1955 Chevrolet Bel Air Gold Car Replica Is Motorized Magic. His Fate Has Been Decided!

The owner tried to sell what was left. But he asked a lot of money for hands and windshield blades, for example. Therefore, the sale never happened. But then, original pieces began to appear, some dug up in the field where the car sat.

However, the Snodgrass Chevy Restoration shop from Melbourne, Florida, didn’t stop there. They just couldn’t. So, they began working on a replica of the gold-plated Chevy Bel Air that General Motors built in November 1954.

Seven months and 1,800 jobs later, on January 29, 20024, the team had the car ready in time for the 71st annual Detroit Autorama. And it looked every inch the real deal.

The reproduction body and frame were assembled by Real Deal Steel in Sanford, Florida. They had even enlisted the help of a historian from Falmouth, Kentucky, Steve Blades, to help them with the details. Finding the same decor and colors when they all had black and white photos wasn’t exactly a walk in the park.

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Additionally, the original Chevrolet Bel Air that General Motors paraded in November 1954 was not accompanied by any documentation or stickers. There was zero information about this car because it wasn’t even designed to be driven on public roads!

It was also Steve who provided many of the original parts. For example, front coil springs and rear leaf springs, original coil rear shocks, and five original 15×5-inch steel wheels.

Almost everything on this car is painted gold as the experts used five and a half gallons of Axalta’s special “Tribute Gold” paint mix, which costs $350 per liter. The body panels, wheels, window frames, badges, and wheel hubs, along with all the shiny bits were chrome plated from inside the cabin.

All the buttons and switches, all the knobs on the steering wheel and dashboard, the door lats and strikers, in fact everything, went from chrome to gold. They invested nearly $100,000 for the chrome plating.

There were more than 600 pieces that the team had to change from chrome or from the original color to gold. And yes, they did this on the engine bay too. That engine block now houses a V8 good for 265/162 horsepower and is mated to a 1955 two-speed Powerglide transmission with a 3.55 ratio gear differential. That power unit was Chevrolet’s first attempt at a V8.

Photo: Mecum