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Classic Cars 54 Chevy Bel Air hartop
36 messages, Last post on Aug 16, 2009 at 6:20 PM
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Replying to: isellhondas (Sep 08, 2007 8:45 am) |
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Replying to: isellhondas (Sep 08, 2007 8:45 am) Oldsmobile and Buick fielded the first 4-door hardtops in mid-1955, on the B-body, which would be the Olds 88/98 and Buick Special/Century. The Buick Super/Roadmaster, being on the larger C-body shared with Cadillac, wouldn't get that style until 1956. I've actually seen illustrations of a 1952 DeSoto 4-door hardtop, but it was never offered for sale to the public. I dunno if any prototypes were built, or if it was just an illustration. IIRC, it just looked like a 2-door hardtop with 4 doors, so it didn't have a special roof or anything. I think most people nowadays don't really know what a "hardtop" is. They just think hard top versus convertible. I remember years ago, right after I totaled my '69 Dart GT, I found a '76 Delta 88 4-door in the classifieds. This was back before the internet, so there were no pictures. I called about it and asked the lady if it was a hardtop (they offered both a pillared sedan and a hardtop with that generation). The lady just replied "No, it has a vinyl roof". At that point, I didn't even bother to try explaining the difference to her. Also never saw the car, because I had my eye on this local '68 Dart that I saw for sale, the day after I totaled my '69. And ultimately, that was what I ended up with. Oh, and I absolutely HATE those add-on continental tire kits and skirts! I know that color combo too, the yellow/green. So was it green with a yellow contrast, or vice versa? Neither one is particularly taseful in my book, but I'd prefer the green body. Somehow though, I could actually picture that combo working on a '54 Chevy. Probably because it would just have a contrasting roof, and at most, just a tiny sliver on the rear quarter, versus the more radical two-toning they did in later years. |
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Replying to: andre1969 (Sep 08, 2007 10:56 am) I could be dreaming or it could have been something someone very creative put together? I'm glad I'm not the only one who despises Continental Kits and skirts. As far as I'm concern, these just hokey up the looks of a car. I guess in some parts of the country, these wer popular? Certainly NOT in So. California!
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Replying to: isellhondas (Sep 08, 2007 1:26 pm) I've always wondered where that continental kit trend started, anyway? Those cars certainly didn't leave the factory that way! Same with fender skirts. I dunno how popular this trend was, but there used to be a kit you could get for a 1957 Chevy or Ford to convert it to a quad headlight setup. I saw it in an old 1958 Popular Mechanics that my granddad had. The ad said "Make your car look identical to the new 1958 models!" Umm, not hardly! The end result looked sort of like those 1958 Packards and Studebakers that had the hastily contrived quad headlight setups. I'm hoping that quad headlight conversion fad died pretty quickly.
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Quad headlights were available on some Chrysler cars in the states that permitted them. Of course, in 1958, everyone had them.
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Replying to: isellhondas (Sep 08, 2007 1:53 pm) Yeah, I think that's why they didn't offer a kit for '57 Chrysler cars! You couldn't get quads on a '57 Dodge, Plymouth, or DeSoto Firesweep, but you could always just convert it, using 1958 parts. And the Chryslers, Imperials, and bigger DeSotos just offered them from the get-go in '57, in the states that had them legal. I saw a one-off concept of a '57 Bonneville that had quad headlights, and it was actually pretty sharp looking. The fenders were actually redesigned to take the headlights though, so they weren't just stuck on as afterthoughts like those '58 Packardbakers. Another nasty quad setup that just popped into my mind is the 1957 Mecury. |
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Replying to: andre1969 (Sep 08, 2007 3:23 pm) That car should have never happened.
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Replying to: isellhondas (Sep 08, 2007 3:59 pm)
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Sep 09, 2007 7:04 am) An unfitting end to a great marque. |
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Replying to: andre1969 (Sep 08, 2007 10:56 am)
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