Tri-Five

“They must be hurtin’ for sales,” I said to myself as I extracted my August issue of Classic Car magazine out of my mailbox.
On the cover was a Tri-Five Chevy, a gorgeous red-and-white ’56 Bel Air four-door hardtop.
Car-magazines do that. To increase newsstand sales they put a Corvette on the cover.
The Tri-Five Chevrolets, particularly the ’57, are the most collectible classic cars of all time.
A ’57 convertible in excellent shape commands over $100,000.
Auto gurus make the mistake of saying the early Mustangs are the most important cars of all time.
Not to this kid!
The ’55-’57 Chevys aren’t much beyond the early ‘50s turkeys.
But there is that motor, Chevrolet’s phenomenal V8 engine, introduced in the 1955 model-year, later to become known as the SmallBlock.
After the war, Americans wanted more exciting cars. That meant overhead-valve V8 engines. Cadillac and Oldsmobile did so for 1949, as did Buick for 1953. Even Ford with its “Y-block” V8 for 1954.

The 1955 SmallBlock, 265 cubic-inches.

Chevrolet, despite its economy heritage, needed a V8, so set about designing one in the early ‘50s.
But it was a stone. General Motors brought in Ed Cole, who pushed through the overhead-valve 1949 Caddy V8, to design a V8 for Chevrolet.
His motor was revolutionary. It managed a single block-casting instead of many. But the main thing was the lightweight valve-gear.
It allowed it to rev to the moon.
The motor was so successful it suddenly put Ford’s FlatHead V8, the foundation of hot-rodding, out to pasture.

Zora.

Hot-rodder Zora Arkus-Duntov was so impressed he convinced GM to make him head-honcho of Corvette.
The first ‘Vettes used the hoary old Stovebolt from 1937, an inline-six not meant for performance.
Duntov’s first move was to convince Chevrolet to put its new V8 in the ‘Vette.
He thereafter began trying to make the Corvette a true sportscar. He didn’t succeed until 1963, the Sting-Ray, the first ‘Vette with independent rear suspension.
“Wait just one cotton-pickin’ minute,” I exclaimed. “I don’t see the ‘V’ on the hood.
All I see is the Chevy medallion; it’s probably the six.”
Indeed it was. Stovebolt rising; heavier than the new V8.
My parents had two ‘57s that replaced our ’53 Chevy.
Both were Bel Airs.
One was a four-door sedan; the other a four-door stationwagon.
The sedan was a pig; it had the Stovebolt with PowerGlide.
The wagon had the 283 PowerPak V8, four-barrel carb with dual exhausts.
It too was PowerGlide, but revved to the moon! 85 mph in PowerGlide Lo; our old ’53 got 60.
I tested ‘em both. I used to wanna secretly drag-race the wagon.
At age-14, shortly after our family moved to northern DE, I pedaled my ancient Rollfast balloon-tire bicycle up to the parking-lot of a nearby shopping-center.
I found three Corvettes parked in front of the bowling-alley: two black ‘57s, and one green and silver ’56. One ’57 was fuel-injection.
Suddenly four dudes burst from the bowling-alley, swaggering into the ‘Vettes.
I immediately pedaled my bicycle up to the parking-lot exit onto the main highway. I knew I was about to witness an event.
Sure enough, each ‘Vette peeled onto the highway, revved to the moon, tire-smoke city.
That goes to my grave. I will never forget it!
For the next 40 years I was enslaved to Chevy’s SmallBlock.
Lust for a ’55 Two-Ten hardtop, like pictured below. SmallBlock with four-on-the-floor.


The lust-machine (283, four-on-the-floor). (Photo by BobbaLew.)

(There was a similar navy-blue hardtop at my high-school; also 283, four-on-the-floor.)
The Mustang was nice, but it wasn’t the SmallBlock.

Our wagon. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

The closest I ever got was our family’s ’57 283 PowerPak wagon.
An impromptu quarter-mile drag strip was laid out on a road now surrounded by suburbia. At that time it was undeveloped = very rural.
I’d take off the air-cleaner, and wind the car out in PowerGlide Lo. A little over 80 in the quarter, which utterly skonked the ’53 I learned to drive in.
Maybe 20 years ago a red-and-white ’55 Bel Air hardtop appeared in the local swap-sheet. Four-on-the-floor, ’79 Monte-Carlo 400 SmallBlock.
“I gotta at least go look at it,” I told my wife, now gone. “It’s what I always wanted.”
It was junk, in need of full frame-off restoration, perhaps $35,000 at that time.
Throw $35,000 at it, and ya still end up with an antique. Put a killer motor in it, and you’ll bend the frame.
I remember the door-locks were the same el-cheapo wire things on our wagon that bent and became dysfunctional. The lock-buttons fell off, and were replaced by unthreaded chrome-plastic caps from an auto-parts store.
The car was noisy and blowzy. It had been the project of a husband who died.
What a relief it was to get back in our humble ’89 Honda wagon; slower than the ’55, but more friendly.
No matter. The Tri-Five Chevys are the most collectible cars of all time.
It was that new V8.


It’s F.I. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

• The Chevrolet overhead-valve inline “Stovebolt-six” was introduced in the 1929 model-year at 194+ cubic inches. It continued production for years, upgraded to four main bearings (from three) for the 1937 model-year. In 1950 the Stovebolt was upsized to 235.5 cubic inches (from 216), and later upgrades included full-pressure lubrication and hydraulic (as opposed to mechanical) valve-tappets. The Stovebolt was produced clear through the 1963 model-year, but replaced with a new seven main-bearing inline-six engine in the 1964 model-year. The Stovebolt was also known as “the cast-iron wonder;” called the “Stovebolt” because various bolts could be replaced by stuff from the corner hardware.
• My beloved wife of over 44 years died of cancer April 17th, 2012. I miss her immensely. Best friend I ever had, and after my childhood I sure needed one.