(Photos from the BangShift archives) – My favorite year for tri-five Chevrolets is 1955. I think they have the cleanest lines and how can you not love that classic egg crate grill (inspired by Ferrari of all things!) up there front and center in the nose of the car. I went through some of our old galleries form years past and nabbed cool looking 1955 Chevrolets for you to gaze at. There are lots of straight axle gasser style cars, a shocking number of Nomads, several street rods, nice paint, no paint, primer, and some cars that seems to be a combo of all those things. To understand the impact that the 1955 Chevrolet had on the automotive marketplace in America can be summed up in one simple fact. The car that hot rodders, drag racers, and street rodders love so much and know simply as “a ’55” on its own made up 24% of the entirety of new cars sales in America during that year. One model in all of its various trim levels…..24% of the entire automotive landscape. GM sold more cars in 1955 than they ever had or would until 1963. It was a good year.
From the point from when they were new until now these cars have been raced in virtually every form of motorsport you can think of. There have been ’55 Chevy bodied monster trucks, they ran desert races and rallies, drag races, stock car races, demo derbies, etc. They’ve been famous in movies like Two Lane Blacktop and American Graffiti (those were the same car, BTW). In this gallery you’ll see those cars in many different forms and doing many different things.
I dig it
These shots pretty much show why decided to find a 55 for project after pouring over Vettes, Novas, 57s, Camaros even Pontiacs.