55.2-59 Rare 55

[geezer#99]

I’ve seen a lot of trucks but never a 55 with a six and automatic. And a big back window.
How rare is it?


https://victoria.craigslist.org/cto/...708240515.html

[3drburb]

This is giving me flashbacks.
We purchased one about 20 years ago and sold it to a guy in Sweden. I still run into the lady I got it from now and again as she was a mail carrier in my area.
I was told it was rare when I got it and more so when selling it, that was in really rough shape, but it was a good buy and a very good sale at the time.

[3drburb]

Just to follow up on this. I didn't find much information back then about the automatic, but I first thought it was a car setup used on the truck when I saw the ad in what was the Buy N Sell at the time, only to receive a lot of emails saying it was hard to come by and I shouldn't sell.
Also, I think the wheels and hubs were a little different than the other trucks I had at that time.
That was one cold wet Saturday, making raincoats out of garbage bags to wear while digging that truck out of a rain, soaked muddy hill of a backyard in West Seattle. Great times!

[1project2many]

My first TF truck was six cylinder Chevy, Hydromatic transmission, long bed, BBW, deluxe cab. That was in '84? '85? It ran and drove so it killed me that no one wanted the chassis after I moved the cab to a SWB V8 frame. All the old timers I knew said the transmission was too heavy and unreliable and wasn't worth the iron it was cast from.

[leegreen]

those old timers probably hated to work on heavy awkward stuff. That is a 400+ pound transmission! Variants were in production for probably 30 years so they had some success until better stuff came along

Can't say how rare it is in a '58 pickup. At least uncommon is my guess. But not so rare as to make that rusty basket case any more appealing as a restoration project. Probably the main thing of value from the hydramatic POV is the column/shifter.

Truck maybe not a horrible deal. The title along with some chunk of the original truck is probably worth close to a third of the asking price in BC, the rest has some value as parts. And the owner is open to offers

[mr48chev]

That would be a 4 speed hydromatic. Probably the same as the 54 transmisison with an open drive tail shaft.

Rare on a 55 second series with a 235 because of the pretty big for the time added cost. In most places trucks hadn't hit the dad's work car status yet and most trucks were bought to work out of.

[cameo]

thats what my truck started out as, factory power steering to, but it was gone when I got it. box was missing too.
so since I could not verify it was a cameo, and I had issues getting the transmission parts needed, it became a Nova clipped, SBC, 700, 10 bolt rear driver with a step side box