When Gilbert Nobrega was 15 years old, he got his driver’s license and quickly bought a ’49 Ford V8 2-door sedan. Most of his buddies at Waimanalo High School drove General Motors cars, and Nobrega didn’t want to be any
When Gilbert Nobrega was 15 years old, he got his driver’s license and quickly bought a ’49 Ford V8 2-door sedan. Most of his buddies at Waimanalo High School drove General Motors cars, and Nobrega didn’t want to be any different, so he sold his Ford and bought a ’49 Chevy coupe.
Fortunately for Nobrega, his uncle was an excellent mechanic who taught him the value of working on his own car, and to this day Nobrega still works on his cars and never sends them out for repair.
When the body and facelift on the ’49 was finally completed, he would occasionally test its compression out on Nimitz highway, stopping along the way to refuel himself with carbs from the Jet Burger Drive-in.
After meeting his future wife, Rosalyn, Nobrega married the Hanapepe Valley girl and moved to Kaua‘i, bringing along a ’53 Chevy that remained as the family car for many years. After so many years of service Nobrega, sadly retired the ’53 and bought a brand new family car.
Call it sentimental, but it’s really very easy to get attached to old cars, especially if you spent many hours getting intimate with it busting your knuckles while attaching a tie rod and wiping lube grease out of your eyes. One lazy afternoon while driving through Kapahi, Nobrega spotted a for sale sign on a 1954 gold colored Chevy Bel Air, and he could swear he heard the rumble of a GM engine calling out to him. Nobrega thought to himself, “Hey! I can fix this up and restore it to look like my 1953 Chevy from the old days.”
It took some tough negotiation by long distance phone to work out a good deal even though the Bel Air was sitting on concrete blocks with no rims and no tires. But with a little perseverance Nobrega finally scored his ’54 Chevy and slowly drove it away down memory lane.
The gold Bel Air was quickly given a cosmetic face lift with body work completed by one of Nobrega ‘s sons, with another son working on the painting under a quick tent. Nobrega also re-chromed all the chrome work and added some chrome “teeth” to extend the grill giving the Bel Air a wider smile.
The ’54 holds a 305 V8 Chevy block with an automatic transmission. Nobrega’s classic has, as an added feature, power brakes that the original 6 cylinder ’54 Chevy did not have when it rolled off the production line. The car’s interior sports custom hardwood door panels, dashboard, console and steering wheel. Custom upholstery enhances both front buckets and rear passenger seats. Extra features include Cragar mags, custom bubble tail lights, chrome Chevy signature “bowtie” tips for the dual pipes that give the Bel Air that deep and very sweet VRooooM.
As tunes from the past float out the window of Nobriga’s comfy red ride, his muffler leaves no doubt that this ’54 will be rolling along long after the imports fill the Ahukini junk yard.
Anyone wishing to share their classic auto may find out more information by calling Richard Aki at 482-0688 or Harvey Maeda at 651-2813 or e-mailing harveyskoi@juno.com.
To view a short video of Gilbert Nobrega’s 1954 Chevy Bel Air, browse for “Video” at The Garden Island Web site, thegardenisland.com
•Leo DuBois, contributor, can be reached via news editor Nathan Eagle at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or via e-mail at neagle@kauaipubco.com
