Take one retired drag car, add air suspension, air conditioning, and other upgrades, and you might end up with something half as cool as this ’55 Chevy. The 1955 Chevrolet 210 from Johnson City, Tennessee wears authentic paint and lettering from its days promoting an Arizona Chevy dealer. Now street legal and mechanically updated, the baby blue and white classic seeks a new owner on Facebook Marketplace, where $38,500 seals the deal. Thanks to reader Larry D. for spotting this refreshed racer.
The 402 cid Chevrolet big block is an evolution of the storied 396 and Chevy even continued calling it a “396” in certain applications. Those finned aluminum valve covers look great, dissipate heat, and make for quieter operation compared to common stamped steel covers. A Corvette-style dual-circuit brake setup adds safety and easy operation. Modern air conditioning would have been the bee’s knees in the car’s Arizona home, and punctuates what looks like a well thought-out and executed build.
Custom period-appropriate upholstery adds comfort and style, while the weathered dash fits the Old Meets New theme perfectly. A tilt column adds convenience, and the vintage aftermarket-style steering wheel could be from the ’60s to the ’80s. A nondescript automatic transmission handles the gear changes.
Four-corner air suspension offers bumper-scraping photo opportunities or realistic ride and handling at the touch of a button. Some enthusiasts will take one look at this ride and say “Just needs a coat of paint,” but that would erase the car’s unique history and render it just another updated Tri-Five Chevy. Whatever your preference, this turn-key classic looks ready to roll, and the new owner can do whatever they want with the car. Would you keep this retired drag car’s weathered look or paint it immediately?
Is it just me, or is the seller trying so hard to make this car look cool that it is no longer a cool car?
Someone watched too many reruns of gas monkey.
Too bad Barn Finds doesn’t have a thumbs down rating for this pile of Worn out metal. Interior looks good but another 10K of paint is on the to-do list making this. $50K buy-in. Pass….
The site used to have a thumbs down feature. Ask Howard!
Todd Fitch, excellent writeup on this outstanding car! There are many people who simply “don’t get it”, and have no clue how much work and money went into this car. If any of them had ever actually built a car like this, their comments would surely be much more like a compliment. The suspension mods alone would stagger the naysayers. Hey peeps, like Todd says, if you want show paint, go ahead and show paint it! See you at the shows in about 10 years.
Hate to admit it though but the only good thing about the air suspension craze is it helps an old fart like me to get in and out of this classic. Otherwise, save the money on air suspension and go old school like my neighbors 55 Chevy and flip the leaf springs over for the Starsky and Hutch look.
I realize the work in this car but seen it before,it’s been done before nothing new here for my eyes. The fact this car isn’t painted means little to me.The fact is it’s been done many times. Go back the any car mag in 2013 you’ll see a ton of them. In my opinion seen it too much.
I completely agree with Dave . All cars @ car shows do not have to be museum pieces. I think the story behind the car & how it looks now is just awesome . Still on the road & still impressing people. To each there own on the looks of vintage Hot Rods. Time to educate the younger crowd :)
I actually like this car a lot. It’s odd and really cool with the old sponsor lettering and patina. The price it a little high but not too far off. I can imagine cruising the shows in it and if it was mine I’d make sure that big block was really rowdy.
Sorry but it is not Old School, some people just don’t get old school so to say. Old School it would have been painted and no air bags because they are a relatively new thing. This is a Modified Chev but for crying out loud stop using Old School when they are NOT.
I agree with Todd and Dave. This is a great spin on a old car that was too cool to erase the history on, but probably not a lot of fun to drive as-found. Kick-ass engine, an interior you can sit in without ruining your clothes, a/c so you can actually enjoy the summer drives to the car shows and a few other practical upgrades, not to mention it’s provenance …kinda make this car special in a sea of overpriced so called “rat rods” and “patina’d survivors”. Between a good resurrection and a poor restoration, I’d take this for the money.
Because the car is rusty on the outside it’s supposed to be “special”? What’s next, jacking up the price of a car because it “ran when parked?” Oh wait..they already do..
Nothing frustrates me more than seeing a rust bucket average car go for big bucks but I don’t see this as one of those cars. This is a running and driving tri-5 with racing history that has had some creative common sense mods done to make it enjoyable for more than one person at a time. I say rock on. This is a cool ride.
Hmmm! Wonder if all that Rust was a Factory Option or Dealer installed????
