Used Car of the Day: 1956 Chevrolet 150

by Tim Healey

Published: November 29th, 2023

Today we go old school for a 1956 Chevrolet 150 that has 100,000 miles on the clock and looks ready to drive.

If you can drive a car without modern power-assist systems, that is. This bad boy is old school.

It has drum brakes all around no power steering, power brakes, or air conditioning. Underhood is a 235 cubic-inch inline-six and the transmission is a three-on-tree automatic.

The carburetor was rebuilt last year, and there is a new fuel tank, sending unit, and fuel pump.

There are some issues, such as taillights that don't work. The brakes might need adjusting, and a rear brake cylinder might be leaking, though the seller says the car does still stop well.

Reading through the listing, the car does seem to need some work, especially if you want it to be as close to original and/or show quality as possible, but most of the work it does needs appears to be relatively minor.

This could be a fun classic for someone who wants to go to local cruise nights or just get some positive attention while driving around town instead of winning awards at uptight car shows. That said, it looks to be in good enough quality for the smaller car shows that are more about fun that awards, and it doesn't seem like it would need a ton of wrenching if you really want to get attention at some poorly lit convention center.

It's in Missouri and the ask is $15,500.

[Image: Seller]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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5 of 39 comments

Pianoboy57 on Nov 30, 2023

Compared to the '56 Studabaker Scotsman this looks like a luxury car. I guess the arm rests were optional in these like in the Studie.

1 Reply
- Jeff on Nov 30, 2023
  
  This is loaded compared to the 57 and 58 Studebaker Scotsman. Chrome bumpers, chrome trim, and chromed hubcaps with the Scotsman having those items painted silver. Two sun visors and two windshield wipers which were not available on the Scotsman. Also more colors available on a 56 Chevy with Scotsman offering basically white, black, and maybe one or two other colors.
  
  1
Jeff_M on Nov 30, 2023

It's either a three on the tree OR it's an automatic. It ain't both.

Like Reply
- See 1 previous
- Lou_BC on Nov 30, 2023
  
  yup
  
  Like
- Msquare on Jan 11, 2024
  
  Particularly when the automatic then available was a two-speed Powerglide.
  
  Like

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