Back in the day when people used to warm over a 283 the basic mods were a slight bore (.060?) to get a 301, add a big 4-barrel or 3 twos and throw in a 3/4 cam and solid lifters. The cam will give you more HP and lope up the idle a bit, just enough to sound good.
The term "3/4 cam" can mean many different things, but simply put it's a cam that improves performance but is still suitable for street use. Racer Brown, Clay Smith Cams and Isky were players at the time but one of the favorites when I was a kid was the one from Corvette engine, the legendary "Duntov" because it was very streetable and available at your local Chevy dealer's parts window.
That cam was named after Zora Arkus-Duntov perhaps THE most significant individual in the history of Chevrolet product development. He developed the cam and fuel injection for the first V8 Corvettes, but his spirit and determination immortalized him.
If you're doing this to your '59, you will indeed be true to the car's history.
Google Duntov, it's an interesting story.
