If you were looking for a new family sedan in 1956, you couldn’t do much better than the Chevy Bel Air. And more than 1.6 million buyers would have agreed as that’s how many ’56 Chevrolets were sold. As it was an all-new car in 1955, the 1956 Chevies had only minor changes. And the Bel Air was the top trim level available in those days. This vehicle is said to have been in storage for 37 years but looks no worse with time’s passage. Needing some transmission work, this otherwise nice 4-door sedan is available here on craigslist for $15,000 ($18,000 if the seller fixes the problem). This sweet ride can be found in El Cajon, California, and a heads-up goes to Barn Finder T.J. for the tip!
The big news in 1955 had been the advent of Chevy’s first V8 since 1918. That engine was still in demand in 1956 and one of those 265 cubic inch engines can be found in the seller’s car, paired with a 2-speed Powerglide automatic transmission. The odometer reads 62,000 miles and there’s no reason to believe that’s not accurate. We don’t know why this car was off the road for nearly four decades, but it looks ready to go again.
Some work has been done to get it back in the game. It has a new gas tank, radiator, brakes, and fuel pump. But the seller stopped short of the transmission which is said to leak a lot of fluid. Perhaps it only needs a new pan gasket, although for a $3,000 upcharge, you should be able to get a whole new tranny. The body and paint look very nice with the only notable flaw being a missing headlight bezel. The interior is original and looks quite nice, including the rarely-seen optional padded dashboard.
The Bel Air 4-door sedan was the most popular body style for the Bel Air in ’56, selling more than 282,000 copies. Once the transmission is made right again, perhaps this Chevy will be a great companion for Cars & Coffee on the weekends. One interesting note is that it looks like the engine has been repainted, as well as the engine compartment (in the same color as the motor).
In those years the firewall was the color of the car. Most likely a red and white car originally.
I was going to say–this `56 is solid white; first one in my life I’ve seen done like that. It was likely a two-tone from the factory.
Nice car but I’m not buying a car that doesn’t run. I’d like to know why the trans repair will add $3,000 to the sale price because a leak should be a relatively easy repair. Like Russ noted, $3000 should get you a full rebuild on a Powerglide. At any rate, the posting has been deleted already so I wonder what the deal is with that.
It looks like a beautiful car, but I’m a little confused about the wording in the ad also?
Another case where someone spent a lot of time and money on a project, then failed to complete it only because it needs a pan gasket….. but, they will replace the $20.00 gasket and spent a couple of hours labor to replace it for $3000.00??
Again, just be transparent, your vehicle will sell anyway.
The evasive wording used in the listing just causes folks to be skeptical.
I would not buy a non running vehicle either!
Just my oponion!
Again, the missing air cleaner, why is that? Once again, it’s rear view mirror time, think when this car was new. Pa worked his fanny off at the foundry, put in for overtime even, for $1.18/hr. mind you, and FINALLY, after 10 long years and a tired pre-war Hudson, it was time. Nothing fancy, mind you, had to be mom friendly, this is what the masses came home with. Can you imagine the frustration of the sales person, P/S?, no, P/B, no, 4 barrel?, no, I told you, a V8, automatic, radio, and maybe a clock, that’s it. Oh, they wanted that fancy new Packard, but mom put the brakes on that. For many of us baby boomers, a 4 door Chevy of this vintage is our 1st memory. Later, as they aged, many became our 1st cars too, but not for long. Motor quickly yanked for that 6 cylinder Nova, that probably replaced this car. Not much says mid 50s Americana like a ’56 Chevy 4 door. I hope someone appreciates that.
See the USA in your Chevrolet,,a powerful ad campaign and 1.6 million Americans did just that. Maybe your family too?
At the risk of the wrath of purists, plus the fact it’s a four dr, that’s destined to be a great driver and not high end two door trailer queen. I would just drop a nice TH350 in, because I’m not sure if a 4 speed automatic would require some type of computer control?
K.R.V. I screwed up and clicked the wrong button! Sorry.
My comment is: there’s two 4 speed autos that will work with a smallblock/bigblock. TH200-4R and TH700R4. Both are non-electronic but do require a controller to lock/unlock the torque converter. The controller can be as simple as a manual electric switch within reach of the driver, but I have always used a stand alone controller.
Already gone. The car’s nice but not
worth the $21K he’ll be asking when the tranny’s fixed. But that’s California for you, everything’s expensive out there. Almost like Florida but not as bad. Yeah, I got
ripped off for $2500 to replace the
tranny pan gasket iny ’94 Taurus wagon but the guy who did the repair
was the only ASE certified technician
in Polk County at that time. (1999)
Those power glide trannies were easy
to service and you could even adjust
the bands yourself if you had a shop
manual. Sure would like to have some of what he’s smokin’ though.
It is most likely the front pump, which requires removal to fix.
And, while I’m in the complaining mode, the front end is way darker in color than both of the driver’s doors. I can’t really see the rear end to know which has been repainted, the front or the doors? The ad had been removed, so I can only view the one picture.
Repainted after it was repainted.
Just my oponion!
the original cast iron PG has no pan.
On a hot summer day vapor lock , the way the fuel line is run
2 to many doors , 2 to many posts !!!
Does anyone remember how to work on a cast iron PG?
Y’all wouldn’t believe how many tri 5s never even made it outta Michigan. They were born there & died there. Junkyards were full of them within 50 mile radius of my hometown. And during the wars people were burying their cars in the sand bc the government was taking them due to shortage of steel for weapontry.
That was during WWII though. Tri 5s hadn’t been built at that time.
A lot of weirdness going on with this one, probably why the add was deleted. And I’m pretty sure chevrolet never offered a padded dash in 56
How do I find out more about the 1956 Chevy
The 30 year hibernation likely has something to do with the trans leak. But on the other hand, if you have a cast iron powerglide, you have a tranny leak.
I bought my farm in 86 and there were cars and trucks everywhere. One was a 56 2 door with the 265 in the trunk.The 55 and 56 cars died early deaths because unless you had a remote oil filter installed they could not filter oil and killed the engines early.
I put an add in the local paper for parts or whole car. A young kid and father came for some parts. Mainly the rear drivers side taillight assembly. I wanted 100 bucks as it was like brand new and to find one that worked, the hinge for the gasoline fill was a very hard to find part. I told the young man, 16 maybe, to buy the whole car for 150 and its yours.
Pop bought the car and said it was better than theirs and would probably use it instead. Signed off on title and smiles were abundant. I seen the car at a local car show, gathering and the car looked great with the original paint and interior. They put in a 283 with powerpack heads intake and a turbo 350 and went to driving.
The man still has the car to this day. 37 years later and I am tickled to death that the young man has kept the gift of friendship all these years. Instead of scraping the car it has found new life and maybe live on for another century mark.