The ad for this car states it is a true barn find and has only been washed since found. If that’s true, this may be the nicest barn find ever! This 1956 Chevrolet Delray can be found here on Hemmings with an asking price of $23,800. The car currently resides in Chicago, Illinois and is in amazing shape. The odd thing about modern barn finds are the ones that don’t have any actual pictures of the car in the barn. Almost everyone has a cell phone that will take at least fuzzy photos. Why do so many “true barn find” cars not have any photos of them before they are removed from the barns?
The front and rear seats appear to have the factory plastic still intact. There isn’t any information in the ad regarding the history of this car. The odometer reads a little over 28K miles and the ad states “we have no reason to believe the miles are inaccurate due to the condition of the vehicle.” Does this mean the seller doesn’t know the history on the car? If this is a true barn find with low mileage, you could assume it’s been in one family for a long time. The ad does say this is a one-owner car that was handed down to the estate selling it. Not sure exactly what that means?
The engine is a straight six and appears to be in original condition. The ad says that “We have…gone through it mechanically and it runs shifts and drives like it was new, it starts well and drives down the road like new.” There is said to be “absolutely no rust.”
My favorite part of these cars is the rear taillight that flips down to expose the gas cap. It keeps the lines of the car clean and adds to the cool factor. What do you think? Is this a legitimate barn find? Too good to be true or too good not to be true?
The old man that filled up at my station all the time had a ’56. He would say “Bet you can’t find the filler” every time he would come in. I humored him by looking all over (and not finding it). It made his day so wtf.
Didn’t some caddy’s have that feature as well? Pretty cool.
This one was pretty cool also
My father had a 56 Delray Coupe, but it was a 210 series. I never knew that it could be had in a 150 series. Something new every day.
Delray & 210 were two separate trim series. Delray,210 & Bel Air.
Not so
This is a 150
Next up was the 210
Then the 210 Delray (all vinyl interior and headliner)
Top of the heap is the BelAir
My father special ordered a four door ’56 Belaire in the same color combo. It was also a 6 with 3 on the tree. It was the first, and last, new car he ever bought.
“Factory Plastic”
It was common in the mid-fifties to have an upholstery shop slipcover the fabric seats with clear vinyl. Never knew it to be factory, perhaps a dealer add-on…
J C Whitney addon. I had a set of them on a 67 and they helped protect the seat material from dirt and spills, though like this one they did yellow and get brittle over time.
Are those historical or classic plates on the car? Might indicate if it’s been off the road or not for a while.
Good looking car there if it all checks out.
Fingerhut sold clear pillowpuff ones back ye olde days. I bought a new 71 beetle with corduroy seats. Believe it or not, the vinyl weave seats every had were a option. Anywho, fingering seat covers were very good, but cold in winter, hot in summer.
Those are older Missouri classic plates. Makes the “barn find” hard for me to believe – it was at one point in the fairly recent past in barn find terms licensed as a classic. Not sure when we quit using that style though.
Unless they just put them on for the picture
Even as a kid, it bugged me that on every new car that my Dad purchased, he had the “vinyl” covers put on. I figured that the next owner would take them off and enjoy the “factory fabric” seats. And of course they were hot in the summer ( of course no A/C) and cold in the winter.
Lowell, I am seriously considering clear plastic seat covers on my current car [brand new in 2005], whose seats have been covered since the start of year two. Still look factory fresh.
Not buying another new car and don’t like dirty interiors.
And can still enjoy the factory fabric.
Your Dad and I think alike.
I also recall plastic seat covers, You could also get them for the furniture in your house. Now Carhartt as well as a couple of other companies make excellent seat covers out of cloth so that is far more comfortable and protect your seats. That or you can go the cheap route like I do and buy some towels and put them on your seats. They are actually quiet effective.
My folks used to buy them from a company called fingerhut they were guaranteed as long as you owned the car
My Father had them put on our brand new 1964 Chevy Impala, and yes they were clear pillow puff. When the car went down the road many years later, the seat covers were still like new!
My dad had one but in green and white and a 4 door 6 cylinder with 3 on the tree. I learned to drive manual trans in it. Great days those were.
