Disagreement at the shop. I say it was an option and they say never existed. Did they or not have air bags in the coils with a compressor under the hood from the factory? Seems to me I remember seeing one.
It was for real,,my grandmother bought a new '58 station wagon with it. the car would settle if parked very long, and you never knew what sort of gymnastics it was going to do while the air pumped up. Just to keep it interesting every once in awhile there would be a big explosion underneath, chunks of the bags would fly out and the thing would drop, and I do mean DROP, to about an inch off the ground,,she only kept it about a year, it was a constant series of trips to the dealer.
Also available on Oldsmobiles and/or Pontiacs, I think? I used to have a road test from that year, and the reviewers agreed that you really couldn't call it a better ride (which was the selling point).
I have it in my genuine service manual for my 58 Chevy. It's real. It's also REAL expensive and REAL rare.
You win. Tell 'em to pay up! It was also an option on 1958 FORDS (There were about 300cars equiped with it)! I had one of them....it went to the crusher but I have the outboard shock mounts and the service manual for the system. Air ride aint nuthin new....
Several companies experimented with self-leveling suspensions back then.The best system I saw was the Packard Torsion-Aire ride in 1955 and 56.Torsion bars front and rear with a load sensor that detected out of line loads and used a 12v motor to jack the torsion bars.A friend of mine had it on a model A 2-door phaeton he owned built by Charlie Mannshiem of Dayton Ohio(Art Arfons chief mechanic). British Leyland used a hydrolastic(air over water)suspension on the Mini Coopers of the late 50's and early 60's.worked nice but was prone to freezing in cold weather.They used an ethylene glycol mix in the system but it attacked the seals. The GM system was available in Chevrolet,Pontiac,and Oldsmobile(and possibly Cadillac)from 1958 to 60 although I believe the 60's weren't really installed.They had so many problems with the system that most of the cars were retrofitted with conventional suspension at GM's expense.
It was a part year option and discontinued because it was unreliable. on the Impala, below the trunk deck lid and above the bumper was an emblem. Think it said "Air Suspension"
Cadillac had it in '58-9 too. My Dad took me (age 11) with him to the GM service training school in Burbank to a class on fixing them in '59.
Well, thnks a lot guys. One case of beer coming my way!!! BTW I had a 56 Packard Clipper with the self leveling torsion bar suspension. Best riding car I have ever seen!
I've seen a couple of 59 Caddy's that had factory air ride, so GM definitely had it optional. According to the original owner of one of them (this was back in the eighties when I had this conversation), it was incredibly unreliable.
If I remember correctly, it was called 'level air' because it compensated for a load,,us kids would climb in the back of the wagon and it would settle,,then bring itself back to level
my neighbor had a 58 bonnavlle, It would leak down overnight and have to be towed back to the Pontiac dealer, several times,He finally replaced the suspension.
My dad had a '58 with air ride. He said it had an increadable ride. He said he would come out in the morning and air would have leaked out of the system. He'd start the car and have to wait for the air to pump back in. There was a recall (maybe optional, he couldn't remember.) He took the car to the dealer and they put springs in it. After the spring install he said it rode like a "lumber truck".
I saw a couple of complete set-ups in the box NOS at Cutting Cross Chevrolet in Morgangton N.C. many years ago when I was going thru there old parts. We didn't buy them and left it all sitting there over 20 years ago. Might still be there!
Not very much information out there on the factory "LevelAir" cars but I recently picked up a 58 Brookwood station wagon with factory LevelAir that is still in working condition. Car has been stored in a barn for the last 38yrs not far from me
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