At 13-15yrs old in the early 70's I had my nose stuck in Car Craft magazines and drawing pictures of '55 gassers in school when I should have been paying attention!

 

Late 1954, on the corner of 5th and Robertson Blvd in chowchilla ca. I watched as they unloaded the 55 chevs for Pete Pistoresi chevrolet.

As they say, the rest is history.

In 64, paid 100.00 for a blue 55 spt cpe, had rod knocking, for 35$ I bought rings, mains and rod bearings and gaskets. Installed it all at 14 and was driving my first car.

I got that special agriculture drivers license at 14.5 years and was on top of world.

Ray

 

First car

My First car was a 55 210 2 door and I bought it in 1965. It wasn't really a "classic" then, it was just a used car

They really got it right that year for me and it was a revolutionary event with the debut of the 265 SBC. I've stuck with Chevy's innovations and now have a Volt. 56,000 on 435 gallons. 100 miles per day on a fraction of a gallon. Lucky for me I can charge at both ends of the trip. Love the car and would buy it again in a HeartBeat!! (pardon the pun) :happy0030:

55 Nomad sits next to the Volt.

:bowtier: Guy All The Way!

 

Drew this when I was 12-13 years old:

Owned this by the time I was 14:

 

Way too many years ago when I turned 14, I got my driver’s license. Yes back in the Stone Age we could get our license at 14. Naturally I wanted a car. To tell the truth I can’t remember what kind of car I wanted back then. I’m sure it was new and expensive. My dad, who I didn’t give near enough credit to back then, told me I needed something old that I could work on. I didn’t have any intention to work on a car. But my dad knew me better than I did. He found a 1956 210 post for sale. It was black over white over black. Had a 283 4 barrel (originally a six banger) with power pack heads and three on the tree. I was not thrilled (but what did I know). That wound up to be my first car. Once I learned how to drive a standard, I started meeting other guys with “hot rods”. A couple of 55’s a 57, 61 Impala and even a 58 Olds. I started getting a little more interested. Again my dad knew me better than I did. One Friday night after the high school football game, a couple of friends and I were hanging out in my garage. And we started piddling around with my car. When my dad came out the next morning there we were with parts everywhere and an empty block except for the crankshaft sitting in my car. I am a little fuzzy on some of the particulars but I still remember lying underneath the car and hammering out the pistons. My dad asked what we were doing and I said “We’re going to rebuild it”. He said “You’re right. You are going to rebuild it”. The next Monday when he got home from work he handed me a Chilton’s Manual that he had borrowed from a mechanic friend. Well we got the block out and took it to the only machine shop in our small town. I just needed it boiled out and honed. I was going to have to replace pistons. Some did not come out to well with the hammer method and not getting rid of the shoulder that had formed around the top of the cylinder. I learned later there was a tool to remove that. The shop guy told me he had some pistons he had ordered for someone but they had backed out of the sale. He could let me have them cheap. They were .06 over and 11 to 1 compression. I said sure bore it out. Then a friend said his brother had a Duntov solid lifter cam I could have. Great. Then the machinist said I should let him put oversize valves in the heads. Why not. Then with a borrowed engine stand, the Chilton’s Manual, and a couple of friends we started putting everything back together. When it was back in the car with a set of headers now, it was time to start it up. When it started up that was the greatest feeling ever. After setting the lifters and the timing, off we went. We were on top of the world. Thanks to my dad I have loved cars and working on cars my whole life. Unfortunately I was stupid enough to sell my 56 so I could get a 69 Chevelle SS 396. I have always missed that car. Last year when my wife told me I should buy a 56 so I could work on it when I retire, well she knows me better than I do I guess like my dad. So I found one and now I am back where I started.

 

Fan

My first car was a 55 Convertible, mint condition that I had in high school. I didn't realize what I had and customized it. I destroyed several others and when I had an opportunity to save a 57 hardtop, I did.