I find the comments on the air suspensions installed on various cars posted on BF interesting. I have to wonder just how many folks have actually driven or rode in a full air suspension car. This Chevy, in stock form, rides and drives like a wheelbarrow full of rocks compared to what it probably drives like now. The air systems are fully adjustable from pure comfort to race car handling modes. Even the 3 way shock system on our Mini Cooper helps in tuning the suspension for road conditions. Progress is a good thing. And, as usual, I’m voting for paint on what I think is a great build on a great old car.
Personally, I can’t see myself being comfortable in this car.
I’d estimate it’s about the same % of people who actually have any real world experience with the vehicles they comment on
I see nothing here but an old heap ready for the junkyard.
The cool kids saying “If you don’t like the ridiculous geometry of this car then you must not know anything about cars!” betrays their immature and weak argument.
Nothing cool about that pos.
Ill concieved notion that this style is old school! Nutin’ OLD SCHOOL’ about it. Broken lookin’ Y2K mess? YUP!
I like it just the way it is. Drive it anywhere and I could keep it at home on the farm on a gravel road without the worry of inevitable paint chips and windshield ‘bullseyes’. The only other ’55 that I’m aware of in this area is a bonafide police car. Well, one other just across the border in SD that hasn’t run in decades, a desirable 150 2 door wagon. I found out last week that the owner passed away a year ago. I’m sad to have found out so late as I’ve bought several items from his large collection of mostly 1950’s to mid 1970’s Chevy’s. His son took over and…..died as well a few months in. Now I’m told the brother of Dale Rice, the original owner has taken over but he’s not the motorhead his brother was. Dale was a moody SOB who claimed there were two things he didn’t like about me, my Dodge Ram 3500 and I’m an Iowan, lol. He sure liked my cash though. Twice over the years he allowed me to take pics of most of his collection. I did a little advertising for him, he didn’t ask me to but, I ‘almost’ lol, got what could’ve been a thank you after a guy from Ohio came and bought 6 cars after I put the pics on a Facebook group. Despite Dale’s attitude he was a good s**t in my book and I miss him.
Are these red necks crazy,or they just don’t want to sell it. $ 38,000 the most I would pay is $5,000 that’s if it runs.
Okay, I get the look they’re going for here but that nasty dome light in that nice new interior looks really crappy.
Sorry about the stupid suspension
Different strokes for different folks. However, this car is waaay past its time. If anything it needs to sit quietly in a museum for historians.
ANYONE that has done a restoration, either on frame or off frame, knows this is a money pit from hell.
This is a great example of how many people are trying to make themselves a fortune fir a a junk car , that’s really not worth much money. Greedy people are trying to make huge sums of money for their old rusted out junk cars, but there’s a group of people out there who are really paying these overblown prices for the junk. It’s just driving up the price of older cars so much more than they are ever going to be worth. And, it’s forcing the regular people who have been building old cars in their own garage, out of the game, because it’s become a rich man’s hobby and no longer a thing that guys can do in their own garage.
I 100% agree with everything you said about the rich investors pushing the working guy who just loves cars out of the game. Man you are preaching to a large choir there, but I still see this car as a solid car that, while maybe not worth the asking price is still not comparable to the rust buckets we see on here for 10 grand on the daily. This car is still a solid Tri5 with a big block and a lot of $$$ spent on other drivetrain and suspension mods so it’s worth $15k – $20k in my opinion even without the race history and sponsorship patina in today’s market, which I think is very inflated right now. We all have different tastes. I like nostalgia cars and also slick Riddler award winning show builds but regardless which one is in my garage, I drive it and smoke the tires daily. I may take up two spots to minimize door dings and cringe every time a rock pinged off of my slick car but I would drive it none the less. These old faded 18 gauge nostalgia cars scream to be drifted around the court house on Saturday night and laughing historically because your buddies are being slung all over the back seat and spilling their beers in the rear view mirror. I just like cars man. I hate to see the prices being driven up so much but I think this bubble will break eventually just like all the other ones have.
I don’t know what this cat’s been smokin’, but I surely don’t want Any of it!!!
I don’t know what this cat’s been smokin’, but I surely don’t want any of it!!!!!
The price is definitely a stop sign for me & I usually don’t like old hulking monsterous chunks of steel. But I must say I kinda like this ’55 just as it is. I’d never pay that gigantic price for it but I would part with some of my cash to own this tri-five. LOL.