I know there is a bazillion 55 chevy posts here but I'll go blind reading everyone of them. I'm going to go look at a 55 that a guy has for sale and am wondering what specific areas I should look at as far as rust and major concerns would be. Drivetrain and mechanicals I have no problem dealing with, but rust repair, bodywork and paint aren't even close to being in my toolbox and they cost an arm and a leg to have done. So what areas should I look at? TY
Lower fender drops, and around wheelwells. Floorboards from below in the outside front corners near kick panels. These are all areas noted to rust. Looking from below will show better if they've been repaired properly, or just goobered together.
Look under the car, look at the inside rocker panels (the vertical part at the outer edge of the floor), look very carefully in the trunk around the bottom of the wheel wells and just in front of the rear bumper, down in the little channel that forms the very rear of the trunk floor. The bottom of the doors, look for the edges of the doors being "fat", it should be exactly as thick as 3 thin pieces of sheet steel, but bondoing over rust makes them thicker. Everywhere on the bottom of the car where the edges of the panels meet, they're spot welded, but rust repair usually makes the spot weld dimples go away or look unnatural. A car from the southwest might have a few rust holes in the inner rockers, in the p*** side front floor (heater valves always leaked), and anywhere there is an inner panel right behind the outer panel, where dirt will get trapped and stay moist during rainy season. Cars from the rustbelt or the coast will have bondo smeared all over the lower parts of the car, patches will be riveted or brazed or mig welded in and bondo'd over, etc. You can usually tell right away if it's a rust bucket, if you spend maybe 5 minutes with your head under the car, bring a flashlight too. If you know anyone who does bodywork, ask them to help you inspect the car.
Look at trunk area at the very rear of the car. Rust out common there. Also look at body mounts where they bolt to the frame. If the car has been in an accident often you will see shims to compensate for a bent frame.
Thx for the heads up guys, guess a good flashlight will be my friend, unfortunately these cars seemed to have gotten closer to the ground as Ive gotten older Looks like a roadtrip is coming up on friday to go check this out. BTW, love your 55 Squirrel, I envision a balck and white 2 tone, but the wallet will decide that.
Frame, floors, inner rockers, trunk, body mounts. Everything else is cheap, relatively easy, and available.
head light buckets are a bad spot. If it's a hard top be sure to check just behind the bottom back corner of the doors. This is a drainage area that would constantly get plugged up and water would just sit behind the metal.
Take along a refrigerator magnet. You can throw it along the bottom edges, around the headlights, and it should stick. It will not scratch the paint. If it falls off, depending where you threw it, it may still be OK.
on the hinge piller for the drivers door, it's a piece of stainless, 1" x 3", spot welded in place with two spot welds. VIN stamped into the stainless. There should also be a cowl tag, on p*** side top of cowl just in front of the wiper pivot, aluminum, riveted on, 2" x 4" approx. This is not critical, but it does give the original colors, and some of the options, and body style.
All of the above. Most critical in my opinion would be all of the underbody sheetmetal and supports for body mounts. If those are good, the rest of it is generally good, or easily repaired. Just look to make sure that everything seems to be present and isn't buried in undercoating. SO... floor sheetmetal under feet area floor sheetmetal in all of trunk area floor sheetmetal where it joins with inner wheel wells in rear body mounts that are s***ched to the body and bolted to the frame And as others have said, key areas on the outside of the body are: headlight eyebrows lower front fenders rocker panels inner wheel well houses front and rear inside lip of rear quarter wheel arch rear panel between wheel opening and rear bumper rear splash pan between the trunk and the bumper lower tail light area between tail lights and bumper areas around windows below and surrounding stainless trim I probably missed some stuff, but if all of this is good or even pretty good, you are mostly golden. And if it is all rotten, it is all available aftermarket and can be purchased reasonably and welded in place if you are patient and want to save some bucks. Of course a solid car will always be a MUCH nicer place to start!
