1955 Chevrolet Bel Air Replica With Gold Plating Has Just Found a Home, It's Not a Safe!

The replica is the brainchild of a stunning squad made up by Joe Whitaker, co-owner of Real Deal Steel in Sanford, Snodgrass Chevy Restoration in Melbourne, Florida, and Tri-Five enthusiast and historian, Steve Blades from Kentucky.

They were the ones who rewrote automotive history by turning into reality a dream lost decades ago. Back in 1955, Chevrolet built three special Bel Airs to mark GM's 50 million cars sold milestone.

One of them was paraded on a floating platform, surrounded by flowers, during the anniversary street celebration in Flint, Michigan, where GM’s heart of operations was. The car, a Bel Air Sport Coupe, had every bit of chrome replaced with 24-carat gold plating.

It was, indeed, a sight to behold, something that would haunt the dreams of automotive historians forever. That is exactly why Joe Whitaker and Steve Blade took on this project.

That day, General Motors brought out an entire fleet of milestone cars. There were dancers and music bands, clowns and mascots, all there to turn the quiet little town upside down.

In fact, the 50 millionth car was the third of its kind that GM built, but only car number one was on display that day, pretending to be the anniversary model. Two of the three cars – number 2 and number 3 – simply vanished with no trace left behind for anyone to track them down.

Where would you hide not one, but two cars in shiny gold paint? No one knows if they ended up in the crusher or were repainted and used like Bel Airs with no special background.

Car number 1, though, changed hands several times, joining private collections before it burned in a garage fire in North Carolina, in which an entire private collection melted. The model was reportedly in mid-restoration. Parts of it were scattered all over the property.

The gold-plated wiper arms and blades were a few of the elements that survived the fire. The owner tried to sell them at one point and contacted the team that was working on the replica project. But they were too expensive and were not worth it.

Snodgrass Chevy Restoration spent over $100,000 just for the gold plating, plus the purchase of the Bel Air, the mechanics, and everything else they worked on to make it as close as possible to the original.

It took them around 1,800 hours of intense work to complete the automobile. And the project was anything but a walk in the park. Most photos from the mid-1950s were in black and white.

So, their ambition to get everything done like in the original Bel Air had to face this setback. That is where automotive historian Steve Blades from Kentucky came in. He was the one to search every single inch of the GM archives to find out the exact trims and colors used in the 50 millionth car. That is exactly why the car now looks every inch the original from 1955.

They put so much work and time into this car to get it where it is today. Everything that was chrome-plated on a stock Chevy Bel Air became gold-plated on the 1955 anniversary car and subsequently, on the 2024 replica. The buttons, the switches, the inserts in the steering wheel and dashboard, and the frame of the speedometer. Nothing escaped the gold magic.

Gold plating also covered the window frames, badges, and wheel hubs, taking the number of pieces covered in gold all the way to 600! And that was far from over because GM had no paint code for the one-off paintwork.

So, the team got no official help figuring out the exact shade of the 50 millionth car. The car that GM paraded that day came with no documentation and no sticker, which meant zero information.

To make it look like this, shining bright in broad daylight, they used Axalta paint, spending $350 a quart for the five and a half gallons of gold paint.

The Chevrolet Bel Air replica made its public debut seven decades after the 1954 parade in Flint, Michigan. It was on display at the 2024 Detroit AutoRama at the beginning of March. The automobile sparked so much interest, which must have convinced the team to auction it.

And it happened this past weekend, when Mecum sold the exhilarating model for $395,000. However, the auction house's website indicates $434,500, which is the gross selling price comprising the hammer price plus buyer’s commission of 10%. The team was expecting more after so much work.

The one who took the gold car home also bought another Chevy Bel Air convertible for $335,000. According to Joe Whitaker, both of them are heading to Dallas, Texas. Hopefully, the 1955 Chevy Bel Air gold car replica won't be locked in a safe.