GM's 50 Millionth Car Recreated
An Anonymous Coward has submitted the following story:
https://www.motortrend.com/features/gm-golden-1955-chevy-bel-air-found-mecum-auctions-indy-2024
70 years ago, General Motors worked out that they were coming up on 50 million cars, made over the corporate history. At the time GM was head and shoulders the biggest car company anywhere, making more than their USA competitors combined. Here's the story of the three gold plated commemorative '55 Bel Air Chevrolets that were built in late 1954, one being #50,000,000 and the other two for publicity use.
All three have been lost or ruined in one way or another, but recently a replica has been built, using period correct parts, some even NOS (new old stock).
Two of the cars (the second and third) simply vanished, and nobody knows where they went. It's possible they could have been crushed after they served their purposes, or maybe they are lurking in a barn someplace. The first car, which was used for the Motorama and other events, was burned in a garage fire and the parts strewn across a property in North Carolina!
[...] The '55 uses a 162-hp 265 V-8 engine dated September 1954, a cast-iron 1955 two-speed Powerglide transmission, a radiator dated September 1954, a voltage regulator dated November 1954, Delco front spiral shocks dated October 1954, and a fuel filler neck, one-piece door striker plates, steering wheel, horn ring, heater control, trunkfloor wiring tabs, 12-volt headlights, and the two-piece battery tray that are all specific to October and November 1954 production cars. Even small pieces such as the distributor cap, rotor, and points are NOS.
No detail was too small to address. For example, the early V-8s had a different oil system, and the golden '55 would have run this. "Early 265s had a swing-arm oil pump. Instead of the pickup arm being fixed, it floated up and down," Blades recalled. "They changed it because they were too expensive. I had one, so we put that in the engine. Even the oil pickup is correct to the date of that car."
The article ends with a pointer to an upcoming auction where this replica will go on the block.
Soundtrack (from Sweden!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSiaXtk1ZAY
And USA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSNb1qarA_0
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