Jes’ take a slide across those Sears and Roebuck Plastic seat covers. See how many joules you can generate in static electricity to amuse yourself by shocking the snot out of your little brother. He always had a runny nose anyway.
Our grandfather had a ’55 Bel Air thusly equipped. It too had a six. Fun times. Plastic seat covers were the rage back then. Of course, this was before self serve gas stations which allow us to blow ourselves up with static buildup or cell phone ops.
Neat chebby.
HA! Bonus points for the use of “joules”! Nice work, sir.
Thanks, sir.
I paid 300$ for my first 56 a 4 dr and 500$ for my 2nd a 2dr post at these prices I wished I had been able to hang onto them.
The Delray was only available in the 210 series. This not a Delray. The Delray was unique for it’s all vinyl interior which this car clearly doesn’t have. The price? About 3-4 times too aggressive. Oh well it’s not against the law to dream.
You would only pay $1,000.00 for this??? It is worth the price as is, regardless of the pickyune comments.
“Thusly equipped” — mismatched tires, a paint repair to the front of the hood. A $20k+ price tag seems optimistic and of course nobody should even think about doing anything to this other than preservation. So no opportunity for a resto-mod as one would do if it had a gazillion miles on the odometer and full of rust. I would think $15 to $18k would get it sold quickly.
Loved my old ’56 from high school days. Baby blue color, 331 V8 (overboard 265) and 3-on-the-tree, 2-door, plywood instead of a backseat. Bought it for $350 in ’74 from a runner who’d lost his license forever. Had a switch on the dash to work the brake lights. Up on, middle per pedal, down off. Another to turn off the tail lights. And a handle under the bench seat to open the JCWhitney exhaust cutouts. Yea, it carried a lot of ‘shine. I bolted the hood to the inner and outer fenders for a tilt front end. Spent many happy hours cruising the drive in and the Blue Ridge Parkway.
That’s some overbore.
Knelipot, you from Virginia? Sounds like you might have crossed over the same stomping ground as I. The Shenandoah Valley, New River Valley perhaps?
Nice!
It almost looks to good to be true. I agree it would have been nice to see it in storage before it was cleaned up, maybe if you asked they may have them.
Buy it and don’t do a thing to it just drive and enjoy.
Yep. The most believable barn finds are the ones with photos showing them in the barn/shed, then dragged out and given a bath.
This example is a down trimmed 150 two door sedan, not a DelRay which was an upscale 210 variant. The advertised car is set up with a 1955 speedometer cluster which depending on manufature date may or may not be original to the car. It would be interesting to know the VIN to ascertain the assembly date. All that said it is a remarkable looking vehicle worthy of additional investigation by an interested and educated buyer.
From memory the 150 had side trim similar to a 55.
I base my assessment of the trim level on the interior which is clearly low trim. There is no horn ring, just a button. The Delray would have been equipped with a three spoke steering wheel, not a two spike wheel as here. The Delray had unique vinyl upholstery missing in this car. In the market place, even today, the Delray commands a premium not due the 150. Again this appears to be a beautiful vehicle worthy of consideration it’s just a buyer should know what it is they are buying.
My comment about the speedometer and manufacture date considers that very early 1956 production vehicles might have consumed leftover 1955 cosmetic but otherwise compatible parts.
Lee: An interior shot of the DelRay.
Quite different from the featured car. You have an excellent eye.
Incredible find. I only hope the next owner keeps it as is. Be a crime to do anything else with it. My favorite of the series. A tribute to the average family in the mid ’50’s. People didn’t have a lot of money( or credit, like today) so they went to work every day, probably some manufacturing deal, finally saved enough for a new Chevy,( these were about $2 grand new) and this is what they came home with.
It doesn’t say Delray anywhere on the car,and I read,the Delray for ’56 was basically a 210 with a fancier interior. I had a ’58 Delray 4 door, and it was a basic, BASIC car.
The DelRay in 58 was demoted to the very bottom of the line by 58. Even lower than the Biscayne.
My grandpa on my moms side sold his dads 56 4-door at an auction in the mid 80’s. At the time it had less than 10-k on the odometer,was almost untouched from new. It was truly a time capsule. It became a trailer queen, making a lot of shows in the area. I used to visit with the couple who owned it at local shows,they would relate it’s accomplishments on the show circuit. Last time we talked they were thinking about letting it go to someone else.Haven’t seen it for quite some time.I have pictures of it on sale day,my F-I-L and I conducted the sale,would post a picture just to much trouble getting on here.
