Our cook in the cafeteria had a '55 210 with Power Glide and she was there every day. It never failed her. Her's was green. Even though she is long gone from Clarenceville and from the earth, I can still see her driving up and parking it. She would then exit and lock her door, go into the kitchen and make all kinds of good things for the students to eat. :)
+Symblotic Fuel efficiency is also in mind these days, though off the shelf cars still aren't as fuel efficient as they can be. They don't even have skirts on the rear wheel wells, on a pickup truck that would be a big increase.
@@Symblotic The Donut covered this since you posted that. The lack of color is at least primarily because we have been I economic recession for a long time.
I owned a 55 belair, 2 door post, V-8. If you will notice the 2 door hard top in the video, it is the same color as my 2 door post. I owned it from 1962 to 1965 and sold it while i was in the service to a guy who put a larger engine in it and wrecked the car. It was a beauty. GM had 5 different brands. The entry level was in this order: Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and top of the line Cadillac.
I suggest watching ALL of these at once. I hope they paid that announcer a lot to read that copy. By the end of the 10th commercial I was chanting "Plenty of power with our Turbofire V8 and two new blue-flame sixes!" He probably went crazy and never worked again, if he had to do all of these on the same day.
My God! The two tone blue and white coupe and the convertible were absolutely gorgeous! I was born in 1956 and there were still a few of these magnificent machines on the road when I was a little kid growing up in the 60s. Too few, these, along with the '56s and '57s were all mostly gone by the time I was old enough to drive. Now I can't afford to buy one of these beautiful classics. 😣
My first car was a ‘55 Belair with a 265 V8. It had 2 speed pier glide and power brakes and steering. I well remember getting gas for 17 cents a gallon and you got eagle stamps too.
I had the basic model with 2 doors and 6cyl 3 speed on the collum. That car ran and ran. One tough car for sure. Sadly it died of rust rot but engine ran like new. That was one of my favorite cars and have some great pictures. It did ride good and handled great. It was used when I got it at 10 years old!
I miss the two tone paint and being able to see all four corners of the car instead of guessing where there at on today's cars. My Uncle bought his first new car in 1955, it was butterscotch and cream color. He was really proud of that car. He washed and waxed it all the time. Every time he did it seemed to get shinier. He traded it in on a new Buick in 1960 and then in 1965 he went back to a new Impala.
I love the look of the old Chevrolet cars and I'm only in my mid 20s. I wished they would revive the look and feel in new cars, it's a shame. Most cars today look like garbage on shape and form.
Well I'm glad you like it. I have a '55 mint black on black no post that I bought from a family estate thinking I can't let it leave the family. At the same time I thought it was a really bad financial decision because all the guys interested in old cars are dying. I love the car, but I hope some day if shit hits the fan financially, I can get my money back.
now that is a REAL car right there! not like the absolute CRAP today. drive your classic. 'cuase lifes just better in a classic. p.s. I drive a '72 pickup.
At least a '72 came with seat belts. The '55s offered them as an option, but I bet not too many ordered them. In '56, Ford promoted safety with a number of features, like a safer steering wheel, and advertised that fact. People figured that any carmaker who promoted safety MUST build a poor car, and they stayed away in droves, despite the '56 Ford's styling and features matched Chev's almost exactly.
Barrie Templeton you got that right. also the fords came out with there stronger shatter proof glass that they demonstrated by throwing a bowling ball at the window, which also drove people away.
+Barrie Templeton I wonder why people thought that. "Oh look, they're promoting a safe car. How stupid! Clearly it's better to die impaled on the steering column than to live another day." I'm sure a lot of people before, during and since then who ended up in a wreck weren't really planning to do so yet they ended up in one anyway. Even I came close to hitting a deer once.
Barrie Templeton: The point is Chevy offered seat belts... Don't get angered about it! They could've chose to not make seat belts at all and end up like Buick and the others...
These things wouldn't even make it to a hundred thousand miles before they fell apart and needed constant tuning. Now cars can do 300,000 miles no problem and fuel injection never needs adjustment.
Two tone paint, a nice selection of interior colors and if you did not like this year's styling, wait for next year's model. It would look different and be all new.
they're right, a huge difference over the '54 Chevy! 1st yr Chevy introduced the 265 cubic inch, V-8... the 283 cubic inch came out in '56 & was probably the most reliable Eng. Chevy ever built... I have a '65 chevelle with the 283 & its still going strong here in 2015!
the 283 Cubic Inch Chevy engine did not come on the market in till 1957. The 265 was the V-8 only choice, it came in 2 versions the two barrel single exhaust and the Power Pack option with 4 barrels and dual exhaust in 1955 & 1956
Yeah, I know cars from the 1950s are easy to work on. So is my Grandpa's 1941 Dodge Truck. I still don't want to wreck in a car like that even if I'd like to drive one, and if I end up with that truck and work on it, it's getting seat belts - if I plan on driving it.
Found one of these, abandoned next to a house that was also abandoned while I was hunting a few years back. I don’t know what year it was, but it was all rust, no paint. I’m guessing there used to be a road there way back then. Everything was left in the house. It’s almost like everyone left in quite a hurry, there where children’s books from the 50’s and such. There was an apple tree by the house. Still thriving. It was sad to see that beautiful Bel Air just rot. There was no way to get it out. There was a road… but it was up a steep incline, and it turned a major left onto a left degree incline. So you where leaning left right on the brink of flipping. Sad. I think about it every day.
