As the “Jan Brady” of Chevrolet trim levels, the middle trim 210 lacks the flashiness of the Marsha-level Bel Air, and the cuteness of the Cindy-ish 150. For full-on restoration the Bel Air’s additional trim and doo-dads take top honors, especially the pillarless Sport Coupe. The 150 usually gets the nod for high-powered street fighters the likes of the iconic primer ’55 in the gearhead-classic movie Two-Lane Blacktop. In addition to an inherent identity crisis, this 1955 Chevrolet 210 in Wahoo, Nebraska further suffered the indignity of being parked and forgotten about in 1969 and only now comes to market here on eBay. At least eight bidders have edged the market value of this ’55 above $5000.
Considering its 50 years of neglect, the Chevy’s state of affairs could be worse. A half-day spent cleaning and polishing the car could work wonders on boosting a high bid, but now the buyer gets to keep that fun, and the extra cash it might bring, to themselves. The Chevy “bow-tie” illuminates red as your high beam indicator. Now that’s style!
The (presumably original) inline six-cylinder turns over but does not run. The six leaves room to climb into the engine compartment for maintenance tasks. The bay can also accommodate just about any engine you like, from the lightweight modern LS V8 to the Two-Lane Blacktop style 454 cid (7.4L) big block. Dual softball-sized horns promise to peel the paint off that pesky green-light-ignoring Prius.
Modest fins on the ’55 flow into the cathedral tail lights, the left of which conceals the trick factory fuel filler.
The passenger and trunk floor panels are shot, according to the seller. Thanks to the ’55-’57 Chevrolet’s role as the quintessential car of its day, nearly everything for these cars has been available since the ’80s. There’s almost no direction you can take your custom vision that hasn’t already been explored. How do you picture this ’55 when it hits the road again?
Sorry. This WILL take $40 – 50K in parts and materials or more plus your time/labor or you pay another $50K or more….for someone to do the work. $100K resto….
http://www.cars-on-line.com. #1-2 condition, drive it to the local cruise night THE SAME DAY YOU BUY IT for $25K to 40K.
I have be restoring these cars for 37 years but no longer understand people bidding to buy these totally neglected cars for even $5000. I just don’t get it.
Better to keep looking than buying this rust bucket. This is a case of spending a little more upfront will save significant amounts of both time and money on the back end.
Steve R
I would read an article about your 37 years of restoration experience. How many cars, what kinds – which car was so completely destroyed that you brought back to life, etc.
I would too!
There are plenty people out there, even in my age group or younger, that have done things I only dreamed of doing. I love hearing these stories.
Assuming Tom isn’t b.s.ing us, I would love to hear his stories. I bet he has some great ones!
GREAT gasser material. I think Todd got his 55 and 56 Chevy’s mixed up when it comes to gas filler locations.
I see an Iron Duke engine with a three on the tree…hehehe. Okay, maybe not enough, how about a Tesla power plant? That should embarrass any V8 you could think of. I think investing in gasoline powered cars right now is a losers bet. Soon they will be worth next to nothing.
If the body was a little cleaner this would be just the way I’d want to find it!! All original and a blank canvas so I could build it the way I want and not feel real guilty about tearing into an original in great condition!! It’s always a double edged sword for me anyway!! If it’s in great shape I feel bad about ruining the originality!!!!
On the other hand I’d really rather not drive someone else’s idea of what’s cool!!
As much as I like ’55s, this one is DOTAB (dead on the auction block)
Who says you have to use those expensive repro floor pans and other parts? Any good metal bender can fab
up and weld in what you need there. The same could go for the interior too. Any
good local upholstery shop can whip up a decent interior just by using the old stuff
as a pattern. That’s how we handled stuff like this in the ’60s ’70s, and ’80s
before all this repro business got started.
Me, I see a lot of potential in this car–but
not $5K worth. I’d bet if you waved $500
under the seller’s nose, you’ll be towing
this thing home behind your F-150.
So far the car has been bid up to $5,900 with 9 separate bidders, why would he accept a $500 offer?
