Some photos from my younger days

J.Wondergem

Well-known Member
Location
Rockford, Mi.
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34 Chevy rework Chopped the top 4 inches.

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34 Chevy Locked rear end and wide snow tires

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36 Ford I bought at auction for $50. Ran good, and used it a lot. My 57 Olds J 2

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A friends 58 Chevy. It was White and Cannery Yellow.

This was in the early 60s. I just ran across the photos and have a little time. Got the floors washed, and waiting for another load of clothes to be washed.
 
58 Chevy 2 door hardtop? Kind of a rare bird wasn't it? Dale Addis had one when we were teenagers. He tried to find a trunk lid for it. Nearly impossible. One for a convertible wasn't even the same as I recall.
 
Definitely a rare bird now! Only made that body style for one year. IIRC, it was the first year for the Impala series. I remember someone running a 58 at the local drag strip, can't remember who.
 
had a 58 2 dr. hardtop in the 60's as well, silver
blue with a white top. 348 ci with 3-2 barrels at
about 270 hp. previous owner had replaced the
auto with a 3 sp. floor shift was from a corvette
and set up for the strip. never seen this but
once, gear shift pattern was H but 1st. was in
2nd. location, 2nd. was 1st. location and 3rd. was
R location. R was in 3rd. location. so, speed
shifting from 1st. to 2nd. was fast as you were
bringing the shifter towards you. note, i said
pattern.
 
58 was a down year for the auto industry. However Chevy sold LOTS of the somewhat different Impalas. Later, in the 60"s, there were several kids that drove 58 Impalas at our high school. One was a convertible that I really admired, and another kid had what was supposed to be a 409 in his hardtop.

One of my friends had a 58 Bel-Air hardtop. It was similar in some ways to the Impala, but was somewhat smaller and lighter. The roofline was quite a bit different than the one on the Impala. As I remember it, that car was really quick with a later 327 and floor shifted 3 speed in it.

58 was the first year for the frame/chassis that GM used for the next few years. It was quite a bit different than the earlier chassis, and I always thought the earlier cars handled better.

I don"t think that 58 Chevys would be considered rare, but I would have to agree that I have not seen many in recent years. Especially compared to the 55 thru 57"s--I see them on the street often. Maybe the 58"s rusted worse, or maybe the tri 5"s were just valued more, so more survived.

It would be interesting to find out what happened to those neat cars that were at my high school and presumably other high schools way back when. I know a couple of them still exist, because I have talked to their owners, who kept them. I wish I had kept my 64 Dart convertible and 48 Plymouth!
 
read years ago that the 58 was considered so ugly by the industry that many went to the scrap yard which caused them to be somewhat scarce. as for mine, wrecked it and parked it until one winter i decided to replace the front clip. drove it with a green front clip until i traded it off. last time i saw it in the early 80's it had been pushed off into a big washed out ravine and grown over with kudzu.
 
thanks, just 18 when i had it and drove the heck of it. had the transmission rebuilt once and replaced the differential once, other than that i had very little trouble with it. those were the days of kendall racing oil sold at western auto.
 
Cars from the '30s seem really old now. But in the '60s it would've been the same as driving a car from the '80s today.

Earliest vehicle I ever owned was a '53 panel truck that I had in college. Pretty cool truck but I couldn't afford to keep it on the road.
 
Know what you mean about '58's. I had a '58 Buick 4 door hard top, 364 nail valve V-8, DynaFlow and all. Noisiest air leakin', ugliest, SOB I ever rode in. I think it weighed over 5000#. Still put a lot of miles on it.
 
I had a real nice conversation with Mr. Wondergem at the Oakley old engine show this past summer. We found out we both used to race motorcycles, he was a flattracker (pro) and I was a motocrosser (am). He had some real neat stories, a very nice and interesting man. My best buddy in high school had a J-2 Olds just like his. They were one of the first factory tri power setups (3 2bbl carbs)
 
I wish I had taken more pictures around the farm, and some of the cars I drug home back in the 50's. and 60's. In fact I wish I still had the cars. Stan
 

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