June 18, 2025 — Well guys, welcome to the journal version of my YouTube channel, the Shade Tree Garage. This space will be were I ruminate / discuss / whine / bitch / moan about life and being the owner of a 70-year-old 1955 Chevy 210 wagon.

HISTORY. I located the Chevy for sale on Facebook Marketplace in the area of Mount Washington, 15 miles north of my home. The owner was a body man who worked for a major collision repair shop in Louisville.

The car was painted a two tone, kind of an aqua and light gray two-tone — basecoat with no clear coat. The paint job was only to make the car look nicer, and it does. The owner did no real bodywork, though if I were to hit the car with aggressive DA sanding, I would find bondo repairs over each headlight eyebrow, both rocker panels, and probably lower quarters between the door and rear wheelwells.

Of course, this isn’t unexpected. I bought it knowing this was not a mint vehicle. But it has excellent running gear, a good strong 350 SBC and a Tremec 5 speed transmission. No interior, other than a pari of bucket seats.

But a guy has to start somewhere, and nicer examples of 55 Chevys were more expensive than i wanted to pay, to be honest. I really, REALLY wanted to own 55 again, but $20,000 was my limit. And the damned truth is that on my budget, finding a good solid car was my top priority — not shiny new paint. I didn’t want a car that was going to need a drivetrain, and so far, I think I made a good purchase.

BODY STYLE VS. PRICE. Another truth in the world of Tri-Five Chevies comes down to the body style and the price. Replacing my first 55 with the same body style — a 2 door hardtop — was outside my budget. Two-door sedans and even some 4-door sedans were as well.

This 2-door wagon caught my eye as it was not only less expensive, but not a bad looker. The body style was unique.

SO WHAT ABOUT THE CAR? The Chevy has a 350 cube V-8, and a Tremec 5 speed. Also has power brakes and power steering, two nice upgrades. At the time, it was missing the passenger window and both side windows behind the doors. During the first week of January 2025, the lack of windows made for a very breezy ride home at 34 degrees F!

The body has its share of minor dings, the paint covers everything, but there’s plenty fo minor bodywork needed. the seller was just trying to optimize his return by making it look better. Not a bad strategy because to me, it worked!

The car has stock style steel rims and original hubcaps, though the rims are actually big-n-littles, with a 6 inch width rim on the front, 8 or 10 inch on the back. The car has 2 inch dropped spindles on the front, and 2-inch loweriing blocks at rear. As a result, it looks nice and low, but drags and bottoms out in my driveway and some parking lot entrances.

THE DEAL. I went to visit the car a couple of times at the owner’s house. The second time I was there to make a deal. I had hoped he was willing to give me a deal on the price — he was asking $19,500.

Unfortunately, the seller was absolutely firm on his price. He was confident he had it priced to sell, and he had had quite a few people interested in the wagon. He did not budge one penny. I spent more than an hour talking about the car with him.

Eventually, I told him I would take the car. I wrote him a deposit check for $500. Now he agreed to hold it for me until after Jan. 1, 2025. That’s because I needed to pull the money from my retirement account, and I didn’t want a withdrawal in Dec. 2024 to add to our tax liability — I preferred to withdraw the money in January 2025. He agreed to wait for the money.

That 2-1/2 weeks seemed to take forever — and on Jan. 1st, I requested to withdraw the funds. On Wednesay, Jan. 8th, my son drove me to his house with $19,500 in cash in my pocket. His son was a notary who helped us complete the transfer.

ONE COLD-ASS RIDE HOME. I knew the Chevy was missing the two side windows; apparently, they had been fixed glass windows at some point, though I later determined the car had at one time had roll-down side windows.

Unbeknownst to me the car’s passenger door window wasn’t just rolled down, it was completely missing. Driving home in the evening of Jan. 8th with the temps about 34 degrees F made for one very breezy ride. I knew with TWO windows missing it would be breezy, but the missing passenger window was a surprise, he never mentioned it.

When I got the car home, there was a significant amount of packed snow and ice at the end of our driveway from the passes the county snow plow made. The Chevy bottomed out hard on the ice and packed snow, and I was sure I drug something off the car. The engine died when I stopped and it didn’t want to start back up. I jumped in the car with my son and we went on up to the house.

The next day we went down the hill and figured we would need to tow the car; however, I tried the key and she started right up. Despite snow and ice on the driveway, she walked right on up the slick drive and never missed a beat!

I pulled it in the garage and breathed a huge sigh of relief. Home at last.

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