I own an Anniversary Gold 1955 4-door Chevy BelAir. The automobile is quite unique in that it appears to be one of only a few 1955 automobiles remaining in its original factory paint of Anniversary Gold. Not only that, but the car has only 15,000 some miles on it. That’s right, only 15,000+ miles. Here are the highlights of the story…
This car was purchased from a dealer in Chicago by White Chevrolet, a dealership in Omaha Nebraska. My grandfather purchased it from White, and I still have the original bill of sale.
When I was 2 years old, Grandpa said that the car would someday be mine. When I inherited the car, after the death of my grandmother, I took up a paper route in order to pay for a garage in which to store the car. I was 12 years old. That was 45 years ago!!
Years later, when I was old enough to drive, I took the car to high school for a time. But one day, I came out of class and a guy was sitting on the fender of my car!!! I took the car home for it’s own protection, and never drove it again, (except to move it from time-to-time). I began walking to and from high school until I could afford another ride.
The History of Five-Thousand 1955 Anniversary Gold BelAirs
In February 1990, Pat Chappell wrote an article that was featured in Classic Chevy World Magazine. Ms. Chappell, had a great summary of the “Anniversary Gold” story.
Below are a few snippets of the article.
- General Motors was so proud of its accomplishment—manufacturing the 50 millionth vehicle—that it bestowed the special honor on a 1955 Chevrolet BelAir sport coupe. This Anniversary Gold beauty, along side a silver 1940 Chevy sport sedan produced on January 11, 1940 which marked the 25th millionth GM vehicle, kicked off a really super parade and celebration in Flint, Michigan on November 23, 1954.
- General Motors called the event a GM CARnival and it was just that. The parade floated down the streets of Flint; open house parties were being staged simultaneously in 30 GM manufacturing plants in 22 cities throughout the United States.
- According to a GM publication, The Chevrolet Story 1911-1955, “five thousand gold Chevrolets were prepared for display in showrooms of Chevrolet dealers in honor of the occasion, the 50 millionth GM production vehicle.
- Pat Chappell also mentions that The Detroit Free Press ran a special celebration section in its Tuesday November 23rd edition. At the writing of this article in 1990, only five BelAir Sedans had been accounted for… (This did not include my low-mile sedan.) The 50 Millionth Sport Coupe was supposed to have been located in North Carolina, and I read that it was undergoing restoration -this was 5 years ago.
- Our family is re-locating, and I am trying to decide if Classic Survivor will go with me on the next leg of Joe’s journey! Anybody have ideas on the value of this classic survivor? Joe’s email: joesjourney@rocketmail.com
I am digging out some more photographs…
