1955 CHEVY BEL AIR-HARDTOP

I have owned this car since August of 2009. The frame on restoration was performed prior to my acquisition of the car and is now 9 to 10 years old.  The condition of all the metal panels on this car remain in absolutely outstanding condition with little to no evidence of rust.  The paint is also outstanding. I have just installed a new Chevy 350/270 hp crate motor. The crate motor was purchased from an engine builder in Pennsylvania who has specialized in small block Chevrolet engines. I have the original 265 cubic inch motor which is included in this auction (see picture). When the car was originally restored I was told that the 265 motor was rebuilt; however. I found the car with the 2 barrel carb and the cast-iron powerglide transmission. by today's standards. under powered and for this reason I have up-graded the motor to a mild 350. This motor has less than 100 miles and is not yet broken in.  
I rate this car on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest and 5 being average. a solid 8.   Again. for a 9 to 10 year old restoration the paint and metal panels remain in outstanding condition.  If there was going to be a problem with any of these panels. or the paint. it would have shown up by now.  In my opinion. there are very few 55 Bel Air cars where the restoration is 9 to 10 years old and the sheet metal and paint are in this condition.  
With this having been said. please realized this car is now 59 years old and reflects the auto technology of that era.  Also. please realize that you can restore the 1955 Bel Air as was done here. but it will soon be 6 decades old and no restoration can ever make this a new car.
Issues a prospective buyer should consider:
1. When the car was restored. the dealer emblem was not removed from the trunk (see picture) and there is one ding on the right rear quarter panel (see picture) and anyone seriously considering the purchase of this car should plan on repainting this rear section of the car. but not the roof.   I purposely did not repaint this section because I wanted prospective buyers to see the condition of the body and paint after 8 to 9 years had lapsed.
2. The pot metal on both door handles and on the hood armament are failing and the car deserves to have these replaced.
3. The odometer of the car is working but the speedometer currently is not. I will have my mechanic look at it this weekend and try to get this addressed.
4. The grill was replaced when the car was restored but is showing some evidence of aging and any prospective buyer may want to consider replacing the grill.
5. The crate motor has a 4 barrel holey carb and the 265 small block had a 2 barrel carb and the factory throttle and transmission linkage could not be used. Please review the picture showing the new carb linkage (maroon in color). We have continued to adjust this linkage and it is working fine on the carb but the linkage to the powerglide is working ok but still needs tweaking.  
6. The exhaust tail pipes or for a 57 and not a 55.
7. Spare parts:  When the crate motor was purchased I also purchased a kit which included new front motor mounts and a different rear motor/transmission mount that would allow for the motor to be moved 1/2 inch forward which would then allow for a MDS  distributor.  However. before the kit could be installed I would have to change the exhaust manifold on the driver side to a rear exist. like the passenger side exhaust manifold.  After some deliberation. I decided to stay with the OEM distributor and the OEM driver side exhaust manifold.  In addition. I purchased a kit that would allow for the installation of an alternator but later decided to stay with the OEM generator. These parts are included in the auction and are shown in one of the pictures of the trunk.   
The reason I have decided to sell the car at this time is that I am in the process of completing a frame off restoration on my 1960 C1 Corvette shown in one of the pictures of this car and I still have about $ 10K to spend to complete this project.
The pictures that I have provided are less than award winning.  On Saturday. I will have my son with his Nikon take some better pictures and we will get them loaded over the weekend.
If you have any question regarding this car. you are more than welcome to call be at (361) 816-7501.

On Jan-17-14 at 05:53:26 PST. seller added the following information:

I have had an inquiry regarding the glass.  All of the glass was replaced at the time the frame on restoration was performed.

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