1960 Chevy Kingswood 9 Passenger Wagon named “Helen”

The Chevrolet Kingswood was a big 4-door station wagon with room for nine people. It was made in 1959 and 1960.

Ryan “Ryno” Lieberman had recently moved from Southern California to Joplin, Missouri. One morning, he was browsing his favorite car websites when he found a “super clean, no rust” 1960 Chevy Kingswood 9-passenger wagon for sale nearby. He tried to contact the seller several times but didn’t get a response. Finally, he reached the seller, who said he hadn’t replied because someone from California was also interested.

Since the California deal wasn’t finalized, the seller agreed to let Ryno check out the car. When Ryno arrived, he immediately noticed rust holes. Sellers often claim cars are “rust-free,” but this wasn’t true here. The floors had rusted through in every footwell, and other parts weren’t in great shape either. Being from California, Ryno knew what kind of condition buyers there expected, and this car wasn’t up to those standards. He told the seller that the California buyer might be upset when they received a car with more rust than expected.

That evening, Ryno showed photos of the car to his wife. She fell in love with it. Even though Ryno explained how much work the car needed, she didn’t change her mind. She even named the car “Helen.” Ryno contacted the seller, made a deal, and brought the car home.

The car had been sitting in a field for 12 years. Ryno brought it home on a Tuesday and immediately tried to get it running. He set up a fuel tank, turned the engine by hand, checked the spark, and decided the old 283 engine wanted to start. After a few sputters and small fires, the engine roared to life. It made some noise and smoked at first but soon ran smoothly. Ryno then checked the Powerglide transmission. First, he tested reverse—it worked! Then drive—it also worked!

With the car running, Ryno fixed the brakes. By Thursday, just two days later, he took his wife to lunch in the car, despite its rusty floors and “rat poop flying everywhere.”

The transmission wasn’t shifting smoothly. When Ryno inspected it, he found that the rubber in the center support bearing was completely gone. After rebuilding it, the car shifted perfectly.

“I’m a clean freak,” Ryno said. “Once the motor was running, I had to clean it up. One of my sons helped me until he found a mouse skeleton!”

Ryno had some leftover airbag parts from previous projects. He decided to do temporary suspension work. He took apart the front suspension and replaced all the bushings, ball joints, and other worn-out parts.

He reinforced the bottom A-arms to hold the airbag mounts and made top cups for them. For the rear, he modified the stock arms to fit airbags as well.