Cover Story // January 2008
Only a Nine-Passenger Will Do
Story By Suzie Perry
Our appreciation of old Chevys began with Steve’s dad who had a ’55 Convertible in high school. His dad always had Chevys after that and got Steve into the hobby in 1979 when he took him to a local car show. Steve immediately fell in love with Classic Chevys and he has been enamored with them ever since.
Steve had a ’55 Bel Air hardtop that he drove all during high school. We had our first date in that car in 1988. Soon after we had our first child we bought a ’55 Bel Air Beauville six passenger wagon, which was a great family car. However, with the arrival of our fourth child we knew we needed a small “SUV” to accommodate everybody. Steve spoke with Joe Whitaker at CCI about adding a third seat to the ’55 wagon and Joe mentioned that the nine passenger wagons were completely different; we wouldn’t be able to convert a stock ’55 wagon by simply adding a third seat. We now realized that only a nine-passenger would do. Thus began the search for a ’56 Beauville.
Neither of us had ever seen a nine-passenger wagon at that point (Steve has been a member of CCI since ‘82 and has been to numerous shows and never saw one at the shows). It took us three years of searching to find a ’56 nine-passenger wagon that was complete. We searched CCI, Hemmings, eBay and Trader Online feverishly looking for a nine-passenger wagon and finally found one in Colorado just before my birthday. What a great birthday present! Steve and a friend drove to Colorado and picked up the car from the owner, David Pollack and drove it home.
The previous owner did a nice job restoring the exterior of the car so we were able to concentrate on the drivetrain. We also rebuilt much of the mechanical (we added disc brakes) plus the electrical and exhaust systems and A/C, which enabled us to enjoy the car as a family. An original replacement interior was installed by the previous owner. The car was originally all white, but the previous owner had it repainted two-tone black and white and reversed the colors so that it wouldn’t look like a police car. It has a 400ci motor and Steve put in a TH700R4 for cruising. Future upgrades call for rack and pinion steering and wide whitewall radials.
About Us –
Steve has worked for Wal-Mart for almost 20 years as an Electronics Buyer and is currently a Senior Director in the International Division. He’s been a member of CCI since he was 13 years old when he bought his first ’57 Chevy to restore. I have been a homemaker for the past six years after working as a teacher and youth director at our church for ten years. As to other leisure activities - with four children their hobbies seem to be our hobbies, scouting, soccer, baseball and music lessons. Any free time we have we enjoy taking the camper out for weekend trips.
Cars we currently own and enjoy:
1956 Bel-Air Beauville 9-passenger station wagon.
1955 BelAir Hardtop (currently under restoration). Steve has owned it since he was 15 and drove it all through high school and college.
1955 Bel-Air Wagon (currently waiting to be restored) – Bought when we had just one child, now that we have four we’ve outgrown it.
1956 Bel-Air Convertible (Steve’s Dream Car) – This is the “spoiled” child in the family, which is factory original with just 13,000 original miles.
Other GM Cars:
1964 Oldsmobile Ninety Eight Convertible - the only other classic vehicle that can hold the entire family).
1970 Pontiac Lemans/GTO Convertible - we bought this back in the early 90s and restored it for a daily driver. It’s currently a “date” car.
1969 Pontiac Firebird - Steve’s weekly driver.