Perhaps the most recognizable of all hot rods are the popular ‘55, ‘56 and ‘57 Chevys, also known as shoeboxes. Nearly five million of these cars were manufactured, and the different models lend themselves to a wide variety of design and interest. Not only are the post cars often the choice for street rodding, they are also found at many a dragstrip. For someone desiring the lightest weight race car, the 150 utility model is the most desirable. However, that particular model is hard to find these days because they WERE at the dragstrip.
Finding your dream Tri-five is an adventure based purely on your own personal interest and the size of your wallet. For some it seems, ANY Tri-5 is a gift! Watching a proud new owner leaving a swap meet with the most unbeautiful speciman ever is seeing the first step to a dream rod of some kind. Some dream of the shoebox they drove when they were young. Others just LIKE them! Restoring an unmodified Tri-5 gets you in at a reasonable price, assuming you aren’t thinking original or “matching numbers” cars. Even so, don’t forget to tally the shopping list along the way. Horsepower can get really expensive. The best part is that everything you need is readily available everywhere.
And then there is this. Someone always has a tale to tell about their shoebox. Here’s one that’s heard over and over with different players. As the story goes, a certain young lad watched the older guys hot rodding around his small Georgia hometown. At seventeen he got his chance at last, delivering the vegetables all by himself from his fathers farm. Long story short, he did some speed shifting and managed to trash the transmission on his fathers ‘55 Chevy six-cylinder beyond repair. He managed to escape the punishment, for his father noted he had been having transmission troubles prior to this vegetable run. Today, the man’s father is gone and he is in the process of restoring the old car and all the memories that go with it. One can only hope the next generation will care as well.
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