It Was Cool, Once

By Joe Whitaker

Have you ever looked back at pictures of yourself from a few (or a bunch of) years ago and thought: “Man I thought I was cool, but look how silly I looked…” or “Wow, I really did look good when I had all that hair.” Instead of looking at old photos of yourself and family, dig out some old car show photos or old copies of Chevy World magazine. You’ll share the same type of experience; some were good and some not so good:

This ’56 truck with “custom paint” that belonged to Joe Scurti from NJ appeared in the March 1976 issue of Classic Chevy.

Now this was and is a cool car. Eric Raeber’s patriotic “Spirit Of ‘76” 1955 delivery as it appeared on the cover of our September 1976 issue.

Gerald Boaz from MN had his ’55 convertible featured in the November 1977 issue. He states he bought it in 1971 from a friend for just $10.

Here’s another that will cause you to shake your head. Dick Whetstone from IA bought this rust-free California-car, Adobe Beige, 1957 convertible in 1967 for $100 with the complete original interior still in mint condition. Featured in August 1978.

The car Chevy never made: a 1955 4- door hardtop! This neat car was hand built back in the 1980’s by Platt Allen and Kenneth Burton and appeared in the February 1989 issue.

How do you make a ’57 sedan this high? Straight axle in the front with rear end mounted under the leaf springs instead of on top! This car belonged to Roger and Rita Stone from IA back in 1978.