Assembling the components to create the tribute to General Motors’ 50 Millionth Vehicle – the famous gold 1955 Chevy hardtop – required uncounted hours, numerous contributors, and the efforts of people scattered across the country. Our previous installments covering the build of the Tribute ’55 Chevy recounted the history of what is arguably the most significant of the nearly 1.8 million 1955 Chevys produced, and the mystery of what happened to the actual car after the massive celebration in Flint, Michigan in November 1954.
We now know that there were actually three versions of the 50-millionth vehicle produced for various reasons. The mixture of Tri-Five Chevy suppliers, restorers, and enthusiasts who are bringing this project to a conclusion include Real Deal Steel. Co-owner Joe Whitaker is a primary driver of this project and the company created the reproduction steel 1955 Chevy hardtop body that is the basis for the build. Steve Blades, a Kentucky resident, is a Tri-Five Chevy owner, hardcore enthusiast/archivist, and provider of many of the components used on the car.
Dave Snodgrass Chevy Restoration of Melbourne, Florida is one of the premier classic Chevy restorers in the country. Dave, Kenny, and Michael massaged the body, applied gallons of gold paint, and assembled the finished car. California-based Omar Asad and his cousin Nader Suliman spent long days gold-plating more than 600 pieces of trim, the bumpers; hundreds of nuts, bolts, and screws. Ciadella Interiors of Tempe, Arizona, found original NOS fabric and recreated the intensely gold interior pieces. Other industry suppliers who provided various components for the car include Golden Star Classic Auto Parts, Shafer’s Classic Reproductions, American Autowire, Auto City Glass, and Gene Smith Parts.
The crew at Real Deal Steel assembled the body for the Tribute ’55 Chevy from reproduction steel components.
The Complexity And Cost Of Building The Tribute ’55
The reproduction body took roughly 50 hours at Real Deal Steel, and Snodgrass Chevy Restoration spent more than 1,800 hours prepping, painting, and assembling the finished car. Coating the body, chassis, and drivetrain required more than 5 1/2 gallons of paint at $350 a quart! And, that cost doesn’t include primer, sealer, clear, and other essentials for a quality paint job. The gold plating required more than 200 hours of labor using liquid gold that costs $5,000 a gallon. Also, the interior produced by Ciadella Interiors required more than a month of research and production time to complete.
Relying on new steel components, the team at Real Deal Steel uses a sophisticated fixture system that assures precise fit during the construction process.
Real Deal Steel has been building reproduction steel bodies for Tri-Five Chevys, 1967-1981 Camaros and Firebirds, and 1966 – 1967 Chevy II two-door hardtops for more than 10 years and has sold more than 2,000 bodies to customers around the world. To assemble the Tribute ’55 Chevy body, technician Jordan Seacrest spent more than 50 hours on the project, using water-cooled automobile factory resistance spot welders similar to what GM and Ford used to assemble the originals. Before shipping the tribute ’55 body to Dave Snodgrass Chevy Restoration, the doors and trunk lid were test-fitted. Also, as is the case in all bodies produced by Real Deal Steel, front and rear glass was test-fitted to make sure there were no issues that could appear during the prep and paint work.
Body Building And Prepping The ’55 Chevy
When the new body arrived at Snodgrass’ shop, the team began the task of creating a car that would equal the high-quality Tri-Five restorations and modern restomod builds they have produced for years. Recently, a custom 1955 Chevy convertible built by the shop was a Great Eight finalist at 2023’s Detroit Autorama and was a no-sale at January’s Mecum auction in Kissimmee at a bid of more than $350,000.
“Whether you’re starting with a reproduction body or a 70-year-old, survivor body, there are going to be challenges”, Dave Snodgrass says. “It’s hard to find a good GM body anymore. They’ve all been picked over,” he says. “We felt like we weren’t doing the project justice by starting with an original GM body.”
