I was looking through my new 'Best of Hot Rod: '49-'59' and came across the preview of the '58 Impala and it caght my eye. I was reading through it and saw some pics of the optional air suspension. Thought it was pretty cool for back then. Does anyone know more about the system that was used and how well it performed? And does anyone have an impala equiped w/the og air suspension? Thanks -John
The Chevy system is basically the same as the cadillacs. In other words, it was technically innovative, but performed poorly in the real world because of reliability issues, mostly because of poor sealing on the airbags. With th euse modern airbags, a rebuilt system is supposed to be rather reliable and works as it should.
My dad worked at the GM Tech Center back then,he said almost all of them were recalled and converted to coil springs by the dealers.......
Chevrolet called it the "Level Air" system. It was an option that started in 58 (across the GM board), mostly on the high end models such as the Impala or Nomad. It carried over to the 59 model year, but was dropped mid-year due to so many problems. Dealerships converted Level Air cars back to the stock coil spring system, therefore not many Level Air cars around. There's a guy overseas (I think in Sweden) that's got a black 58 Impala with a working factory Level Air system. One of the few around. He loves it and hasn't had any problems thus far. I've got pix, just can't post them. I've been collecting parts for a few years so I can build a Level Air car someday. The parts are just so damn hard to come by as you can imagine. Guider
If you want the shop manual information on it and the exploded diagrams let me know and I"ll scan them and email them to you. Tell's you what completes the system and how to use it, remove it, repair it, tow with it.....etc etc. Pretty neat stuff I think.........but 58 Chevy owners tend to be off their rockers like Pontiac owners. xxx Brandy
Thanks for all the feedback guys. Now my next questions: So how were the bags constructed back then compared to a modern air bag? They had a cutaway of the airbag in the article but i couldnt really understand it. Can someone shed some light on the bag itself? -John
I had a '58 Buick Special that originally had the air suspension. They called it the "Airborne B-58" and had a picture of a B-58 bomber in the ad flying overhead. Mine was converted back to coil springs, but still had the compressor mounted on the power steering pump. My Buick guy told me nobody was restoring the air-ride stuff because it didn't make the car handle any better than the standard suspension.
My father bought a new '58 Impala, and was the luckiest man in the world; it had not only air ride, but a Turboglide as well! When he traded it on a new Impala in '61, both had never been touched. That's one out of how many?
You may not get too much response on this board about stock old cars, since we are all in to butchering and building customs and hot rods here. Basically, the systems were not that great in those days, many of them leaked, and were replaced by the dealer with regular springs. I have plans to bag my Impala, but I will use late model bags, etc, and consult fellow HAMBers before doing so. You may get more feedback on stockers at Chevytalk.com for example.
Basically, in terms of construction, I don't think they are radically different from today's bags. What has improved is the construction quality and actual rubber. Just like tires, air bars have come a long way because of advances in the chemistry that goes into the manufacture of the rubber for the bags. Also, I believe, they are sealed better now too because of similar advances in tech. But I've never owned a bagged car, so what do I know?
My 58 Bonneville (first car, high school car) was one of those that had the air ride removed early on. My dad was selling used cars for Joe Fisher Ford in Portland, Oregon in 1964 (he started selling cars at the Buick store in Bellare Texas in 1953, so he'd been at in a while when he went work for Joe in 1962) and the Bonneville came in with a little over 47,000 miles on it in early December. The car never even made it to the lot. He paid cost (495.00) and took it home as soon as the deal cleared on the car it was being traded in on. Most of the control valves were removed and the air bags and cans were gone. The air compressor had the power steering pump mounted to it and driven off it's shaft (like you see the generators mounted to the power steering pump on tri five Chevs to state an example of something similar) so it was gutted of it's pistons and rods, but was left on. The air storage tank was disconnected, but was still there behind the headlights inside a fender, (probably because to removing it would have required removing the fender and GM considered it unnecessary and wouldn't warranty the work). I went to the Pontiac store close to my house in the hope of reinstalling it not too long after (early 1965) and bought everything they still had in stock. but it wasn't much. A few check valves, brass junction blocks, and a height control valve were about all. I didn't pursue it anymore. The car came from the coast (Astoria or Seaside I think) and I always felt the salt air on the coast had caused the early demise of it's air ride.
Almost forgot, I removed the control knob, bracket, and cable from under the dash and put it in the bottom drawer of my roll cab in the early 70's. It's still there today. The lettering cast into it says AIR RIDE and no, it's not for sale.
Actually your are kind of wrong on that rolf. The only reason I'm saying so is alot of the cars I see on here that are done "Traditionally" Anymore are just painted up stockers with maybe a few mild body mods. Look around even the car you posted a picture of is very mild. Now it may not have the stock engine, trans or rearend but most of the time thats not the first thing people see, They see the body first. And if the cars body is mainly stock but it has a hotrod motor or late model trans, rearend it still isn't very much different from a stock or factory vehicle in looks it just probably drive's better is all. Or goes faster etc... I can still tell your car is a 58 so its not very different from anyother stock 58 I've seen. Now if you were to go cut the top off the car weld everything up chop the windshield, mold a 54 chevy front cap to it and modify the rear of the car some then it wouldn't look like everyother 58 chevy. And then you could say something like that. Your cars no better than anyone elses. Just my .02 Opinions are like assholes everyone has one.......
Sorry about the multiple posts, but I keep remembering little things. The air bags had an open top and were set into a upside down heavy gage sheet metal can that actually had the air line fitting attached. I talked to a mechanic in the late 60's who had worked on these things. He told me it was this sheet metal can rusting out prematurely and developing pinholes that caused most of the failures. And GM instead of finding a solution and fixing the real problem, cut their losses and removed any installations that were giving trouble. I think this system was offered on all the GM lines and the Lincoln from the start of the 58 model year to about mid model year 1960 before being dropped. The same basic system was perfected on the trucks and buses and is still being used today.
Well well well. Look at you jumpin on your soapbox. Rolf NEVER said his was a custom of ANY sort. He simply implied that he is ate up with the dumb ass just like everyother 58 Chevy owner. In his next post he clearly states that his car is a stocker and he NEVER implied that his car was better then anyone elses. But if you wanna see an opinion here's one....... HEY ROLF! Your Impala SUCKS and my 4 door BISCAYNE RULES! haha! Honestly back on topic, from what I read in my shop manual, they leaked, GM knew it and they showed how to remedy it. I think patience was a virtue with the system and I don't believe that they have changed over the years cept for quality of rubber like what Wanna stated. Just my asshole err opinion......from an ate up owner.
Did I say that my Impala was a custom? ...and when the hell did I say that my cars are better than anyone else's? I posted a picture of my '58 because Brandy made a funny wise-crack about '58 Chevy owners, that's all. I simply gave the monstergarage87 another recourse to be helpful. Geeez, who pissed in your coffee??
Sorry I guess it was just the way you worded it. It made it seem like to me that you were getting shitty with him over wanting to know about a stock option for a 58 chevy. Speaking of 58's and air ride It seems if I remember correctly that hubnut on here told me once that he used to own a rusty 58 ford that came factory with air ride but somebody had changed out the canisters for regular coil springs. But that he crushed the car I think.
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