Hemmings Find of the Day – 1955 Chevrolet kustom

Published by Mike on May 26, 2017

Barris-built 1955 Chevrolet kustom for sale on Hemmings.com. From the seller’s description:

Historic and legendary car that is fully documented. From Barris book “Kustoms of the 1950s”: “The body featured dual headlights, side pipes, and shaved factory trim. We made the trim from double-molded Dodge side trims, with gold Mylar inserts, and added the custom grille out of mesh and bullets. The taillights were hand-formed plastic with rear wheel opening framed in tubing to conform with side trim. We used Kolor Krome trim on the hubcaps, and we painted it in White Pearl with red scallops”.

Originally built by the Barris Brothers in 1957-1958
The most radical feature of this car is the dual Lucas lamps.
The grille cavity was filled with steel mesh and covered with chrome bullets.
Floor Shift
The hood was shaved as was the trunk and door handles.
The doors operate with solenoids.
The headlight side sculpture line was recreated at the rear wheel well which was enlarged and radiused.
The taillights are tunneled stock items with three red and two frosted white plastic tiers added.
The side trim was pieced together using four ’55 Dodge side spears with gold Mylar separating them.
The paint is the original White Pearl with burgundy scallops, except for the hood and top.
The interior received the most radical changes with bucket seats front and rear, custom console housing a TV, bar and telephone.
The dash was completely reworked with Stewart-Warner gauges set in a beautiful aluminum panel.
The Four Bucket Seats, dash and headliner are stitched in matching white pleats.
Dual dummy spots and lakes pipes round out the add-on features.
The suspension was lowered 3 inches all around by cutting coils up front and de-arching the springs in the rear.
Chrome reversed wheels are capped with ’58 Chevy standard hubcaps with bullets added to the centers. Wide white walls were the order of the day.
Floor Shift
Dash Board trim aluminum with Stewart-Warner gauges.
This article also mentions that at the time the article was written the custom remains the same as when it was built 24 years previously.

Having won 11 major car show awards when first shown, it still garners trophies today!