1955 Chevy Bel Air

The 1955 Chevy Bel Air almost single-handedly changed America’s relationship with automobiles. Seemingly overnight, Chevrolet shed its conservative, stuffy public perception by revealing the clean, youthful lines of the Bel Air. Sleek design elements from WWII aircraft and European sports cars replaced the puffy, rounded car bodies that typified the automobiles of the early 1950s. Additionally, the Bel Air offered its cutting-edge design and a V8 engine at an economical price. In 1955, the base model of this iconic car line (the “one-fifty”) was available in 5 body styles, with 14 solid body colors, or—as was popular at the time—23 two-tone color combinations, for about $2,200.

Nicknamed “The Hot One,” the Bel Air became a symbol of the mid-1950s, counter-cultural shift in America. Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” was published, James Dean became a “Rebel Without a Cause,” televisions found a prominent place in American homes, women and children began to be acknowledged as autonomous beings, an independence was realized with drive-thru fast-food restaurants and frozen “TV dinners,” and rock and roll was born. As a testament to the car’s success and relevance, the 1955 Chevy Bel Air was chosen by GM to be the 50,000,000th car off its production line.

And if there were any doubt that the Chevy Bel Air is an enduring symbol of American culture, we need only look to how Hollywood represents the mid-1950s United States. The Bel Air has been immortalized in such mainstream hit movies as “American Graffiti,” “Clue,” “Dead Poets Society,” “The Right Stuff,” “Top Gun,” “Back to the Future,” “Forest Gump,” “Goodfellas,” “A Bronx Tale,” “From Russia with Love,” and in television hits “Leave it to Beaver,” “My Favorite Martian,” and, of course “Route 66.”