`59 Chevy Styling

Recently I was going through a stash of magazines that had been sitting in my parents' attic since the mid-1980s. One of the magazines was an issue of LIFE that outlined "The Ten Most Beautiful Cars" and "The Ten Ugliest." Guess where the `59 Chevy showed up?

In the 1980s they thought `59s were ugly!

The lines of a `59 Chevy share nothing with any other car. Even the `60 Chevy is considerably different to the `59. The body is formed in overhanging fins and curves that give one the feeling of speed, even if the car is parked (an intentional design treatment). In the early 1960s people customized these cars with different body treatments; one doesn't have to go to all that trouble, since the car already looks like a custom.

The population, even today, seems split on the styling issue, although as the years go on I seem to get more thumbs up for mine than blank stares; some folks who grew up watching these things cruise the streets are not nearly as enamored with them as people who have grown up around nondescript import sedans. I sort of fall in the middle; `59 Chevys were still regulars on the road when I was growing up, but back in the day they looked kind of freaky. My first recollection was a `59 El Camino sitting in my neighborhood sitting in the weeds. The styling has grown on me as I have gotten older, and as contemporary automotive styling has become less interesting.

Another article I came across from the 1980s says "1959 - Did Chevy Go Too Far?" Back then I think the population still swayed towards seeing the `59 as an overboard example of the 1950s. It is because `57 Chevys ruled the car shows, and to many it was the only worthy example of Chevrolet from that decade. As the years have gone by the supply of `57s dried up; they've also been customized in so many different ways that it's hard to think of any unique job one could do with the car now. Invariably this is leading classic car buyers to look for alternatives. The `58 and `59 are the next in line. Their suspension design is 'fairly' modern, they can hold a ton of people, and there are as many of them left in the world as their older brethren. Time has come when people realize the `57 Chevy Bel Air is no longer affordable in any form, and that other models and years could very well bring as much enjoyment as "The Hot One."

Last month I opened a custom car magazine to see no fewer than FOUR `59 Chevys. Prior to that I saw TWO in another magazine. It appears that public impression of the `59 Chevy has started swaying towards the positive. So what does that mean overall?

Now they don't think `59s are ugly anymore!

Kurt D. Clark
Originally written January, 2003 / Edited and updated for this blog