Joe

 

My Dad purchased a brand new black and white more-door in 1956. Can't say that I knew I was in hallowed tin at the time since I was only 4.

I knew I liked the tri-fives in 1965, when I started drawing cars. Now I know why they call them shoe boxes. At least that was what my early attempts looked like. Bought my own '56 BelAir hardtop in 1969.

 

My Dad had a yellow and white 55 when I was 8 years old and I loved that car, don't remember what happened to it. Knowing my Dad he probably traded it for a truck. He always said a truck can make you a living. When I was 16 My Dads best friend had his grandfathers 56 he had bought new and we were at his house one evening and he asked me if I had a car yet and I said no sir, He got up and went in another room and when he came back he handed me the keys and the title to the 56, this was in 1976.

 

Started Young

When my brother and I were about 5 & 6, we got a Snake and Mongoose Hot Wheels set for Christmas. One day, my Dad comes home with his own Hot Wheel to race with us... a 1957 Nomad. He'd race us a couple times each, then put the Nomad away where we could never find it and play with it. A few years later, we moved from Kansas City to Chicago in a 1955 Nomad (black and needing a lot of work). He sold it shortly after the move and said he'd wished he'd never sold it. (How often do you hear that?!) A 1957 Nomad showed up for sale back in the early 80s and us kids convinced him to pick it up. He did, used it as a daily driver for a few years, then it got parked in the garage for the next 16 years or so... Until I got it from him in 2001. Long story short, I took over 10 years restoring it, but am enjoying it to no end now! My Dad is still with us, only lives about 2 miles from us, and has enjoyed it with me the past couple years. I've grown up with Nomads, so I've been a Tri-Five fan all my life!
:bowtier:

 

More on 55 chevies

Late summer of 1954 meant that in September we would get to see the new Chevrolet that GM was offering. There was actually quite a bit of talk about the new car that was coming. Our local dealership had taken craft paper and blocked off their showroom windows so that you could not see the cars on the show room floor from the street or sidewalk, you had to park and go inside. That is what we did, some boys and I on our way home from school. Wow, there sat a brand new red and white 55 chevie convertible and to the other side was a Salmon and grey 4 door and a truck. It was an awsome time of conception and growth in the automotive industry that will never come again. Most of us will never forget listening to a smallblock V8 idle or a full blown burn out.

gary

 

ive been around trifives even before i was born, starting with my grandfather, in 1957 he traided in a 1950 chevy he had for a used almost new 56 210 4dr sedan it was twilight turquoise and india ivory, this was in cuba, well my father was born in 1962 and he grew up in that car since it was the only vehicle we had in our family and due to the embargo there was no more new cars coming in to cuba since 1959 so my father drove that car till we left cuba, i was born in 1988 and i got pictures of my mother being pregnant with me and her standing next to the car, and i got tons of pictures of me as a baby on the car, my first birthday i took a picture standing on the front seat holding the steering wheel and i remember riding with my father in the car all the time, i was 6 years old when we left cuba and we came to this country and ever since i can remember as far back as i can remember being a little kid i always liked old cars but especially the 56 chevy, and i remember asking my grandfather about it when it was new and he would tell me all these great stories with the car, fast forward to the age of 14 i came across this 56 4dr wagon in ebay for sale not far from me and for a price that we could get it, it was a wagon wich i didnt like much that body style back then because i wanted one like the one we had in cuba a sedan but it was in a good price so we bought it and picked it up and drove it home, fast forward 12 years i still have that card and it has been my daily driver a few times, never has left me stranded and right now i am painting it and putting ac and little by little..so i can say ive been a trifive 56 fan all my life....:blowtiedb:

 

March 25, 1959, when I saw my 1957 Inca Silver Convertible sitting in a used car lot, one day before I bought it.

Actually, my last three years of high school were 1955, 56 and 57 so you might say that I was there all the way with the tri fives. My dad had a 53 Bel Air hardtop that I drove until I saw the convertible.