Yes, these were shown in movie theaters and drive-ins, with a "local dealer's tag" attached at the end {"See the new 'Motoramic' Chevrolets for '55 at Bob Jenkins' Chevrolet- 1418 Mansfield Avenue, in Clifton."}.
Ah, the good old days of cheap gas and record employment with homes you could afford with just one paycheque.A neighbour had a 56 Ford,57 bel air 2dr htp, 59 impala convt, 59 rambler, and then later on a new 67 Mustang. GM started the trend to Trade-in every couple of years as the status symbol and buy the newest technology.
Just think back in 1955 we had balance budgets in this country. We did not run a federal deficit until 1961. We were building the interstate highway system. Everything was made in America. Everything made overseas was junk. I remember going to the five and 10 cent store looking at Japanese toys. We used to say everything made in Japan was junk.
I love 1950's turquoise color, especially in two tone with white. I bought an old house once that still had the 1956 Signature water heater and it was the same turquoise and white color, LOL.......Oh, and the water heater still worked great. This was in 1996........
My first car was 55 Chevy. Syncromesh transmission? Ha-ha! Blue flame engine? Ha-ha! 235 stovepipe with oil bath air cleaner. When she finally died she went straight to the junk yard. But, yeah, easy to work on. Anyone could be a backyard mechanic back then. 43 interior choices? Now your lucky if you get two - black or gray. You also had a couple of dozen paint choices. Now, in an econo car you get 5 or 6. But cars were bare bones back then. You got a heater and a vent. Maybe a push button am radio with a single speaker in the dash. Power steering, brakes, windows? What were those? A/C? Ha-ha...... Oh, yeah, one thing they don't tell you about is the cast iron steering wheel. It was huge and in the summer it got so hot you couldn't even touch it after you started the car. And god forbid if you slammed it into with no seatbelt in a car accident. Those cars were real ovens during the summer.
@@BonafideToolJunkie I bought gas for 25 cents a gallon in 1972 so I would think gas was closer to around 17 or 18 cents a gallon in 1955 . a lot of folks didn't make a dollar an hour though.
Just a response to some of the commenters here. I had a 4 dr sedan Bel-Air in Egypt. it actually DID have an oil filter, but actually it was a big donut filled with motor oil at the air intake and the intake air would be directed down to the oil in the donut before going up into the engine, trapping dust before going into the engine. Middle east option perhaps?
I wish I could find the segment from a Good Times video I used to have that had a '55 Chevy being compared to a '54 Lincoln. It was done at the GM proving grounds to show how much smoother the Chevy "Quadra-Poise Ride" was over the Lincoln. A light was mounted to each car, and as each car went by, a camera took a picture. Of course, the Lincoln photo had bumps in it, but the Chevy was smooth as can be. "A ribbon of light burned on film" was how they promoted it.
My great grandfather had a 55 Chevy bel air, instead of usually red and white or blue and white he had a pink and dark gray, I never met him or seen the car, but it would have been beautiful
Don't feel bad I had a '55 a '69 GTO and a ' 70 roadrunner...gone.. I do have a C5 corvette and a '67 chevelle SS. But I still miss those cars I sold...cheap.
I was gonna buy one of these for $300 when I was in highschool, but my parents said I had to buy my own car insurance which was more than the cost of the car 😢
They were eye catching. It was an exciting era, the golden age of the middle class in the United States. The standard of living and gone down and the population has gone up. The United States has lost much ground for the majority of its citizens. In spite of the nostalgia, these cars were not as safe in a collision. See 2009 chevy malibu vs. 1959 chevy.
Many of the cars in the commercials were "plain Jane" 4 door sedans. Kind of interesting that they did that, when the Belair Hard Tops were so mujch more attractive.
@@keachmister That's the one! I couldn't think of the name of it. Remember how they sold those light up brake lights you could mount on your rear window ledge that were shaped like a middle finger so when you stepped on your brakes you gave the driver behind you the finger?😂😂
"Turbo-fire"...."Blue Flame" " Motoramic" "Touchdown Overdrive", "Super smooth Powerdrive" ...LOL. Didn't you just love the catch phrases they used on us back then. They do it now but it's more sophisticated less "silly." I mean come on...what the hell does "motor-ramic" really mean????
I wonder why people were so adamant about not buying seat belts then when they were optional. "Oh look, they're advertising safety. How stupid! I want to have head injuries!" Oh sure, do you ever really plan to have a wreck? I hear you there, but it's still a nice addition to have belts.
Austin Lucas Any car is unsafe if you misuse them. You can still get killed or injured in an accident. Yes cars today are safer, and more durable. But it doesn't mean you can't get yourself hurt.
True, True (though I feel like being gentle to those fools,) and True. The nut behind the wheel's the biggest factor, after that there's the car's condition. *Still,* I like having good brakes in case some fool decides to brake check me although I don't think I would let that happen in the first place.
cars today are much safer than the "good ole' day" cars. They tested a 1955 Chevy at 40mph head on collision and compaired it with a new Chevy. The crunch area entered more than half way into the driver compartment in the 55...not so with the new one. You can say what you want about modern cars, but they are safer than they ever have been in our history. More weight doesn't equate with more protection..not back then.
Exactly who is "they" I had two different 55 chevs, with steel dash and no seat belts,,,and now drive a nice newer car made half tupperware and spandex, Sorry even without seat belts I would prefer to be inside the steel Lol