1955 saw a complete re-styling of Chevrolet's lineup. The new cars had "shoebox" lines that dispensed with the distinctive pontoon fenders of the previous generation, while the rear fenders had a hint of the then-trendy tail fins and the windshield had a pronounced wraparound curve to it. The models, however, retained their previous designations. There was the spartan 150, oriented toward fleet sales, the midrange 210, and the top-of-the-line Bel Air.
The Bel Air featured many items that were optional on the 210 as standard equipment and could be had as a 2- or 4-door sedan, a wagon, a convertible, or a hardtop sport coupe.
The two-tone Sport Coupe in the picture above is finished in India Ivory over Harvest Gold. Under the hood could be one of two "Blue Flame" inline sixes, producing 123 or 135 gross horsepower, or the big news for 1955: Chevrolet's new Turbo Fire pushrod V-8. Displacing 265 cubic inches with an "8-to-1 ultra-high compression ratio" and a two-barrel carburetor, the new Chevy small block made 162 SAE gross horsepower.
Not long into the model year came the Super Turbo Fire version, with a four-barrel carb, performance intake, larger air cleaner, and dual exhausts. If those are factory duals on the car in the picture, it has the Super Turbo Fire, which was rated at 180 ponies.
In a test of the Bel Air 4-door sedan with the regular 165-horse small block and PowerGlide transmission, Motor Life recorded a zero-to-sixty time of 13.6 seconds.
This one was photographed with a Nikon D3 and a 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6G zoom lens in November of 2022.
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