Lil Honey Bee: A Sweet ’55

Ryan’s post on Duane Steck’s Moonglow caused me to ponder about how many 1953 and 1954 Chevrolets seemed to receive ‘custom love’ over the more ‘popular’ ’55 model. Why is that? Was the first year Tri-Five Chevy considered to be more ‘GO’ (with it’s new 265 V-8) than ‘SHOW’? Whatever the reason may have been, it still holds true today, as we see fewer ’55 – ’57 Chevy’s end up as traditional customs compared to their ’53 & ’54 brethren. Digging through James Potter’s Kustomland, and Rik Hoving’s archive, I did unearth one really sweet little late 50s custom shoebox Chevy: Jerry Feigner’s ’55 Chevy Bel Air 2 door hardtop sport coupe, ‘Lil Honey Bee’. This car has so many little nice touches, starting with the iconic gold and white stripe interior over rust colored carpet, which was nice enough to be considered one of the sharpest in it’s time. Details like the floating ’54 Pontiac bar grille and the perfectly-executed 1956 Packard taillights in peaked rear fenders. Jerry also sunk Buick portholes in the hood and ran wheel covers from a ’56 Buick. For bee-inspired paintwork, we have 1958 Chevrolet Anniversary Gold with Parakeet Green scallops and chrome stripe tape treatment on the roof. This honey is a perfect mild custom in every way, and I wish we saw more of these particular styled Chevy’s today.