I know the inner workings of the Chevrolet Biscayne well because I used to borrow my grandfather’s pea-soup green 1962 example (very similar to the six-cylinder 12,000-mile car posted here recently). I once experienced a no-brakes situation in it at 60 mph, but that’s another story. What’s offered here is an honest 1958 Chevrolet Biscayne base car in Fairdale, Kentucky, with $7,500 being sought.
The car has the six-cylinder and automatic setup. The owner appears to have prioritized mechanical soundness over appearance. The car runs and drives very well, the owner says, and can be taken anywhere. Everything works, including the AM radio. The frame is good, and the floors have been patched (but need carpets). The gas tank and exhaust are new.
That’s the good stuff. The interior is, well, “all there,” but the seats have the blanket treatment, and the browned headliner has big holes in it.
But who can deny that this is a “cool old cruiser.” The chrome looks surprisingly good, and all the trim is in place. The torque thrust wheels are making a statement that the six can’t back up.
An argument could be made for keeping the extensive patina on this car and maybe clear-coating it. It would definitely be a conversation piece around town. Every mile is etched into what’s left of the two-tone blue-and-white paint. On the other hand, the Biscayne would look pretty sharp cleaned up, reupholstered, and repainted.
There’s nothing missing here that would be hard to find, and the mechanicals are simple and plentiful. This was the era when GM car design changed radically every single year, and everyone showed up at the dealerships to see the new models arrive. The ’58 looks nothing like the ‘59 or ’60. The ’58 was longer and wider than the ’55-’57 models that preceded it, and was also five inches lower.
In 1958, the Biscayne and the Bel Air were upstaged by the introduction of the snazzy, chrome-laden Impala, available as a convertible or sports coupe with a 280-horsepower 348. Fuel injection was available, too. That year, the Impala was just a trim level of the Bel Air, though it was so popular it got its own model line in 1959.
The Impalas are definitely the cooler of the full-sized ‘58s, and they’re priced accordingly. These Biscaynes were bread-and-butter transportation, especially in four-door form. Still, as the man said, it’s a “cool old cruiser.” Classic.com puts a 1958 Biscayne at $25,550, but that’s mostly based on fully restored examples. Do you think this battered beauty is worth $7,500?
’58’s are oddball but I like them! Would go great with my Cameo. Then a Vette would be next
The father of a man I used to work with bought one of these brand new, straight six with a manual column stick. They also had dealer-installed air conditioning, which was a luxury in rural Alabama in those days. He said it was turquoise inside and out. Their first new car.
Has duels on it, split manifold, probably sounds good.