Parked In 1987: 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air
Wouldn’t you love to find a Tri-Five Chevy peeping out of a garage or shed? It’s got a couple of extra doors, though, and just a six-cylinder under the hood but at least it has enough pedals. It’s listed on craigslist in Knoxville, Kentucky with an asking price of $15,000. That’s about 2 or 3 times the price cars similar to this have sold for like this one on eBay. Haggerty shows the value of a “Good” condition example to be about only $11,000 when you take the six-cylinder deduction. These Chevys are very popular, but they are common. This Chevy runs but will need complete restoration.
It looks like the interior may be usable after a good cleaning. There are no signs that creatures have moved in. The door panels are sagging and stained, but they are usable. There’s no daylight showing through the floor, but after sitting in the dirt for almost 30 years there will be rust under there.
They really have made no effort to see what’s under the dust. There doesn’t appear to be rust around the windshield but could that be rust on the top and in the drip rail?
The 135 horsepower 235 CID straight six is in there somewhere. The seller says the engine started after “lubricating the cylinder/rings”
It’s interesting to see pictures of barn finds right where they were found but it often limits the ability to take informative pictures. We can guess what’s under all the dust but wouldn’t you like to know how bad the right quarter panel or right front ender is damaged? This appears to be a completely original car stored for decades, but it was driven for 30 years before it was left in the barn. From just what we can see in the pictures, it’s going to need lots of work to even make it a driver. That is a dirt floor, so surely it’s been rusting away under there. I hope it will be saved, but if the frame rails and suspension are badly rusted that may not be the case. What do you think a fair price for this Chevy would be?
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Comments
It was parked because it’s worn out you will need to do a mechanical rebuild on this front to back. The fact is people want the 2 door models so even though this has potential its never going to be worth big money, but it is a nice entry level car for a DIY guy and you can pack the whole family in it to go somewhere. I’ve always liked the dash in the 55.
You’re right. Buy it, restore/build it the way you want, and drive it. Then it doesn’t matter how much you have in it.
Yes, but then the seller isn’t going to cash in like he wants to. I only see Baby Boomers wanting this for sentimental value, anyone else is looking to invest, and a stove bolt six in a dusty four door a’int no investment. And, your average BB already has his toy, and if he buys another, it is going to be some sexy V8 monster, not his Dads going to work car. I myself find this car wonderful, but I sure don’t want to pay investment grade pricing for it. Maybe if the silly high asking prices came down, then more people could get into the hobby, maybe even young people and then these older cars might have a future….way it is now, most will end up in museums that no one will go to because the people who loved them are dead. Gee whiz people, lets bring back the hobby the way it was 30 or 40 years ago when something like this was a few hundred bucks and you could work on it and not short change your families needs. Something that made Average Joes smile and kept them busy, helped bond Fathers and Sons in garages. My buddy Brian bought a 1957 2 door
Chevy hard top in the mid 70s when we were in high school. He paid 125 bucks, yet it had no rust and a decent interior, even had a 283 3 speed. He and I learned a lot about cars from it in his folks garage. Adjusted for inflation, that car would still only be like 500 bucks today. Wouldn’t it be grand if young people today could buy this for that kind of price and learn basic automotive knowledge instead of only having computerized engines that only a skilled workman in a high tech shop can fix? A lot of us older guys lament about how young people don’t share our interests in cars, but do you blame them? What opportunities do they have with these prices? By making this a money making scheme, the Boomers are going to ruin the old car hobby and by the time we die, it will die with us.
Sigh. As always, 2 doors good, 4 doors bad. Just the way it is for mid-50’s chevy’s.
I think your right nothing wrong with a 4 door but the court of public opinion says other wise. There will be a time when there are far fewer 4 doors than 2 doors maybe that will help the value. However the fact still remain the 2 door cars are just more stylish. If they would have put more of a sloped roof line on them and a flush mount semi hidden door handle on the back. I think these old 4 doors would have much more appeal, and maybe thats the solution here, is to change the roof line and customize the back doors. I’d put some belair trim on it too to give it some bling. JMO.
They kept hat dash all the way through to 57, I guess because of the right hand drive thing.
About a third of the asking price might be a good place to start.
