Vehicle Description
Cars like this 1955 Chevy Bel Air require two things: time and
money. The more of one you have, the less of the other you need,
but there's no way around it, a car this nice requires a serious
investment. Packing a beautifully detailed LS V8 and 6-speed
automatic transmission under the hood, and a '50s perfect two-tone
color scheme, this is a car that everyone can appreciate. Fast,
reliable, and gorgeous, it's everything the original designers
wanted the 1955 Chevy to be, and with only 2024 miles on the build,
it's still quite fresh!
The two-tone paint job looks very factory correct, although it uses
modern materials to give it a sparkling contrast. Blue and white is
a combination that would have looked right at home on the streets
of 1955, although there was no such thing as paint that looked this
good back then. The bodywork is straight enough that the glossy
paint shows beautifully, and the car fits together extremely well,
the result of all that time and money. The white India Ivory is a
very elegant contrast to the bright, cheerful blue, and together
they give the car a bright glow that is perfect for the era without
the heavy metallics we get today. All the original trim is intact,
which also means someone spent enough cash restoring it to put a
kid through college. Detailing is crisp, and there are virtually
zero flaws in the brightwork. Although it's not perfect, in person
this car is impossible to ignore.
The interior has been restored to look period correct with a few
notable exceptions. The seats wear two-tone seat covers with peaked
backrest trim for a true '50s vibe and the door panels were
stitched to match. Matching blue carpets show expert binding work
and the headliner overhead uses chrome bows that are one of the
car's most striking styling features. You'll note the dash is quite
stock and totally dazzling, with the original gauges replaced by
nice-looking Daktoa Digital dials. Sharp-eyed viewers will spot the
A/C vents under the dash, which are effective without changing the
character of the interior. There is an AM/FM/cassette radio, and
there was no cutting to install it properly. In back, the trunk was
restored with a rubber mat and there's a space-saver spare and jack
assembly to make it road-worthy.
Power comes from a well-dressed 5.3 liter LS V8 that came from a
2013 Tahoe. Professionally installed and with just 20,000 miles on
the donor powertrain, it looks and acts like the factory put it
there. Modern amenities include factory fuel injection, so it
starts and idles like your daily driver and actually pulls down
decent fuel economy on the open road. Wiring and plumbing is neatly
installed and with a big aluminum radiator up front, keeping things
cool is no big deal. Underneath there's a slick-shifting 6-speed
automatic transmission from the same Tahoe, a nice upgrade over the
original 2-speed PowerGlide. Custom manifolds feed a
mellow-sounding dual exhaust system with Flowmaster mufflers while
the suspension and brakes have been fully rebuilt with disc brakes
at both ends. It rides on a set of traditional Rally wheels with
15-inch BFGoodrich radials all around.
It's rare to see cars this nice, and when one like this shows up at
a cruise night or car show, it's obvious where the big money was
spent. From the superb paint and bodywork to the rumbling V8 under
the hood, it's a car that will delight you every time you see it in
the garage or climb behind the wheel, which is what this hobby is
all about. Call today!