I’m a 2 door guy when it comes to mid-50’s chevy’s. A 4 door trailer queen show car? I would walk right past. But to each their own.
Don’t get me wrong, the car looks to be in FANTASTIC shape!…….BUT not sure I buy the 28k mile claim, you’d think the valve cover and engine would have more paint on it with only 28k miles! Underhood it looks like 128k. They also claim, “absolutely no rust”……..yet what is that I see on the bottom of the firewall and under the brake master??…….RUST!
Being the ultimate skeptic, I wondered too, but the rest of the car, doesn’t show 128K worth of wear. Drivers seat gonna split, but kick panels, door handles, pedals, dash, all show little wear. I believe the rust under the master is pretty common. At one time the master leaked brake oil, ( from not being used) and it really does a number on metal right below it.
The 57s also had the gas cap hidden in the chrome part of the fin. It opened sideways. This is nice. Good it’s a standard to give it a little extra oomph on takeoffs.
We had the Belair wagon with yellow over limey green. A Black and White super tough interior for all ten of us. It had the 256 V8 because myom liked a “juicy” car
.
Ad is just like the description’s at Barrett- Jackson, “The owner believes this to be the actual mileage”, it always nice to know the owner believes it!
My Aunt and Uncle had a 1961 Ford sedan with the full plastic seat covers. They liked them so much that every seat and couch in their living room also had them. That was okay, because we were lead directly to their basement when we visited. In 25 years of home ownership l only saw their living room once!
The clear plastic covers on furniture was, and perhaps still is, a old people thing. I have seen it shown and mentioned in more than one movie and tv show over the years.
I was in the antique/used furniture business for over 30 years and you wouldn’t believe how many upholstered LR sets I’ve seen that has those plastic covers on them, mostly stuff from the ’60s; French and Italian provincial style which were popular then. Old people thing? Those old people put those covers on when they were young.
I had a couple of friends with the living room furniture covered with plastic. We also were never allowed, EVER! in there. Not uncommon in the 60s.
Growing up in the 50’s & 60’s about the only time I was in the living room of the house I grew up in was when we had company and the holidays. The rest of the time it was off limits and the upholstered furniture was covered in fitting fabric slipcovers. The upholstered furniture, drapes and the carpet were the mandatory green color of the day. I remember that a lot of my friend’s parents and our neighbors had their cars seats covered with plastic seat covers. I think the reason our cars didn’t have them is that they had vinyl car seats and rubber floor mats up until about 1963. After that my dad started buying cars with seats that had fabric inserts surrounded by vinyl and carpet on the floor.
What a cool find. Just need to do a detail on the engine and give her a bath! I wouldn’t change her keep her as original as possible!
I thought all these cars were in Oregon!
Those clear covers may have been installed by a dealer, but they did not come from the factory. I’m not sure about J C Whitney but a company name Fingerhut sold them on credit.
I can be just as skeptical as the next guy when it comes to barn finds. But having one of my own, I can attest to the shape they can be in. My ’49 Styleline came out of a barn (well, a machine shed) with only 19K miles on it. The motor lost a lot of its paint when treated to a bath via the local ‘U-Do-It’ car wash. There was also three inches of dust on it but the car wash took it too. Cleaned up real well.
The term “barn find” true or not, has become a selling point.
A very nice looking “Find” of any kind. I would like to find it’s twin. Also your choice of narrow whitewall tires fit the car’s look very nicely.
“Why do so many barn finds never have pics of them in the barn they were found in?” Really? Why do the majority of “barnfinds” found here come from C’list and ebay? If this car checks out and is the gem it appears to be then that’s all that matters. Maybe it’s stable mates were Clydesdales because it looks like it was pampered. GLWS. Great car.
The clydesdale’s licked it it daily, keeping it dust free.
When mine came out of the shed, cellphones cost over $3K and didn’t have capacity to take pics. No one thought about a camera because we were busy getting several years worth of accumulated junk out of the way so we could have a straight line to pull the car out the door. All I have is a couple of witnesses who can testify that the car came out of a shed on a blistering hot Saturday….
