Poll: Which Chevrolet? (11/29/2025)

For me this is a no contest...the '56. Thanks John for taking the time to post. I'm sure you're busy with the holiday weekend and I'm sure that we all appreciate it.

Steve 

Never cared for the '56, but the '58 is one of the very few good looking cars in '58.

Never thought much about the 1956 Chevy until I bought the 56 models from Franklin and Danbury mints. It seems to get lost in the popularity of the 55.  So I voted for the 56.  Now the 58 is sporty and designed nicely to me resembles the 58 Pontiac and a finless Cadillac sort of…..

1956 for its honest, clean lines.

I fell hard for the 1955 Chevy. Looking at its transition from 1954, it was like watching a boy grow into a man. Although many prefer it to the fifty-six, I am of the opposite opinion. I fell in love with the change to the teardrop rear wheel well openings. It's distinguished and more modern. And while people loved the change-over from the super-popular fifty-seven to fifty-eight, I cringed. I'm sorry, this is my first admittance to it but I dislike the fifty-eight compared to 1956 and 1957. Too fussy. Make mine a Fifty-Six please John. And thanks for the chance to come clean - ahhh, I feel showered, shaven and clean again!  LOL!!

My Dad had real 1955 and 1958 Chevrolets, and, as a kid, I had a 1/25 promo of the 1958 Chevrolet. I currently have several 1955, 1956 and 1958 1/18 Chevrolets, so I like them all very much. Of course, Chevrolet graduated to the great V-8 engine in 1955 and after.

@100ford2003 My pleasure Steve!

Posted by: @perrone1

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I fell hard for the 1955 Chevy. Looking at its transition from 1954, it was like watching a boy grow into a man. Although many prefer it to the fifty-six, I am of the opposite opinion. I fell in love with the change to the teardrop rear wheel well openings. It's distinguished and more modern. And while people loved the change-over from the super-popular fifty-seven to fifty-eight, I cringed. I'm sorry, this is my first admittance to it but I dislike the fifty-eight compared to 1956 and 1957. Too fussy. Make mine a Fifty-Six please John. And thanks for the chance to come clean - ahhh, I feel showered, shaven and clean again!  LOL!!

Posted by: @sizedoesmatter

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Posted by: @perrone1

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I fell hard for the 1955 Chevy. Looking at its transition from 1954, it was like watching a boy grow into a man. Although many prefer it to the fifty-six, I am of the opposite opinion. I fell in love with the change to the teardrop rear wheel well openings. It's distinguished and more modern. And while people loved the change-over from the super-popular fifty-seven to fifty-eight, I cringed. I'm sorry, this is my first admittance to it but I dislike the fifty-eight compared to 1956 and 1957. Too fussy. Make mine a Fifty-Six please John. And thanks for the chance to come clean - ahhh, I feel showered, shaven and clean again!  LOL!!

Confession is good for the soul...so they say.  

 

This is a tough one for me today.  Reason being, first being the same Brand of car and secondly, two very contrasting body styles.  Sort of like the old "Apples to Oranges" comparison.  After much thought and back-and-forth debating for each car, I chose by the thinnest margin, the '58.  For those of you who care to read on for my rational, here you go... 

Of the iconic and popular "Tri-Fives", I've always been in the middle and like the '56 the best of the three.  But I like it only slightly better than the '55, so it's a close call between them.  As for the '57, it's okay, but because it has been so over-exposed over the decades, for me it has become mundane, and when I see them at car shows, I usually just pass right by them.  So I guess for me, "popular isn't always popular". 

Now comparing the '56 to the '58, the very different body styles is where it gets tough.  I've always been in love with the '58.  It said loudly, "Planned Obsolescence"!  Forget the "Tri-Fives" folks, Chevrolet is all new!  It also boasted that as "New" as the "Tri-Fives" were, this '58 is even "Newer" without any traces of the early Fifties styling.  The "reverse pillar roof-line", the dual-headlights, the "reverse wrapped fins", the "three taillights", a new "windshield", and finally a new "interior".  It wasn't a Chevy of the post WWII era, or the early Fifties, or even the Tri-Fives anymore!!!  It was a Chevy that looked like a Cadillac, but for a lot less money.  

No contest for me. My father owned both the 1955 and 1957, my future father in law the 1956. I loved them all. I waited with anticipation in September 1957 for the unveiling of the new 1958. It was for me one of life’s early disappointments, unfortunately.

John! You dog!! This is a real "Sophie's choice" for me. I love both. The '56 is my favorite of the tri-fives. The '58 was spectacular in its day (for me, at least, as a six-year-old who was consumed with cars). It was just soooo...modern. I voted for the '58 but love 'em both. Now I feel bad about not voting for the '56. 

BTW, I love your daily posts, John. I know how much work this takes. Thanks for giving us part of your day, every day. 

It would be difficult for any non-car person to believe these were the same brand of car, just two years apart! So very different you can't really compare them. The '56 is neat and clean and pleasant (in a way I almost prefer it to the over-exposed '57). But the '58 was a dramatic transformation, long and low-looking, with well-balanced proportions and elegantly sculpted lines, and I think I would be more impressed seeing one of these roll by rather than the '56, so the '58 gets my vote.

@jkuvakas Well said John, my feelings exactly. I was eighteen in 1958 and had just graduated from high school. A friend's parents bought him a 1958 Impala convertible which I thought was the most beautiful car I had ever seen from Chevrolet. My parents weren't in a financial situation where they could buy me a car and even if they were, it wouldn't happen so I continued to motor on with my self bought 1950 Mercury coupe which was my pride and joy. 1958.