Paul Savelesky's 55 Chevy, Miss elegance, History lesson with vintage pictures

Yesterday I posted some early (1959) pics of the 55 on @Roothawg post about period correct customs. I realized that I had all these photos and info on the car and should start a thread and show the different versions and how it evolved in the early years.

Paul was one of the founding members of the Road Knights car club of Davenport Washington with their first meeting being held in Jan 1955.

Paul purchased a 55 chev hardtop from Appleway motors in Spokane, this was in 1956

 

Paul started customizing the car right away, here you can see that it is nosed and has shaved door handles

 

Paul was quite an electronics expert and added all kinds of electronic gadgets to the car

 

tragedy struck when Pauls chevy was run into head on by another motorist

 

the accident and repairs led to further body mods, here Paul is installing the 58 ford side trim

 

here are some pics in new white paint, still with the stock head and tail lights

 

here is a photo showing the in dash tv installation..

 

work continues, here are the chrysler tail lights and fitting the quad headlights

 

here is an out of order pic showing the clip and engine out

 

here is a photo showing the completed interior and the tv with a test pattern

 

I guess custom cars were "newsworthy" back then

 

here are some photos of the completed 1959 version of the car

 

on the package tray is a webster wire recorder. I guess that before there was recording tape, there were wire recorders

 

more pics

 

some car show pics

 

Paul wanted to compete in the 1962 Seattle worlds fair custom auto show so he tore the car down in 61 for a complete redo

 

Handmade electric swivel bucket seats

 

Modifications started for the canted quad headlights

 

More bodywork pics for the next version

 

Finished car parked in front of Paul’s workplace xerox. The blue metal flake paint was done by none other than Ray Wilson