UPDATE 7/2/21. This car has been relisted here on eBay, so we’re guessing the first sale didn’t go through. The last bid the car received was for $7,600 on 5/17/21. It’s a 1958 Bel Air coupe, seen less often than the snapper Impala that debuted that same year.
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After a successful three-year run of what would become known as the Tri Fives, the 1958 Chevy line-up used one-year-only styling that added curves where there were once lines. As a result, the cars were bigger than before and looked it. Sales were off in 1958, but some of that was due to an economic recession that affected all automakers. For 1959, Chevy would once again start with a clean slate. This 1958 Bel Air sport coupe has a patina written all over it from likely sitting in the open for a long time. It doesn’t run and will need a complete restoration. It can be found in Everest, Kansas, and here on eBay where the bidding has reached $5,100 with no reserve.
Through Tri-Five production, the Bel Air was the top trim model offered by Chevrolet. But the Impala would steal some of its thunder, new for 1958 and offered initially as only a 2-door sport coupe and convertible. As such, most of the Bel-Air production that year would be in the form of sedans. After 1957, Chevrolet quit breaking down production numbers by models, so there’s no way to determine how many sport coupes carried the Bel Air script as opposed to the Impala. Chevy built more than 142,000 sport coupes that year, the fourth most popular body style. So, the seller’s car is somewhere in that number, but we don’t know how rare except for 63 years of attrition.
This ’58 Bel Air looks to be an original car and we’re told the drivetrain is numbers matching (283 cubic inch V8 with a Powerglide automatic). The engine appears to be locked up from sitting, so if you want to stick with the original, both should be pulled and rebuilt. What may make the car unusual is that it seems to have been equipped with factory Positraction, something Chevy boasted about by putting an emblem signifying that on the dashboard.
There is rust aplenty on this old car, although we’re told the rockers, fenders, and frame are all good. The rear quarter panels, floor, and trunk floor will all require rust treatment along with the driver’s door on the insides. The interior has pretty much fallen apart and what’s left of the rear seat may have come from a sedan as the seller believes that it’s wider than it should be. Even the metal dashboard has surface rust. So, when you pull everything out to fix the floors, plan on an extreme makeover for the passenger cabin.
Unlike the Tri Fives, you won’t have to sell the house to buy one. Hagerty believes that $25,000 is top dollar and if you assume this one is in Fair condition, the number is more like $11,000. In purchasing a car like this, knowing the cost of restoration upfront is important as you could quickly end up being upside down by the time you make your first outing to Cars & Coffee.
Well, with the t-stat housing off, it COULD run, but with the sparkers sitting on the intake…probably not.
WHERE IS kANSAS?
This would make a nice sleeper if you put in a 348/409. I like it but, it’s going to need allot to bring it back. I don’t see an up side.
This 58 is an easy one to do. Everything like it was new.
Don’t add options it did not come with.
Great body style, color, and a V8. It looks to be very complete and original, straight, and not horribly rusted. Probably restorable by a hobbyist who can weld and has the desire to save it. Probably not economically sensible to pay a shop to restore it, though.
The clean slate for `59 was due to the `57 Chrysler line up.
GM head of design Dave Holls walked into a design meeting, threw down photos of `57 Chrysler products, and said “why don’t you all just quit”.
All the proposed `59 GM designs were all scrapped and they started over from scratch.
Espionage in car world also.
Headin East on my 9th Cross Country trip.
My two fuel tank carry 100 gallons of diesel pulling my enclosed car trailer.
So, no problem finding fuel.
Empty trailer to Florida. Car on return trip.
Will be car searching this trip also. I-40 from Flagstaff to Memphis then South East.
Later Car People
I’m in the minority , but I’ve always thought the 58 Chevy was such a better looking car than the 57 . Looks like this ones been sitting in a Kansas field for many years, but if had sat that long in New England there would be little left of it ! Even as rough as this one is, I hope it gets saved. One thing I noticed is that the left fender molding is on the car, but there are holes drilled underneath it. Maybe the fender was swapped out years ago from a different trim level 58 ?
Totally agree with you the ’58 looks better than any TriFive! Good catch on the left fender molding holes, and I found out as recently as yesterday after seeing a ’58 Brookwood at a show that the Biscayne/Brookwood (both one notch above entry level DelRay/Yeoman for ’58) had the thin center molding plus a lower molding streching from front fender to quarter hip. So I think you’re right this fender comes from some Biscayne/ Brookwood.
As a footnote I can mention that I’ve talked to the previous owner of this mentioned Brookwood when it was still an I-6/3spd, but I remember he talked about swapping it for a V8/auto which I strongly recommended to think about twice. Current owner bought this Brookwood 2weeks back, and upon asking him where the OE driveline is his reply was just (as expected) ‘dunno’ – so it’s most likely in a recycling dumpster somewhere… 😖
I just looked at the under hood shot and the drivers side fender look like it was white at one time, so it must have been swapped out , like you said, from a lower tier model.
I believe a 2 door hardtop BeAir is a rare bird, most were Impalas.
I think this Bel Air looks better than the Impala did. It’s a much cleaner look, that shows off the lines of the car. Now I actually like the design!
I agree!! Like the BelAir and Biscayne more over the Impala. Smaller looking body.
My grandparents had a Blue 58 not unlike this. It was their first car (ever) and stayed in the family a very long time. During the early to mid 70s, it went to my uncle Tony. I’ve always wondered why these lovely cars aren’t considered part of the “Tri fives”, and thought that these are really the culmination of thst whole design phase.
They then would need to
rename those ‘quad-five’.
It’s likely to complex for
a genuine name change
throughout the industry!
Interesting thought, tho…
It also has to do with Tri Fives sharing the same basic architecture whilst the ’58 is a completely different layout. ’58-’64 Chevs are technically almost identical so the ’58 should, rightfully, belong in the Late Great Chevy or Chevy X-frame categories
This Bel-Air is going to bring $10K.
The market is insane…
It’s up to $7300 now with 333 watchers. I wonder how many of those watchers are Barn Finds members. Several for sure, count me as one of them. Back in high school, a friend had a ’58 4 door Chevy. He was laid back and never put his foot into the carb, just cruised the main drag…..pretty sure a pot smoker so super slow. I have no idea what happened to the car but coincidentally, he eventually moved to Kansas.
I’m a ‘finder’ of missing from action old vehicles. Not far from here while metal detecting an old farm site a stones throw from the river, in a ravine I found a handful of cars. Among them are a ’58 Bel Aire 2 door hard top, a ’59 Chevy 2 door hard top and a ’40 Chevy pickup. All of course, in tough shape. It was common back in the old days to just shove the no longer used equipment into ravines. There are MANY around here.
Any car that’s complete is “easy”! ‘58 parts are harder to find than tri-fives.
Great car!! I’ve personally always liked these better than the tri 5’s!! That being said it’s priced much better then the tri’s would be in the same shape!! Hopefully someone who enjoys doing this as a hobby and not someone who’s going to restore it and send it to their building of classics to be gawked at by his friends will get it!!