I have no idea what they see in this car that enticed them to bid that much money. It’s not the fault of the seller. He started the auction at $3,000 and included pictures and a thorough enough description so that potential buyers know the cars condition.
Steve R
What’s scrap metal worth by the pound? Just saw a primo ’55 150 sold on Mecum for $17500. Why would anyone in their right mind shell out $5000 for this turd?
Because there is a sucker born every minute? I heard that somewhere…
The fuel filler is not behind the taillight on a 55. 56 was the first year for that. Any “car guy” should know that.
I never owned one of these & never liked them enough to pay attention to where the fuel goes lol. So no, not every car guy should know this lol.
You know by the rust pattern at the base of the quarter panel that all of this car’s weather seals have dried up and .. now decades of rainwater, condensation and possibly a tad bit of road deicer has done its thing to rust everything one looks for on a strong survivor car. PASS.
Back in the early 1970s we were cutting these up for stock cars ; this one looks about what one would have looked like in CT. back in 1972
I have a soft spot for the 55, but you are right, in the 70s they were regarded as a lighter and one of the faster, dirt track stock cars.
While in highschool, one of my best friends bought a beat 55 Chevy dirt track car. I thought I’d help by cutting up a nice yellow and white 55 BelAir 2 Dr sedan roller I had. We put the new body on the existing chassis and now had a sweet looking race car. A few races into the season my buddy blew the engine, so we took my winter beater 55 210 2 Dr engine and put it in the race car. I was out of room to store non runable cars, so we towed the body to another friend’s farm and parked it in the woods. Never to be retrieved. A few years later I thought of the nice 2 Dr body that I had left out in the woods. You guessed it, the farm had been sold and the site was now a soybean field. I just hope someone saved the decent but engineless car. This was in 1973-1974. I sacrificed 2 nice 55 2 Drs for a season and a half of what I have to admit was a really good time, but It would be nice to have either (or both) in today’s time frame. I’d be rich!
I think that happened all the time when everyday cars were just used cars and nostalgia hadn’t reached its peak with televised shows like American Pickers and car auctions. I traded my beloved 1959 Ford Galaxie with a brand new white convertible top at a Lincoln Mercury dealer in 1977 and they placed it behind chain link way back behind their shop with all the other old hulks. In 1993 I went back out of curiosity, drove on a road ’round back only to discover my cherished Galaxie STILL sitting there, with its top ragged and back window down. The primer I had applied in preparation for paint had deep surface rust and all four tires were flat. My JC Whitney tube grille and moon wheelcovers still on the car. Sickening. My family was not immune to neglect and abandonment. We left a red Corvair Monza with 4 speed/102 hp motor in a school parking lot in the 1970s after stripping all the good parts off of it. Always wonder what became of that one!
Turn this into a Short track car tribute
No. Unless you want to keep it forever. There are some nice cars out there at realistic prices. This is absurd. Keep your hands in your pockets. Look at Barn Finds every day. You’ll find the right one at the right price.
An aunt of my Dad had a 56 210 with the 265 POWERPack MOTOR. THIS WAS NEAT CAR IN and out. SHE BOUGHT IT NEW from NEIGHBORHOOD CHEVY DEALER IN PORTLAND OR. YOU DON’T SEE NEIGHBORHOOD CAR DEALER OF ANY KIND NOW. UNFORTUNALEY IT Was BADLY WRECKED NOT FIXABLE.
As a 17 year old in 1967, I paid $50 for my first car…a 55 two door BelAir sedan with a straight 6 and 3 on the tree. A great car for a new driver, till after 3 weeks of ownership I plowed into a 51 Chevy that was sitting dead in the middle of the road!
Ken; Good point on saving money on restoration/repair costs. A quick story about my own experience. Around 2000, I was quoted $1100 by a dealer to repair the cracked front subframe on my 1990 Cutlass Cierra. Figuring I probably had to junk it, I checked with my regular mechanic, who was a welder.
Luckily, he was able to fix it for $350. When I took it back to the dealer for other work, the tech commented on how good a job the guy did.
ANYONE NOTICE THAT IT HAD OVERDRIVE?.. WHICH MEANS A 4-11 REAR END… sorry for the caps, fat fingers