 

I became a fan the very day my 57 was purchased new. I was 7 years old and was with my Uncle the day he bought her from Flatbush Chevrolet in Brooklyn, NY. The car has stayed with the family all these years and is truly a family member.

 

think I was 12 it was the first time I watched American graffiti. I always loved 55 chevys after that but ended up getting a 57 when I was 16.

 

I was 12 and my oldest brother brought a 55 2 dr sedan home. Turqorze & white. Loved them ever since. Van :flag6: :gba:n

 

55 fan

When my 56 ford 312 was out run by a 56 chevy 4 dr ht. That chevy had a 265 2 bbl powerglide and easly beat the ford in the 1/4 mile.

 

Ed Roth's fault!

Mothers worry T shirt / sticker.

 

trifive memories

A friend and his dad both bought 57s when I was about 12. My dad helped them get them on the road and I was hooked. When I was 15 and looking for a first car, (1980) I found a primered 57 convertible in the local paper for $1700....dad said we couldn't afford it!! A few weeks later, we towed home my first 57...2 dr hdtp...for $75....put an engine in, painted it and drove it for about 2 yrs. Sold it to a classmate who still has it. I drove by his place last weekend and he still won't sell it back to me. I do have a black 2dr hdtp now so life is still good.

 

It was the 1st time I seen a 4dr 56 wagon run down a 70
??duster at a local drag race... Knew I had to have a tri-five it was 1975 I was 15 yr old:character0029:

 

I remember my Dad said it one of the nicest cars of all time but he could never afford one . I made my mind up I was going to have one. First, I got a yellow 4 door belair 235 3 spd out of Moyock NC. OMG Smoked like it was burning a quart a minute, but ran perfect, $75. Next I got a 210 2 door hardtop, Nice red interior, NO Floor. Dad said this one aint a fixer, lets look some more. Found my car in Camden NC next to a cemetery. A Gold 2dr HDTP Belair 235 Pglide. So many starters and alternators in it, It was pressed flat to the ground. Agreed to $100 price and came back the next weekend. So now I've had her 40 years now. I would love to take my 78 year old dad for another ride in that car. It's the car he wanted and never had.

 

THE FIRST TRI-FIVE I REMEMBER WAS MY GRAND PA'S. IT WAS A LIGHT BLUE 55 POST AND I LOVED IT WHEN I FIRST SAW IT. I REMEMBER HE TRADED IT OFF IN 1968 AND I REMEMBER HOW SAD I WAS TO SEE THAT SWEET LITTLE 55 GO. ALWAYS WANTED ONE LIKE IT AND STILL DO. EVEN THOUGH I LIKE THE 56 THAT I'M RESTORING NOW THE 55 ( TO ME ) IS STILL THE SWEETEST LOOKING OF THE THREE. TIM

 

when I saw a new 55 Bel Air in a Denver dealers showroom. I was 8, already a car nut, could name any make model and year on the road. My sisters friend had a boyfriend who drove a really cool 2d ht with skirts and more antennas than he needed for his AM radio. Always loved em, bought my 57 in 1972 and it is my current project.

 

When I was about 12 my grandfather bought my mom a 55 black/red bel aire and my aunt a 56 coral/white convertable. Got them both off a local used car lot.

I was hooked.

When I got my license at 16 I bought my 57 210 wagon. Kept it for two years before selling.

Took me 45 years to rectify that mistake.

 

In 1956 at 6 years old. I was very impressed with the fold down tail light. Fan ever since. Every September when the new models came out was an exciting time for me!

 

Fast car!

I fell in love with the '57 Chevy's when I was in auto shop as a freshman at Placer High School, Auburn CA. A senior had a bright yellow '57 with a built 327 4 speed and was one of the fastest cars in town. Every week he'd bring it in the shop, put something new on it or put a fresh tune-up on it for the weekends action! I just thought that was the coolest! My Grandparents also had a turquoise and white '56. When I got my opportunity to build/own a '57 I jumped on it and have nothing but loved it!!! :tu Jay