It’s no secret that one of the most popular series of Detroit iron is the “Tri-Five” Chevrolets from 1955 to 1957. More than 4.5 million of the cars were produced, and the period marked the return of Chevy’s first V8 engine since 1918. The seller has a daunting project that Mother Nature has had her way with – a 1956 Bel Air convertible. And to help with a restoration, a separate parts car is available but not required. Located in Burnaby, British Columbia, the ragtop is available here on craigslist for $14,750 CDN, and another $1,500 CDN gets you the parts car. A busy “Curvette” has brought this tip our way.
Buyers couldn’t get enough of the Tri-Five Chevies, with nearly 42,000 Bel Air convertibles alone leaving the assembly line in 1956. Wearing what used to be the Gypsy Red and India Ivory paint, the seller’s drop-top is about as rough a project as you’re likely to find. Even as a donor, its prospects aren’t great. A few decades ago, this car would have been hauled off to the crusher for free (or maybe you would have had to pay to make it go away). Very little about the convertible presents much optimism.
We’re told that most of the “hard-to-find” convertible parts have managed to survive. Its rarity may be because GM of Canada built it, and the seller thinks no more than 400 of them ever saw the light of day. It has a current BC registration and has tags present. A correct 1956 GM of Canada 265 cubic inch V8 has been saved for the car, along with a 3-speed manual transmission.
As an extra only if you want it, the seller also has a ’56 Chevy 4-door sedan for you to harvest parts from to help make the convertible whole. It actually looks better than the car it’s supposed to be helping make a comeback. But it’s not included in the purchase of the Bel Air (extra coin required). Do either of these cars get you excited enough to take a chance here?
Run do not pass go do not collect $200
O Brother. Y Bother.
There’s junk then there’s this thing…
It will buff out and probably drive home with both Fred Flintstone and Barney foot power helping….
Toast
In 1972 I had a ’56 Nomad and both quarters were rusted beyond repair, [No aftermarket back then]. I went to the local yard and cut both quarters off a ’56 convertible. Made them work on the Nomad by slicing the rear down the center of the tail light. Who knew what either would be worth today?
Tenner for the pair…
Found one a few years back for $5,000 in Illinois, it had been sitting in storage looked all original light blue and cream really nice for the price, but I was in the middle of moving from Alaska.
The 56 bel air convertibles my dream car and that was the best deal I’ve ever seen.
Give me $200 plus gas money and I’ll haul them away
That’s a Bargainl. If it were mine, i’d go for that in a heartbeat!!!
So we’re cleaning out an old junkyard as we clear cut?
Complete pile of junk
What a bargain, all it needs is everything!
Think you should buy the 4-door for 1500 and throw in the rat top for free for parts. Is this guy related to the guy who had the 2 Impalas in Florida last week? Holy crap come give me a bunch of cash for scrap! Get real people stop watching Barret Jackson!
My offer: $0.00!
That would be way too much!
I wouldn’t waste gas hauling this piecer to the scrap iron yard if it was a block down the street. Sheeesh! Some people need their head examined!
Not enough car there for the price, I’d suggest looking for a better deal.
They must be joking! Not a barn find, but a “forest” find. Let them rust in peace!
Some cars regardless of how popular they are were just ment to be scrapped I think you can do some research and find one that is drivable condition for less money
this guy has got to be f n kidding with that price. there may be 300.00 in scrap for all of them if you’re lucky
Yes, but you get 8 sbc cylinder heads!
I wouldn’t waste gas hauling this piecer to the scrap iron yard if it was a block down the street. Sheeesh! Some people need their head examined!
When I was 17 and single I may have dragged both cars home after paying maybe $100 for both. But at 70 I’d be dead before I ever got one of them any where near road worthy.
When I was 17 (1970), I could have bought either of them as runners for $100 each. They may not have been pretty, but they’d run and they’d have a back seat. 😎
Maybe it would be best to delete this listing.
$10K+??? For several pieces of scrap metal???GMAB!!! Nothing there to work with!
Would take thousands of $$$$$!!!
In high-school (wow! that’s 57 years ago!) I had a ’55 Chev convertible that was not rusty. Which living in Northern Illinois was amazing in it’s self. There were many rusty tri-5 Chevys around at that time that were rot buckets. I got a little too exuberant with the air shocks. ( on tri-5 Chevys the lower end of the shock attaches to the rear differential and the top end attaches to the body. ) and broke the top .mount in the body right through to the point of “0” shock action. One of the guys at the NAPA store where I worked mentioned that one of our customers did a lot of work on cars like mine. I went to see him and showed him my issue. He said no problem, I can have you fixed up in a hour with these. He had made up about 20 sets of “L” brackets with the top angled to match the body with reinforcing/triangulation side bracing and naturally the hole for the shock stem. He mentioned that mine was the first one that he had seen that wasn’t broke due to rust. All he did was weld the bracket to the vehicle frame and reinstall the shocks. I think it cost me $20 in 1968.
There still plenty of Tri-5 Chevys around. Buying one that needs little bit of rust repair is ok. But rot buckets like these makes no sense. IMHO
I think a “parts car” would need to have parts on it that you could use. I don’t see any on the 4-door.
RealDealSteel.com has a 1956 Chevy Convertible Body Skeleton With Dash, Quarter Panels, Doors, deck lid, and convertible top frame for around $25,000. If the frame, paperwork, and data plates were in order, that would be the way to go. Having a shop put a dash, quarter panels, doors, deck lid, and convertible top frame on the car would be over $25,000, and then you have to get the frame to the States….Hmm….So, $14,750 cdn seems a little high by about whatever junk price is going for these days, but if the frame and paperwork were OK, someone could use just that stuff.
Call the recycle center that could make a couple new Hondas
Wadder Up!
Yeah, Both cars get me excited enough to go on Late Night!
Missed this one,however some of these people who have what used to be a classic and now is scrap metal, still think it has value. NO!! it’s scrap metal, if you valued it so much as to asking ridiculous money for it, why didn’t you protect it from the beginning?