We recently saw a somewhat embarrassing looking ’70s style 1957 Chevy Nomad street rod with an over the top interior. This 1950 Chevy Sedan Delivery street rod for sale on here on craigslist in El Paso, Texas goes even further. The purple paint and wire wheels date the car, but just wait until you see the interior!
According to the seller, this is a “famous old El Paso car”. It was formerly set up for a 396 Chevy engine, but now is running an almost-new 4.3 V6 mated to a Chevy 350 automatic transmission. The seller says that even with this smaller engine, the car has good power, and now gets good fuel economy as well.
This now very rare sedan delivery model now features a Mustang II front end with power disc brakes, and is outfitted with electric windows. It is set up for air conditioning, but evidently that’s not operative now.
The purple paint is old and cracking in places, but seems to be reasonably solid based on the pictures provided, and the chrome looks to have been redone at some point. There is no mention of rust or other damage to the car – if it has been in El Paso all its life, it’s likely pretty clean and hopefully not too much corrosion is lurking in the body, floors, or frame.
So far so good, this Chevy is a pretty good example of a built street rod and any buyer is going to repaint it anyway. Now we come to the interior, which is definitely unique. According to the seller, it was done in “Low Rider style” and includes a chandelier and refrigerator! At least for me, this interior matches no known style I have ever seen except maybe the Munster Koach and even that did not have a chandelier!
Awful as the interior is, this car will doubtless be redone by a new owner and can be made into a fine running, comfortable cruiser. There are just not many of these still around (though I was surprised to discover that Chevy sold 23,045 of this body style in 1950) and they are really terrific as street rods.
The seller’s asking price is not low at $17,000, but I am certain that despite its bizarre interior, eventually this car will find a new home. Do any Barn Finds readers recognize this “famous” old street rod and can you tell us more about its history?
It sure looks like 1952 Chevy and not a 1950. The grill is the giveaway.Below are the difference between the two.The maroon sedan is a 1950 and the black sedan delivery is a 1952. Also though the pictures don’t show the difference the dashboards are entirely different. Now that said, the grills might have been changed or a new nose piece. Anyway.
Here’s the 1952.
As one who grew up in El Paso, (Hell Paso) the interior looks very typical of the work done in Juarez body and upholstry shops in the day. It all goes well with the velvet pictures of Elvis and the dogs playing poker. It just needs a little chain steering wheel to be complete. (So you could still drive in hand cuffs)
and a horn that plays La Cucaracha
Thanks for the laughs! I kind of hate to say it now, but I have one of the card playing dog pictures in the garage somewhere.
No car guy wants to spend tha kind of $$ to be seen in something with such a dated look, the way that thing is fixed up just ain’t cool anymore, needs to be completely updated cosmetically inside and out to be presentable, plus you’d have to lose the hokey wire wheels, price is at least $7K too high IMHO
The “Hokey” wire wheels give the car a finished look. I don’t care for 20-21 inch chromed manure spreader wheels……………
Am I the only one who would greatly prefer “stock” running gear and cosmetics? ;)
I love this Sedan Delivery!
All my friends know the low rider
The low rider is a little higher
da da da da da…..
The interior looked like 70s Vegas bordello.
Great period piece, just needs a sense of humour and a lot of cash!
The front parking lights say 1951. What are the tail lights? Pontiac?
“Sort of a chick magnet ” Sort of a magnet? or for “sort=of” chicks?
Tail lights look like JC Whitney
Love the body style with the swing-open rear door, but the price(and interior)
are 2 major hurdles