Chevrolet once built a car of gold. It was a Chevrolet Bel Air Sport Coupe with 24-carat gold plating that came to celebrate a major milestone: GM’s 50th million car on November 23, 1954. The Bel Air reportedly resided in a private collection for decades. But the owner passed away, and the car was lost forever. Decades later, the model has just been replicated in a restoration shop in Florida.
Photo: Snodgrass Chevy Restoration | Facebook
The car parade started with the first-ever GM car. It was a 1908 Cadillac that was a breakthrough in the automotive world. The 1919 Oldsmobile, their millionth car, was there as well, and so was number 5 million, a 1926 Pontiac. In 1928, GM rolled out a Buick, which was GM’s tenth million car. A Chevrolet was the 25th million.
And then, riding up on a floating platform, shining bright in the sunlight and surrounded by piles of flowers, was number 50 million. It was a one-off 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air Sports Coupe with 24-carat gold replacing all the chrome outside and inside both. It was a sight to behold, a one-off in all its golden glory.
Those who did not see it that day probably never did. The model joined a private collection and remained in storage for decades, exchanging hands every once in a while. The model simply vanished after the last of its owners passed away. A car covered in gold, with such an impressive background, melted away like snow in late spring.
Photo: Snodgrass Chevy Restoration | Facebook
It reportedly burned to a crisp somewhere in North Carolina in a fire that engulfed the entire private collection that it was part of while it was in the mid-restoration process. Only the gold wiper arms and blades were reportedly saved from fire. The owner tried to sell them at one point.
The model has been recently replicated by Snodgrass Chevy Restoration shop in Melbourne, Florida, for over $100,000 spent just for the chrome plating, not to mention the purchase of the Bel Air, the mechanics, and everything else.
It took the team around 1,800 hours of work over six to seven months. Chevrolet once offered the owner a free restoration. He declined the offer, afraid that the carmaker would want it back and would eventually leave him without the precious one-off.
Because most photos and videos from the 1950s were black and white, getting everything back to factory condition was quite a headache. They asked the help of an automotive historian from Kentucky, Steve Blades to search the GM archives and find out the exact trims and colors on board and help them get the car looking every inch like it did seven decades ago.
Photo: Snodgrass Chevy Restoration | Facebook
There is so much gold on the car that it probably changes its weight significantly. Everything that was chrome-plated on a stock Chevy Bel Air turned gold-plated on this anniversary car. Therefore, all the shiny bits on board and outside are 24-carat gold plated. And this is exactly how it rolled off the production line.
The buttons, the switches, the inserts on the steering wheel, and the dashboard are all 24-carat gold, and so is the frame of the speedometer. The window frames, badges, and wheelhubs are also plated with the precious metal. There were over 600 pieces that had to be covered in gold.
The color of the car was a one-off paintwork at the time. There was no paint code, so the team had to come up with the exact same shade with no official help. They used Axalta paint, five and a half gallons of gold paint costing $350 a quart.
The carmaker eventually rolled out a Commemorative Edition, the so-called Golden Anniversary Edition, which was available in a limited run of only 5,000 examples, all painted in gold, sold through selected dealerships across the United States.
Photo: Snodgrass Chevy Restoration | Facebook
The 1955 Bel Air was also Chevy’s first attempt at a V8 under the hood of the model. Popping out that golden hood reveals it is the replica of an early build that had no oil filter. Support brackets also confirm that it mimics one of the early V8-powered examples. The trunk, painted in gold all over just like the engine bay, hosts the spare wheel.
The original 1955 Chevy Bel Air came with no documentation and no sticker, zero tags and zero information. It was, after all, a one-off that was never meant to set wheels on the road.
Seven decades later, the gold Bel Air replica will make its public debut after decades from the 1954 parade in Flint, Michigan, at the beginning of March at the 2024 Detroit AutoRama. The Chevy will be on display at several automotive events throughout the year.
General Motors rolled out the 100th million car in 1967 and number 500 million arrived in 2015. We can only hope that those will have a better fate and replicas won’t be necessary.
