Businessman works to create 1956 Chevy

KAYSERİ - Doğan News Agency

Kemal Nakipoğlu workson gathering the parts to rebuild a 1956-model Chevrolet. DHA photo

Kemal Nakipoğlu, a businessman from Kayseri, plans to rebuild a 1956 Chevrolet from, with parts sourced from the United States.

Nakipoğlu has a great interest in classic cars. He has repaired many classic cars and collected them and their parts over the years, and has organized fairs for classic-car enthusiasts.

Now Nakipoğlu is working on gathering the parts to rebuild a 1956-model Chevrolet. It is very difficult, almost impossible to find original parts, Nakipoğlu said. “I started this new project together with my friend Mehmet Sağıroğlu. We want to completely recreate this car.”

Sağıroğlu and Nakipoğlu found an original motor for the car in the U.S. “The engine cost us 10,000 Turkish Liras. Now we are working on bringing the rest of the original pieces from the U.S., such as body panels and lights.” This is a long and hard process, Nakipoğlu said, “But this is our passion.”

The two passionate men also face some challenges. “We have faced many problems with customs. It took us three months to bring one part into the country,” said Nakipoğlu. There are numerous legal difficulties and a lot of red tape surrounding the importation of old car parts, and each piece comes separately. “This means that we have to spend two-fold, in order to bring three pieces, because we bring them separately. But we aren’t importing them to sell, we’re only bringing them in to satisfy our own passion for classic cars,” said Nakipoğlu.

The complete Chevrolet will cost 70,000 Turkish Liras. “This is something which requires a lot of patience, and we are willing to wait,” Nakipoğlu said.