Chevrolet redesigned its cars in 1955 and met with tremendous success. Nearly five million of the “Tri-Five” Chevies were sold through 1957 as Chevy introduced its first V8 engine in 37 years. In ’55, two versions of the “no post hardtop” were offered in both the 210 and Bel Air series. The seller doesn’t indicate which applies here, though it would be easy to lean toward the Bel Air since it outsold the 210 in this body style by a margin of 16 to 1. It’s been off the road for years, though very recently started again.
The new V8 engine in 1955 displaced 265 cubic inches. If that was in this car when it was new, it’s gone in favor of a 327 motor which couldn’t be any older than 1962 when it was introduced. If this was a 3-speed car or one with a Powerglide, it now has a 4-speed manual transmission. But the Chevy sat idle for many years and will likely need more than cleaning up or a fresh coat of paint. The car was placed in non-op status with the DMV to avoid back-up registration fees.
A restoration may have been started on this Bel Air (or 210) since the vehicle wears a full coat of grey primer. But what was the original color? And the interior isn’t factory either. The upholstery looks newer, and the steering wheel is from the racing world (or from racing wannabes). We don’t see any rust on this Chevy, but the photos are few and don’t show us what’s going on under the hood.
If you don’t have to have numbers matching, this Chevrolet might be a nice car to finish restoring. But the asking price is $19,000 here on Facebook Marketplace where the car can be found in Crows Landing, California. As far as “no post” Tri-Fives goes, could this one offer a good foundation?
And here come the 2 Lane Blacktop comments( and American Graffiti and Adam-12) Did you know, James Taylor hated making that movie so much, he never did see the finished movie. His character in the movie showed very little emotion. Maybe it’s just because he was upset with the role. Jay Leno recreated a car as a tribute, showed it to Taylor expecting an overwhelming response, instead, he wasn’t very impressed. I think Leno took that as an insult.
The “double nickel” Chevy was an instant hit, selling over 1.7 million cars in ’55 and for the 1st time, I believe, outsold Ford by 250,000 cars, but not for long. With as popular as the ’57 Chevy was, Ford still outsold them. While the Tri-5 cars are similar, the ’55 was too plain, the ’57 too gawdy, the ’56 was just right. For this money, it had better be the one from the movie. I don’t know if someone still is willing to take this on.
If they sold 1.7 cars in 55 why do they claim in 65 they sold the most cars ever?you sure that’s for 55,56,and 57?
Again a facebook sale…don’t people realize a majority of people want nothing to do with Zuckerburg??? List it on a real site!!
Not Leno’s car just featured on his tv show
Those wheels and interior say late sixties. It looks like the owner ordered a few cool things from the J.C. Whitney catalog. I used to drool over the catalog as a 12 year old in 1970 and pick out all of the stuff I was going to order for my car when I turned 16. Back then in my mind if they didn’t have you didn’t need it. This one is going to take some work to bring back, but I would go with the same theme. Cool then, cooler now.
That Whitney (Warsharsky), catalog was great! I bought an exhaust cut-out that was fun until the police made me remove it.
Cars with period modifications are cool, especially those that stick to a specific era. This car looks rough for the asking price, unless it’s packed full of really hard to find vintage speed equipment it’s probably better to keep looking. His ad, with the lack of pictures and poor description doesn’t help his cause, but I’d still make time to look see it if I was in the market for a 55.
This seller has been featured on this site before, I’m not sure which car, but I often look up locations in California on a mapping app and this spot has come up before. That might mean he’s willing to negotiate so he can use the money for his next purchase.
Steve R
I t looks to have Bel Air trim.
Twolane car 150 post
Check the VIN on it! I know one stolen that looked extremely similar whith same setup. And it was stolen about when this one was “parked”
Looks to be a factory stick shift car. Automatics had the shift quadrant between the speedo and the steering collum mount.
Had an orange ’55 2-door hard top … paid $15, a tray of eggs (family owned an egg farm), and a half-used tin of Turtle Wax for it … body was straight, had a 409 with a cracked block, but Edelbrock 4-bbl intake and finned aluminum Edelbrock valve covers … straight axle, see-through bubble hood, no trans, and one seat inside with a roll cage … towed it home behind a tractor … grandfather sold it for $25 that I owed him after borrowing money for trip to Chicago … the stuff we did back then …