What a cool combination of car and roof top carrier! This 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air Beauville wagon is listed for sale here on eBay, and comes equipped with enough room for the whole team (more later). It’s located in Davenport, Iowa and has been bid up to over $7,500 so far!
As you can see from this period 1956 Chevrolet advertisement, the Beauville was intended to seat up to nine adults. Three bench seats will do that, bucket lovers! I suppose you could fit a coach in the roof top storage fitted to this car (just kidding!) but it would at least hold the bats, gloves, helmets and baseballs or softballs as your team was heading out to play. The Beauville was the top of the line trim level of the 1956 Chevrolet wagons.
The fender skirts and carrier really give this car a different appearance, and I personally find the wide whitewall tires absolutely perfect in appearance, although I’d replace the bias-plys with radials. It’s also nice to see original wheel covers on a car like this.
Now I’m not saying this car is in perfect condition–as you can see, there are certainly some cosmetic challenges, including some rust. We know it isn’t original paint as the seller tells us it was yellow when it left the California factory. I do like the two-tone it is now, though. Looking a little closer in the ad listing, we see that the front floors were previously replaced but some of the rusted metal was left on teh underside. The seller adds that the rest of the floors and the rear area are “pretty solid.” The outer sills will need to be replaced if you want to eradicate all of the rust, but the inners are said to be good.
Inside, you can either leave it “as-is” for the “it’s just an old car” look, or you can plan on spending some serious money and just replace everything. The seller tells us that parts of the third row seat are missing, and I suspect those are quite rare, so expect to do some hunting. As my wife just looked over my shoulder and said “how cool is that!” I suspect the 9-passenger capability might mean something to some of you out there that aren’t just interested in two door coupes.
The seller recently added underhood pictures to the listing. Although it’s not an original engine, it is a small block Chevrolet. We’re told that it runs great with no smoke and great oil pressure, and it includes a new Edelbrock intake and carburetor that were fitted within the last 100 miles. There are also new ignition parts, and a fuel pump filter. The car is fitted with a relatively modern 700R4 overdrive transmission and also has a 2″ drop suspension all around. Disc brakes have been fitted to the front and finally, cooling has been taken care of with a brand new aluminum radiator with electric fans. This really is a super package whether you decide to refurbish/restore the car or even if you drive it as it is now. Which would you do if it were to show up in your driveway?
’56 Chevys are so much more pleasing to look at than their relatives. I don’t know why, maybe the expression of the grill and tail, plus the fact we had the yellow over green version growing up.
We put our team of ten in it and slid around on those seats. The 60/40 opening to the rear was dangerous to slam closed but we all have survived. My dad rallied in it and loved the small block which led to the ’58 Corvette he got.
The skirts on the wagon are something I’ve never seen.
I would trade an X5 for this…
Maybe those fender skirts are Foxcraft? I actually had Foxcraft skirts for my ’65 Dart.
The Beauville name was later applied to Chevrolet windowed passenger vans.
Yours,or someone elses?
This Chebby has Bruce Brown’s “Endless Summer” written all over it. My 1960’s surf board is in NC. , but can be easily picked up with this beaut.
The sound of the bias ply tires when you overcook a corner sounds like 30 sows in heat. Hard to sneak back to your date’s house after her curfew when ‘your buddy’ makes a grand entrance at 0300.. It was the 60’s. You had to have been there.
I hate the cheap Chinese finned valve covers and air cleaner. They are out of place and go against the vintage theme the rest of the car presents.
Steve R
This car has a cool original look to it, and if I bought it, I would leave it as is also.
Cool car but I’d have to pass, I got my 55 wagon, with dealer ad on AC, and original 265 ci.
@55chevy;
Is that a ’65-’66 Mustang sitting in front of your ’55?
Sawheeeeeeet!
All this wagon needs to complete the look is one of those outside window air conditioners like my Dad had. I remember it was on the passenger side where Mom sat.
Love the vintage car top carrier. Probably actually carried something in it too, unlike those Outback/ XC70/ put your “lifestyle” car here posers.
I had a ’56 off and on (passed around the family) from ’56 to ’68 when it died of rust. For the time, it handled well, was incredibly reliable, and the “emergency brake” now called “parking brake” actually worked to stop the car, and with its pistol grip, could be modulated when the hydraulic brakes went out, (aneurism of the brake line) which they did on my watch 3 times. Like the wheel, or the wheels on suitcases, the dual master cylinder is so obvious now, but was not thought of then. And the drum brakes were good for one stop with a full load from 60 mph, the addition of discs (and hopefully a dual master cylinder) would fix this one major fault. The other fault was bias ply tires which were good for about 22,000 miles, blew out with regularity, and a bumper jack which bent up the front bumper – next time you go to a car show with ’55’s and ’56’s look at the front bumpers, most are bent up. If not, it was over restored!
I grew up on a family farm near Greensburg, Ky., a small, historic farming community in the south central part of the Commonwealth. Late one afternoon during the summer of 1967 (could have been ’66) I was driving through Greensburg on my way home from work when I spotted an unusual sight. Parked in front of our local pool room was a 1956 Chevy wagon just like the one pictured here with the name Percy Sledge painted in big letters down both sides. From the direction the Chevy was parked I assume the singer was headed somewhere to the north to his next gig. The wagon was the same dark blue and I am 99% sure the second color was light blue (with 1% chance it was white). Percy was a terrific singer whose hit song “When a Man Loves a Woman” propelled him to the top of the 1960s pop charts. The back of the wagon was full of luggage and music cases with more on the rack attached to the wagon’s roof. I was 17 or 18 years old and loved Percy’s music! The pool room was one of my favorite hangouts but I did not stop because there were cows to be milked waiting at home. I have wished a 100 times I had stopped. We did not get many celebrities in my hometown and to have Percy Sledge enjoying a burger at our pool room was a pretty big deal. Percy’s recent passing brought this event back to mind. It was an event I have shared with friends often over the years. Rest in peace Percy.
Milking cows vs Percy Sledge? Really bad choice! Saw him in the late nineties .still had it! That 60’s Sou whether Percy, Sam n Dave, Brenton Wood you name it will never die……..man.