Most cars from the southwest have some rust. Mine has some holes in the inner rockers, the outer rocker and lower quarter on the pas sside were replaced, there are pinholes in the p*** floorboard, ther were some holes in the firewall at the bottom of the air boxes, a little in the rear trunk floor, etc. It's still a mostly solid car, and the northern guys would kill for something that nice to start with. As long as it's not bad then don't let it scare you away if the car is not real expensive. But if the car looks like it's from somewhere else, and it's full of bondo or holes, keep looking for a nicer one.
Went to GG Indy and found a great looking 57 Chevy wagon for sale. The car looked great on the outside and the price was right. On inspection underneath, I actually put my finger through the right front body mount. Not the kind of work I need to be doing. P***ed on the car.
Car is in Arizona atm, don't know where else it has lived and Ive only see some poor cellphone pics. Allegedly "1955 chevy 2 door bel air, new stroker 383 engine, 4 speed muncie trans, disc brake conversion w/drop spindals, booster & master cylinder. new springs. custom trans xmember & engine mounts" He's asking 6500. If its not a bondo baby or rusted out I'll prolly make an offer, gotta do the road trip to see it first
$6500 for that list sounds like you are almost getting the body for free. I am guessing there is a reason you are only getting poor cellphone pics. I don't see a good outcome here but wish you the best... Keep us posted!
$6500 for a running 55 sounds like either a scam or a rotted out 4 door. maybe it is on the level and the guy just wants rid of it. i'd recommend going over it very closely. 55's have pretty simple lines, so it's easy to see if they're out of whack. it's also easy to see the inside of the body panels by crawling under. again, keep us posted!!
Sounds to me like a $6500 car, most 50s cars around here are mostly solid, and there are usually more cars than buyers. It's different up north.
Most of the 55-57 cars up here also rust in the drip rails, I wished I could find a nice one close by here. Good Luck!
I paid $6500 for my hardtop, but then again, it was ugly and wouldn't start. If it's decent, that seems to be a more than fair price.
Jesus, I'm moving!!! But you and I both know "most 50's cars" and tri-fives are two completely different things. I'm still amazed by how much money they bring, considering how common they are. Edit: I'm also still thinking 6 years ago, when I bought mine. Which wasn't nearly as nice as it is now.
Well, it's not a runner, the pics i have show the front sheetmetal removed and the engine/trans sitting on the ground. We shall see. Mr. Sinister, I have b/w envy over your 55, sweet lookin. BTW, I won't even discuss the black 57 i owned in 88........kicks self. Maybe i have pics of it somewhere, paid $6000 for it and sold it for the same amount in 1990 to buy a minivan for the growing family
Man, prices are sooooo much different than they usta be. I paid $75 for this bel air hardtop....235/overdrive in great shape and coming from Oregon it had zero rust. Body had dings all over with proper primer spots and had that gawd-awful light brown and white paint. I put many, many miles on that car...traded it off to get my old 57 Pontiac tudor back at my girlfriend's insistance.
drip rails are tough to replace ... door skins and area around windshield and rear gl*** are also tough ... floors and rockers are easy but the braces can be tough ... the one piece floor with braces looks like a good piece but not cheap ....
Well, I called last night to setup a time to take a look at this on Friday and got the father of the guy whose car it is. Bad news....at least for me. The father was pretty forthcoming about the condition of the body...pretty poor. Rusted out where the firewall braces attach to the frame, floor plans about 50% gone, outer sills about 25% gone, panel behind the rear bumper 50%. Way too much rust repair for my non existant body skills or pocket book Oh well, the hunt continues. Thanks for the good info tho guys, hopefully I'll put it to good use in a purchase down the road.
That ****s, but I kinda suspected it. Depending on how cheap you can get it and what kind of shape the rest of it is in, you know you can buy COMPLETE steel or gl*** 55 bodies, right? They run around $15k, though. you can definitely get a decent, complete 55 for that price, though. If the body is that bad, I'd suspect some frame rot as well. Probably best to keep looking.
My friend bought a 56' hard top at Shades of the Past in Tn. a few years back. Beautiful on the top side. The frame was rotted completly out in spots. the welded channel in it to keep it from collapsing. Then covered it in sheet metal and bondo with lots of undercoating... Gotta watch out for the "polished turds"
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