'56 Chevy Bel-Air - yea or nea: your opinions please

[Solzhenitsyn]

I'm considering the purchase of a 1956 Chevrolet Bel-Air
4 Door Sports Coupe Model, 265c.i. V-8, Matador Red and Imperial White two tone. More chrome than you can shake a stick at. $13,000 is the price.

Here is a page with one exactly the same except for the color and engine:
http://www.cerneaclassiccars.com/56chev.html


The only negatives are:

1) I'll have to find a source of leaded gasoline or tetra-ethylene lead additive otherwise I'll have to pay for valve stems and seats to be surface hardened. $1200 mininum for the job at an automotive machine shop.

2) Insurance. I've no idea how much this will work out to. Can't be cheap.

Well yea or nea? Any alternative suggestions?

[Sabocat]

The '56 was a pretty cool car. From an investment standpoint, it wasn't and isn't commanding the prices of the '55 or '57.

I wouldn't sweat the leaded gas thing. You can buy additives that you pour in the tank to protect the valve train. Also, it's a bit of an urban legend. If the car is tuned well and there is no detonation, it should do fine.

Insurance will be cheap, cheap, cheap unless you decide to put theft and collision on it. The good and bad news is, that insurance companies load the premium for the cars' bookvalue, which on a '56 at this point is pretty low. However, if you want theft and collision, you are going to have to get an appraisal (usually 3rd party)to get insurance to cover your cost for the car.

Good Luck

[CubanFox]

Nice looking car. Probably goes faster than my crappy Ford Corsair. It has that nice retro look.

[Liberty Lover]

You can see the shadow of the guy taking the photos.

[Invader Zim]

Well i am in no position to critisise as i am determined to get a vintage Mini Cooper in the future... so as far as im conserned if you really want it.

[Harmless Games]

I say no, get a fuel efficient car, they got some nice toyotas that get around 50-60 MPG, but of course you will go with what looks cool, and i wouldnt expect anything less.

[Solzhenitsyn]

Thanks for the advice, Disgustapated.

You're right about the '56 not being as valued as the '57 or '55 models. The '56 is more in line with other cars from other manufacturers during the 50's in terms of price. The '55 is above that base line and the '57 is way above it. To my mind, the '56 represents a happy medium between the clean lines of the '55 and the over the top design of the '57. People tend to gravitate to one extreme or the other which leaves the '56 undervalued IMHO.

I've alway prefered the '56 Chevy over the other two Tri-Chevy's. Mainly because one sat out rusting in a pasture when I was growing up. I always wanted to try and reclaim that car. It looked 1000% better and more graceful than what whas being churned out in the late eighties early nineties. It's still sits there but its way beyond my abilities to restore.

Harmless,

I'm buying a classic pleasure cruiser that will be driven no more than 3000 miles a year tops. The Honda Ecco(?) is a way overpriced sub-compact and not at all what I'm looking for. When hybrid car designs become more economical, I'll certainly consider buying one. I hear that Chevrolet will offer a combustion/electric hybrid engine in their pickups in 2007.

[abstractmentality]

i would say that if that is what you really want, then get it. i wouldnt buy it because its a 4 door, and i have always liked the 2 door version much better.

from looking at the pictures, it looks to be an inline 6, not the V8 you wrote in your original post. i mention this because if you want a V8, you will be putting that in yourself.

also, if you want a car that you can love, get one that is in no rust condition (or relatively low rust) and rebuild it from the ground up yourself. this is what will get you to stay with your car, and allow you to do it yourself. it sounds like a lot, but a an hour here, 10 hours there, and it will be done.

[hazard]

if plato where to rewrite the republic in a modern setting, I'm sure he'd make only one type of car legal

that car would have to be the safest, most economical, most ecological and most fair vehicle

that way, the highway elitism of "my cars bigger than yours so you better move or else" can be avoided, as well as having a truly equal driving playing field for visibility and minimize all damage to the surrounding environment.

the closest there is the mini, though any car of the same size would be fine

they would all be red, and they would never be allowed to be driven with less than two people in it

[CubanFox]

Minis are the work of the devil.

[hazard]

substitute "mini" in cubanfox's post WITH suv, pick up truck and mini-van