Dirt floor doesn’t bode well–seller should have posted more pics, pull it outside and wash it?? Especially with the hi price tag
Good luck to the new owner…
The problem is when all is said and done what would it be worth because it is a 4 door so 15k is too high. I personally would t pay more that 5k for that car If it looked good with good paint etc. 10 to 15k. My opinion only here.
6cyl, 4 door….needs everything gone over. Seems like the owner thinks the value of this car is the same as it’s 2 door post V-8 cousin!
They would have a hard time getting the asking price even if it was a 2 door, at least with this ad.
Steve R
I agree with Dirk. The car isn’t worth the price and would need end to end work.
Knoxville Tennessee
not Knoxville Kentucky.
Well it was his grandmothers car……unless he needs the money I’d keep it and clean it up. I don’t think a 6 cylinder 4 door will ever be worth a lot. I’ d be interested to know what he eventually sells it for …
For sure, 4-door ,6 cylinder and 15 k, stick a fork in it, its done!
Finally! A car with a back seat a real person could fit into. I like that. As far as the rest of it goes… It looks like it’s priced based on sentimental value. Sorry but, it would be about a 4~6K car around here depending on how much you put into cleaning it up and working out the bugs to have it road worthy.
The first 4 door I ever saw that was really fixed up nice belonged to a guy who owned a really hot 68 Chevelle SS. He painted the four door exactly like the SS and put matching wheels and tires on it too.
He drove it when he took his wife and kids out on the town. I’m sure that saved a lot of wear and tear on his Big Block SS hot rod.
What’s with the pictures on C L showing 2 different steering wheels? Looks to be some with the steering wheel in the background(#14&17)showing it has a full horn rim and the closeup one(#17)with no horn rim. Or am I just cracking up and need to go to the funny farm.
You’re going Loco, Mikado .😉 Look again at pic 17.
It’s a close-up of the horn ring. You can see the outer ring in the upper right corner.
Dirt floor doesn’t necessarily mean there will be rust if the inside of the shed remained dry. By the looks of the pics, that probably wasn’t the case.
Looks pretty good for $5000. At three times that, it’s absurd.
There are four doors now that are creeping up in popularity, they’re called station wagons. Or would that be 5 doors? We had a 4 dr Bel Air in the early 70s, my brother ended up with it, he painted it Resale Red, and put black tube bumpers on it, looked pretty racy.
Whoever buys this car has more money than brains.
I have seen some beautiful 4-door sedans. Nice paint, interior, chrome, nice wheels and remove rear door handles! These can still be purchased at a reasonable price (not this one) and get into the hobby without breaking the bank!
I guess it is ok to ask what you want for anything, it is what the traffic will bear, but this is a prime example of what TV and B.J. has done to screw up the old car hobby, been playing with old cars since 70 and none of these type cars worth this type money, they are not rare they are laying in every corner of the woods, thousands built and amaturely restored as a driver they aren’t worth 5k on any day. Still people take leave of good sense and reason and a shinny paint job and everybody wabrs one. Have a friend that drags these old 55-56 Fords and chevy’s out of the woods gets them running and throws a 20 foot paint job on them like those nuts over in Texas and puts a pair of pull over covers on them and some guy that knows nothing about a car comes along and stuffs 7500 in his pocket and a year from now it is run down again and not worth 1500, Wish I had that Charisma for parting people and their cash
I think this guy must be on drugs ,it’s a many door ,not worth that much done !
Abssolutely Martin my sentiments that is exactly why the hobby has gotten so out of kilter today. It used to be a fun thing and often could be an investment, but unreality has killed the sacred cow.This Rich guy on Velocity channel and Finding classicars has turned it uspside down
I’ve seen 2 door HTs with good paint and interior for 5K. This isn’t close to that. He’s got big dreams. He could have at least cleaned it up.
The owner is watching to many restoration programs on TV.
Is there gold in the trunk? You can buy these fully restored all day long for less than that where I’m from. If it sells I’m gonna have to start listing cars in Kentucky I guess.
$15k? Seller obviously forgot Gramm’s car has 4 doors, and an inline 6, not 2 doors, and a V8. Even if this was a V8 Bel Air coupe, it’s not a $15k car in this current shape. $5K is about all this car will bring. $6K if they drag it out of the barn and clean it up