If I had a nickel for every Chevrolet Tri-Five that’s wasting away in junkyards across the U.S., I’d probably have enough dough to buy a fully restored, Concours-winning Bel Air. Yup, we’re talking about a massive number of cars here, but it’s far from shocking when you consider that Chevrolet built almost five million Tri-Fives from 1955 to 1957.
This four-door Hardtop, one of 142,518 examples built in 1957, is one of those cars. The history of this vehicle is a bit foggy, with the only bit of information about its past being that the current owner has had it since 1981. There’s no word as to when it was parked in what seems like a forested backyard, but it looks like it sat for a couple of decades.
But even though its tires have “melted” into the ground and its body is covered in dirt and surface rust, this Bel Air doesn’t look all that bad for a car that was exposed to the elements for so long. And perhaps that’s exactly why the current owner wants to pass it on to someone who will appreciate it more.
But while it looks perfectly restorable on the outside, the four-door doesn’t have an interior. Unfortunately, the ad doesn’t include shots of the cabin, so the exact condition of the floor panels remains a mystery. Likewise, we don’t know if “no interior” means a fully stripped-out car or just missing seats.
On the flip side, we do get a picture of the car’s engine bay, and there’s good news in the form of a V8 engine. There’s no info on whether it’s this Chevy original unit, but the V8 appears to be somewhat complete. The ad says it “was running when parked,” but don’t get your hopes up. This engine will need a lot of work to purr again.
Is this car worth restoring? Well, it will definitely swallow a big amount of hard-earned, but restored Bel Airs are also quite valuable nowadays, with certain examples going for as much as $100,000. Whatever the answer, this four-door is being auctioned off by eBay seller “auntcranky” as we speak. Bidding is at $3,100 with almost five days to go, but the reserve hasn’t been met.
