I've had this 56 Chevy for almost a year now, and the guy I bought it from wasn't able to give me any history on the car other than it was bought from a place called Vegas Classic Muscle Cars. I called them, and while they were friendly and helpful they couldn't tell me who the car belonged to before or who had done the considerable amount of work that had been done on the car. Anyone out there recognize the car or know anything about it? It came from Southern CA, possible somewhere between Yucaipa and Palm Springs area.
Absolutely BEAUTIFUL Model 150, 56 Chevrolet. It "looks" like it could have been a Utility Sedan that someone added a rear seat to; I say that because it looks like the side rear windows are held in place with a gasket, and don't roll down. But, it's really hard to see if that's the case. I'd sure love to have that car! Wish I could help with it's history. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
The only thing I know about that car is, I would like to have it in my garage, 56's are my favorite one
Same here. Actually I have studied this in detail. For a coupe I'd go '55, for a sedan '56 and Nomad '57. The coupe gives the '55 some needed curvature, the '56 has the right amount for the post and the Nomad roof compliments the '57 fins perfectly. But I wouldn't kick any tri five outa the garage.
No clue to it's history but that is one fine looking 56. Real popular color combo but the blue window frames may tell the tale as I think most of those end up matching the roof. In fact a google search shows that probably 99% of the 56 two door posts have the post areas and area around the windows match the roof color. https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf...pAhV6ITQIHfq1BTEQsAR6BAgGEAE&biw=1094&bih=486 That is pretty well a distinct identifying mark on that car.
Right you are about the paint layout. Originally the car had the roof and the area around the side windows painted blue along with the rear of the car. I think they called this the "speedline" paint scheme. The white paint on this car was pretty funky when I got it...lots of chips, nicks, dry spots and paint adhesion problems. Someone had painted the roof white for whatever reason, probably old worn paint. My son is in the hot rod business so I had him and a friend of his do the body & paint work on the white area of the car, applying the dear old dad discount. The pictures here show it as it looks now with the white area all re-done and the rear around the side windows painted white as well. I would've liked to have had it painted back to as-stock, with the roof and side window area painted blue, but it would've cost quite a bit more and I cheaped out. The white looks so good now that I have the car back at my son's shop to have body & paint work done to the blue area. Much as I thought about a color change to black instead of blue, and having it painted like they were originally with the roof and window area black as well, it would've at least doubled the cost so I once again cheaped out.
I noticed the paint in the first pictures and thought it odd. I wondered how it would look with it done in white, well you answered that question. For what it's worth I think it looks better now. It is a fantastic 56. That white 70 Chevelle behind it in a picture looks like my old car. Pat
Nice car, but doesn't look to have a "history" to chase, are you thinkking it was built/etc by someone famous/known? Now, this is coming from a guy who never bought something that old, that was that nice.
No, I'm sure it wasn't owned by anyone famous. I'm not looking for or expecting any celebrity owner provenance...it has some very nice undercarriage work done to it (long trailing arm truck-type suspension with a narrowed 9" Ford rearend and more. It's supposedly a 383 smallblock, but from what I can see (no counterbalanced harmonic balancer, etc) I think it's a 350. I'd just like to talk to whoever owned it before and either did the work themselves or had it done. No complaints...the work is very well done, I'm just curious about the build.
If it was done with an aftermarket internal balance crank then the damper may not have a counterweight. Rotate to #1TDC, pull #1 plug, install wood dowel, mark with a marker, rotate crank 180°, mark dowel again. Pull out and measure your two marks. 3-3/4" difference it's a 383 3-1/2" difference it's a 350 3-1/4" difference it's a 327 If the strokes check out but the car still seems down on power, check the block casting number. A stroker 305 would only be ~330ci.
Thanks Mike...that's a thought. I figured an internally balanced 383 would be an extra-cost build over the usual externally balanced method, so probably not as likely. Figured I'd have to pull a head or the pan to measure stroke, and I wasn't ready to go that far to find out.
With the larger photos, I can see the inside, window crank now, so it's a Sedan and not a Utility Sedan (AKA Business Coupe). I've owned two 56 Utility Sedans, and one two door Sedan. I really like the Model 150's, and I'm on my tenth, 56 Chevrolet. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
It's definitely a 150 2 door sedan, not a business coupe. It does have roll-up rear side windows and obviously a back seat. That stuff could have been added by a previous owner to a business coupe but I'm sure it wasn't on this car. I have a 55 210 2 door sedan that I removed the roll-up rear side windows from and installed the 150 business coupe fixed glass. It actually takes a different piece of glass as well as the special window rubber and some metal glass retaining pieces to do the swap. I'm with you, Butch...I'm a junkie for the cheapo 2 door sedans.
Thanks for asking. One new lead... one night I was perusing the interweb...looked up 56 Chevy 150, and amongst hundreds of other cars, I saw a picture of the one I have. Clicked on the picture, and it came up as a for sale listing from a place called American Muscle Cars located in Bloomington, CA (near Fontana). The listing was an old one, from 2016 but I called the place and left a message. The guy called back, and was able to give me a little info: He and a friend bought the car just to flip at his specialty car sales business. They listed it at a price that he admitted was too high and after sitting on it for over a year and having to spend some money to have the 4 speed rebuilt, he pedaled the car off at a loss to a friend of his who owns Vegas Classic Muscle Cars. They eventually sold it to the guy I bought it from. Asked who the guys who first bought it to flip bought it from, the guy I talked to didn't know as his friend did the deal. He thought it came from some one either in the Palm Springs area or Yucaipa. Still no info about who did all the work on the car, but he said they were told the engine is a 383. I've heard that CA DMV doesn't track down previous owners anymore due to privacy laws, so unless something else pops up I think that's where the trail ends. I still haven't tried measuring the stroke as you suggested, but I'll get around to that. As with any car you buy, I've done quite a bit to it even though it was a good solid car to start with.
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