cars I owned was a 1959 Chevy Brookwood 2- door station wagon. I bought it from my parents, and did a paint job and minor bodywork on it the summer between high school and college. Drove it to college my freshman year. God old 235 with three on the tree. I’d give just about anything to have it back. Try to find yourself an oil-bath air filter to make it authentic. Easy with the blinker lever. They are kinda fragile Like others said, you need to live up those shifting linkages - grease or heavy oil. It’s just dry.
First, If the directionals are flashing, pull the flasher can out of the fuse box or the inline. Second, you are not supposed to shift into 1st or reverse while that car is moving!
First things first make sure your linkage are even on the trany and by the fire wall if they aren't along it means your linkage are off pull both levers on the transmission itself make sure the gears are not engage then check your linkage by the fire wall the should be parallel to each other if they are not your linkage need to be adjusted
The column under the hood is where they lock up try just putting some loob on them it is most likely they are dry and some times the bushings wear out and you can replace them
also check trans oil level. put trans in neutral , the links should be parallel or directly even with each other. there should be threaded links or pins on the linkage . some time the links are bent from someone forcing the shifter. if you can't get to a functional position . unhook the links at the trans. neutral should be easy to find . 1srt and reverse will be on the back lever. 2nd and third on the forward lever.with the levers in the center position. each you should be able to move each lever easily both directions . but if one of them is not in neutral the other shouldn't move. other wise one could lock up the trans. there are balls and springs inside the trans to prevent lockup. there is an H cutout in the column clean it up and check for damage. the center of the H should be even with the shift lever when in neutral. (cliff notes version). good luck
Very cool find! If you need any advice or maybe even some parts, i might be able to hook ya up. I only had 15 or so 59s and daily 2 of them in the summer.
First gear is a crash gear,second and third are synchromech gear try shuffling the clutch when engaging first and second gear,relax the gear change between first and second
I own a 60 Belair, it was repainted to this Roman Red Color, dash is gun metal gray, which was the original color of the car....your might have had the same situation here.
There is a good easy way to adjust the shifter ..you wrecked the best side of the old car.why don't you slow down and find neutral then shift it from there .best way to adjust it is to find a guy smart enough to work on it. And you stay away from it..
This is a base Model Biscayne not a top model Impala! Fighting with all your force on the shift lever made me cringe and then amazed it survived a 4 foot pipe used on the shift lever! That is the most abuse I have seen exerted on transmission linkage when a little lube at the end of the steering column under the hood would have cured it. No doubt the linkage will need some adjusting after that force. Hopefully no permanent damage has been done.
Patina is a word that needs to be outlawed. Effed paint is exactly that, rust is exactly that etc I will not look at any old car where I see the word Patina. If the Owner knows that word, he/she is gonna ask a stupid as price\
Thirty years ago, I thought the 58 and 59 were the ugliest Chevys I'd ever seen. Now, being about your age, I look at them and I cannot help but be rapt to see one in any condition, moving down the highway.....and I think time has mellowed its lines for me and she's one of the most beautiful cars ever made. Weird how that happens. Apart from the floors and the bottoms of the rear quarters, that beasty looks damn solid. The engine sounds sweet as a nut and the box has all the right whines with no noise from the diff either. The interior - ok, the hoodlining is disgusting and the door panels are shot, but the seats would come back with a decent shampoo and disinfectant....and that dash! Wow! You know, I'm thinking that beasty is mostly a cosmetic overhaul. Sure - weld in the floors and repair the lower rear quarters, replace the brakes (which is typical for any car sat for umpteen years), adjust the slack out of the steering box and fix the column shift.....but other than that, it's just a bit of dusting in on the paint over the repairs, replacing the door panels and trim, cleaning the crap (literally!) out of the seats, pulling that manky liner down, cleaning up what's behind it and putting up a new one if it cannot be cleaned and chucking in some nice underlay and carpet. Great find, lovely cruiser, easy to maintain, plenty of appeal and a generally good car all round. I'll look forward to seeing what the issue in the column is, but it looks to be something like a collapsed bearing, worn bush or slipring inside the column causing the issue if the selectors and linkages to them move freely enough. My first thought on that would be to get a can of WD40 and drown the insides of the column where I can get at under the bit that moves with the shifter. Hey - maybe take the whole thing apart an have a look, because another thought is that the right blinker stays on, so maybe one of the signal wires has got itself tangled up in the shifter somehow, is shorting out and keeping that turn signal going. It might all be related.....but then, who knows. Either way, it's got to come apart anyway. Good luck with the old girl, matey and all the best from here in New Zealand!
I have to say I totally agree with itonclad' s comment! It was very painful to watch you drive that great old Chevy. You definitely need to do some learning on those old classis! Please! 🙏😅
I could have got it out of first in 5 minutes most simple car in the world to work on people like you shouldn't even be allowed to own an old car.you wreck more than you fix .it's under the hood .watch you wreck it .why do you think that old 4 door peace is so cool .the shifter adjustment is on the end of the steering column under the hood real simple fix I had lots of them in the past
@41chevceo where are your cars? Where are your videos on RU-vid? Exactly, you just sit in front of your computer trying to be a know it all, but really come across as a jealous, rude arrogant old man who has nothing better to do than to pick on people over the internet. What a LOSER
Mate, you are huffing and puffing from standing up and walking around a car. I've been that way years ago. I started out slowly. I cut out sugar first. At first I ate as much as I wanted still but only good food. I rode a bike and hit a punching bag. Over time I ate smaller amounts. I never pushed myself that hard, I just changed my life. Bad food tastes like shit to me now. I eat lots of red meat, fish and chicken. Nearly all meals I make at home. I very rarely eat shit like McDonald's. It tastes like shit to me now.
My dad owned a 3 on tree chevy and whenever that linkage acted up he volunteered me to free it up and that was as an 8yr old. Hard to watch this video.
Please tell us grand wizard of cars. What a joke I bet a 8 years old you were still breast feeding from your dad. I bet you couldn’t fix crap on a car.
David you are so dumb….. he got it running and driving , literally saved a classic car. Grow up and show some support to those people who try and save them.
Also, never put lever into first gear unless you are SITTING DEAD, STOPPED, NOT MOVEING. Sell it, Sell it. You don't deserve the car. You don't know how to work on it. I'd bet you've bent one of the shift rods. A pipe on the shift lever? My 16 year old Austic son knows better than that.
I would just like to say that @ironcladranchandforge7292 you are not alone. I read you comment and you and I feel exactly the same re this video. every time he selected first while moving I was screaming at the video for him to stop doing that.