12 thoughts on “Chevys. 55 to 58 Bel Airs. Update.”
Drooling, need one. Drove a 210 Same color as #9 Iin high school mist green, 3 on the tree straight 6 but could still burn rubber, yep sold it, DUMBASS.
ps Always liked the color of Burt’s in the movie W W and the Dixie Dance Kings
That was a GREAT movie!
Dibs on the ambulance.
I am sure Burt drove an Oldsmobile in W W
I was young, misremembered it as a cheby but yes, great movie.
Don’t you mean ’55 to ’58? The only ’56 I saw was the last image. I love those cars because I loved those times! Thanks for the memories.
I remember that the next year, 1959, they took the fins and changed them from vertical to horizontal. We had a ’59 in turquoise blue.
had a 2 door 55 back in the mid to late 1970’s. sold it in 1979 for 3 grand.
wish like hell I didn’t now. damn car was cherry. no rust, bondo, nothing.
bought it for 500 bucks from a old guy who kept in his garage.
and when I bought it, it only had 68000 miles on it.
straight 6 with a stupid powerglide in it. my dad told me I destroyed it by dropping in a 283 with a 4 speed. it was a very nice ride. brakes needed some help
after the V8 was put in, but
Those 50’s engines were only good for around 70-75k miles on average. At that point they were heavy oil burners, whether 6 or 8 cylinders. Other problems were brakes and clutches in short order. I bought ~6 ’57 Chevy 210’s in ’68-’70, one ’57 ragtop, and one ’56 2dr HT.
The ragtop cost $125, the 210’s were mostly $75, and the ’56 was maybe $200, but it had a Muncie 4spd and a worn out 283 v8. Bought it for that trans, and then delivered the car to a junkyard. When you shut off that small block, it wound down like a jet engine, the compression was so bad.
I drove every one of those cars home after purchase. Bad brakes were common, along with shifter issues, and they all burned oil. All bought from private sellers.
The ragtop was a six with 3 speed on the column. White with red interior. No rust. I think it was garage kept. This was south of Philly. I shoehorned a heavily breathed on big block 396/427 into it. Ran a Hurst shifter on a 3 speed until I got that Muncie. It would yank the front wheels off the pavement shifting 2nd. Those 3spd transes were only good for about a dozen launches before I had to toss them.
That engine was so radical that the idle rocked the car side to side. No one would run against it in the South Philly street races Fri and Sat nights. Can’t really fault them for that, as there were two other ’57s that were towed there for serious racing action (betting on the competition), and their performance was stellar. So, 57’s were viewed as a step above the norm. Those cars often left without running any races.
Dad had a ’55 wagon with the 265 V8. We *loved* that car, drove it throughout Europe from ’59 to ’62. He eventually traded it in for a ’65 Corvair Greenbriar, a REAL pig.
I had two ’57 hardtops in Minot ND, the 4-door was cherry. The two-door I had fun wiht. Man, those were the days!!
Drooling, need one. Drove a 210 Same color as #9 Iin high school mist green, 3 on the tree straight 6 but could still burn rubber, yep sold it, DUMBASS.
ps Always liked the color of Burt’s in the movie W W and the Dixie Dance Kings
That was a GREAT movie!
Dibs on the ambulance.
I am sure Burt drove an Oldsmobile in W W
I was young, misremembered it as a cheby but yes, great movie.
Don’t you mean ’55 to ’58? The only ’56 I saw was the last image. I love those cars because I loved those times! Thanks for the memories.
I remember that the next year, 1959, they took the fins and changed them from vertical to horizontal. We had a ’59 in turquoise blue.
had a 2 door 55 back in the mid to late 1970’s. sold it in 1979 for 3 grand.
wish like hell I didn’t now. damn car was cherry. no rust, bondo, nothing.
bought it for 500 bucks from a old guy who kept in his garage.
and when I bought it, it only had 68000 miles on it.
straight 6 with a stupid powerglide in it. my dad told me I destroyed it by dropping in a 283 with a 4 speed. it was a very nice ride. brakes needed some help
after the V8 was put in, but
Those 50’s engines were only good for around 70-75k miles on average. At that point they were heavy oil burners, whether 6 or 8 cylinders. Other problems were brakes and clutches in short order. I bought ~6 ’57 Chevy 210’s in ’68-’70, one ’57 ragtop, and one ’56 2dr HT.
The ragtop cost $125, the 210’s were mostly $75, and the ’56 was maybe $200, but it had a Muncie 4spd and a worn out 283 v8. Bought it for that trans, and then delivered the car to a junkyard. When you shut off that small block, it wound down like a jet engine, the compression was so bad.
I drove every one of those cars home after purchase. Bad brakes were common, along with shifter issues, and they all burned oil. All bought from private sellers.
The ragtop was a six with 3 speed on the column. White with red interior. No rust. I think it was garage kept. This was south of Philly. I shoehorned a heavily breathed on big block 396/427 into it. Ran a Hurst shifter on a 3 speed until I got that Muncie. It would yank the front wheels off the pavement shifting 2nd. Those 3spd transes were only good for about a dozen launches before I had to toss them.
That engine was so radical that the idle rocked the car side to side. No one would run against it in the South Philly street races Fri and Sat nights. Can’t really fault them for that, as there were two other ’57s that were towed there for serious racing action (betting on the competition), and their performance was stellar. So, 57’s were viewed as a step above the norm. Those cars often left without running any races.
Dad had a ’55 wagon with the 265 V8. We *loved* that car, drove it throughout Europe from ’59 to ’62. He eventually traded it in for a ’65 Corvair Greenbriar, a REAL pig.
I had two ’57 hardtops in Minot ND, the 4-door was cherry. The two-door I had fun wiht. Man, those were the days!!
Single barrel 12g. and a 20g. aoutoloader.
Whut?