No rust except where it’s rusty. No undercarriage pics. Mileage claim is bogus. Not a Del Ray?
For sale on their website for 18,900.
http://north-shore-autosport.ebizautos.com/detail-1956-chevrolet-delray-chevrolet_delray-used-17508612.html
Looks like they’re onto you. The website now shows $23,800.
I just went to websites for fingerhut and if whitney. Alas, neither has the clear vinyl seat covers of old. And the few they did have looked like clear plastic garbage bags. Baggy and saggy one size fits all. But i did come
across a 62 Chevy for sale, BIG bucks, with original fingerhut clear vinyl Seat covers. Amazingly, no yellowing, or cracking. Sadly, the old days are gone and they ain’t coming back. I can see the company logic. Contoured bucket seats, each make and model somewhat different would make it a manufacturing pai
This vehicle is on another web site for $18,900.00. I would be sorted pi//ed off if I buy it for the asking price on barn find or a little less thinking I got a deal then saw this Ad for $18,900.00. Would you be upset or is it just me.
I agree Duffy, it isn’t right.
If someone suggests putting a big block in this thing I will cringe.
Those plastic seat covers provided an easy wash down for any spilled beer before returning the car to the folks…….
Sellers need to restrain their greed and get some education about how to sell these cars on the Internet. I pass.
No, I would never put a big block in this. But an ls motor and automatic overdrive would make this a real sweet driver
My father bought a ’56 210 new, I eventually inherited it, by ’68 when I sold it to be turned into a stock car, it was a rust bucket, the 6 was tired, but the Powerglide was bullet proof, if slow off the line. But even when 2 years old the chrome had pitted, and by the time it was 5 years old the paint was worn thin where the doors’ white had been painted over the aqua, and the aqua was coming through. The brakes were marginal then, and bad by modern standards. But I loved that car, reliable, sat 6 guys, 65 all day was no problem. When the gang was going somewhere I drove because my father let me take the car long distances, and, the car was reliable. Oil change and lube every 3000 miles. Tires lasted 22,000 miles. Ball joints lasted about 50,000 miles. Valve springs snapped at odd times, particularly after full throttle acceleration – 55 mph in the low range of the Powerglide. He did not put those plastic seat covers on – why save the seats for someone else – and the fabric lasted about 40,000 miles after which a variety of Sears seat covers went on the front seat. For comparison, my 2002 Audi with close to 200,000 miles shows NO wear on the driver’s seat, let alone any of the others.
My grandparents put those %^&&^&* plastic seat covers on their new cars . When they traded their cars in they didn’t get a cent more for the pristine interiors after years of sitting on those sweaty plastic things. That experience taught me to enjoy a car’s interior and let the next guy worry about the wear and tear.
This car reminds me of my granddad’s 55 210, 6 popper and 3 on the tree. Plain Jane but reliable transportation at an affordable price for thrifty folks who lived thru the Depression.
Imperial’s had it in 1955 and 1956 on the right side fin…..also for gas….y’all can figure how to open it.
The car is in Chicago but has a Missouri plate on it. Hmmmmm.
Haven’t thrown in my .02¢ lately so here it is. Only change I would do is get some BFG Radials and old school aluminum slotted ‘mags’ they aren’t true mags but that’s what everyone called them. Of course I would keep the original wheels and hub caps. I’d switch back and forth as my mood and circumstances called for.
my first car was a 56 chevy 4dr 265-pg turqoise and white w/black tuck-n-roll interior and a muntz 4 track tape player, went thru 4 clutch packs before selling it. Shoulda put a turbo 350 in it, oh well, cool memories
DaveMc… That’s a ’58 Oldsmobile left rear tail light, access to gas fill!! I’m really surprised this one hasn’t sold, yet. It’s only a matter of money.
“Why do so many “true barn find” cars not have any photos of them before they are removed from the barns?”
Maybe because they’re not really barn finds? I personally find the phrase ridiculous. If I’ve had an unrestored ’69 Dodge Coronet Super Bee 440 Six-Pack in my barn for 25 years, and I know it’s there, then it was never lost to begin with, was it?
Ken, you have way too much time on your hands.