Regardless of the starting point, making original pieces or reproduction parts fit presents different challenges. “The fit and finish that we are going after, everything on that car – door handle, taillight bezel – we are so anal that you have to fit every piece on that car,” Dave says. “It doesn’t matter what it is, it has to fit the body.” That means building, disassembling, and rebuilding the car two or three times during the journey from delivery to finished paint. First, the coating on the body from Real Deal Steel was stripped and every piece was covered in epoxy primer. Then the car was put back together.
we are so anal that you have to fit every piece on that car – Dave Snodgrass
“We start at the back of the car and work our way around,” Dave says. “We fit every piece to where we are happy with the gaps.”
The reassembly includes the glass, stainless trim, emblems – anything that is attached to the metal. “You have to fit every piece,” Dave says. “You can’t take anything and expect it to fit the way you want it to fit.”
Every surface of the Tribute '55 received a gold hue in some form. Small screws for painted surfaces were painted, while screws holding gold-plated trim were also coated with real liquid gold plating.
At that point, the car was in what Dave calls rough-stage primer. Then the car is blown apart – again – and panels are re-blocked, then covered with epoxy primer. The paint used on the original car back in 1954 was a custom mix, but no record of the formula has been found. It was not the special gold that was used on the 5,000 four-door cars that were distributed to dealers. Several sample colors were tested and an Axalta color was selected.
The body received five coats of color and four coats of clear. Once painted, the wet sanding began. Paper up to 3,000 grit was used on the Chevy before buffing. From the time the bare chassis and body arrived until the completed car rolled out the door, Dave estimates they spent at least 1,800 hours going from pieces in primer to a finished car with new interior, glass, wiring, etc.
The Gold Plating Challenge
Sourcing the gold plating of 600-plus pieces of chrome, stainless trim, nuts, bolts, screws, and other pieces fell on the shoulders of Southern California’s Omar Asad and his cousin, Nader Suliman. Omar started gold plating parts for his cars as a hobby that grew into a small business when friends and others asked him to plate pieces for them. The plating for the Bel Air was done in 24-karat gold that comes in a liquid form, with chemicals added to help it bond to whatever is being plated. The cost? $5,000 per gallon.
Completing the gold plating took more than three weeks of 10-12 hours days, Omar says. Plating some of the bigger pieces meant getting friends with larger plating tanks to help. Plating the small pieces, though, took several steps. Omar says he had to make a jig, drill various sizes of holes in it, twist each screw into the jig, then take the jigs to the polisher to remove the zinc coating. That exposed the stainless, which then had to be cleaned and polished before being run through the plating process.
New Old Stock Fabric For The Interior
Thanks to the efforts of Ciadella Interiors, the Tribute ’55 uses pieces of 70-year-old, gold-threaded NOS material. Ciadella has been creating original and custom interiors for 1949-1965 Chevrolets since the 1970s. The family owned business and its experienced craftsmen created the seats, interior panels, and headliner for the Tribute ’55 Chevy. Finding the cloth insert material was a challenge because, like most other detailed information about the car, there were no records kept.
“We tried to get as close to the pictures as we could without having pictures of the actual material,” Gina says. She ultimately found the cloth at SMS Auto Interiors in Canby, Oregon, where owner Doug Pollock was able to provide the proper fabric. Gina says the 70-year-old material was in great shape. It was firm, heavy-duty fabric that was easy to work with.
Sales manager Gina Ciadella says the project took about three months, from sourcing the materials to restoring the seats and creating door panels, sun visors, headliner, and carpet.
Other than diligently trying to match the various colors in the original car, restoring the front and rear seats required sandblasting original pieces, making sure the original springs were strong enough, painting them, and adding new foam. Then the sewn covers were installed. Because of the company’s decades of providing reproduction and custom interiors for Tri-Five Chevys, it was an easy decision to participate in the project. “It was a labor of love. We were honored to take part,” Gina says.
The completed car debuted at the Detroit Autorama, on March 1, 2024. In addition to the car, the display featured several pieces of the original car number one, a collection of memorabilia from the 50 Millionth GM Vehicle celebrations, a video monitor showing a slideshow of the build, as well as other material. The display was well received, and couldn’t have been possible without the dedication and commitment of this talented team of Tri-Five enthusiasts!
