Team That Built the 50 Millionth GM Gold Car Replica Finds Rusty Piece of the Original

Heavily involved in the build, Joe Whitaker posted on Facebook a photo of a rusty component, which had been buried in the backyard where one of the three gold cars that GM manufactured burned to a crisp almost three decades ago.

"Since all of you seem to be like me (somewhat), and you enjoy looking at rusty junk, we'll show you another recovered piece of the Golden Car #1," he wrote on social media. He went on to explain that the team had to physically dig it out of the ground along with some other pieces of the car.

What they found is a section of the A-pillar, which Joe Whitaker refers to as one more piece of the giant 'puzzle' that fits together with all the other bits and pieces that they have recovered over the years.

The Chevy Bel Air Sport Coupe with gold plating came to celebrate a major milestone: it was General Motors' 50 millionth car. GM paraded one of the three they built on a huge celebration that took place on November 23, 1954, in Flint, Michigan, the heart of the automotive company.

It was a day-long street party with dancers, music bands, clowns, and mascots, turning what used to be a quiet little town where nothing ever happened upside down.

The 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air Sport Coupe looks every inch like the original car 

GM paraded milestone cars, all culminating with number 50 million: a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air Sport Coupe with 24-carat gold elements. The gold replaced all the chrome trim of the standard car. It was a glorious automobile, shining in direct sunlight and getting that "wow" reaction from the crowd that GM was counting on.

After the event, the model joined a private collection. It remained in storage for decades. It changed hands several times, but not much was known about those years. A car virtually dipped in gold had just vanished from the car world like it did not even exist.

Information surfaced about the vehicle having burned to the ground somewhere in North Carolina in a fire that melted an entire private collection. Not much was saved from the gold car from 1954.

A restoration shop from Melbourne, Florida, Snodgrass Chevy Restoration, just could not accept that the car was lost and gone forever. So, they started on a mission that seemed next to impossible, considering the limited amount of information. However, they ended up building a replica to perfection.

The team worked around the clock to get it ready on time for the 2024 Detroit Autorama

They stopped at nothing. They invested money, with over $100,000 going just into the gold plating, on top of the purchase of the Bel Air. They invested time, with the team working around 1,800 hours over six to seven months. And making their replica look like the real deal was not exactly a walk in the park.

Most photos from the mid-1950s were in black and white. Therefore, taking a wild guess in terms of trims and colors was not an option for the people at Snodgrass Chevy Restoration. They called on an automotive historian from Kentucky, Steve Blades. It was he who excavated information out of GM's archives in order to find the exact trims and colors that the 1955 Chevy had.

That is how the 2024 replica looks every inch the car that paraded in Flint, Michigan, exactly 70 years ago. There are over 600 pieces covered in gold. The buttons on board the model, all switches, the circular frame of the speedometer, the dashboard are all gold-plated.

The precious metal also covers the window frames, the badges at the front and rear, the wheel hubs, and everything that used to be chrome on a standard Chevy Bel Air.

The gold-plated car wows the crowd everywhere it goes

Coming up with paintwork identical to the one from 1954 was also a gigantic challenge. How do you find the exact same paint when there is no paint code? But they nailed this one, too. They used five and a half gallons of Axalta gold paint to make the Chevy shine brighter than the brightest sun.

Looking like the real deal from bumper to bumper, the Chevy Bel Air gold-plated replica made its public debut at the 2024 Detroit Autorama seven decades after the original car paraded in Flint, Michigan. The model wowed the crowd.

Everyone wanted a piece of it. Everyone wanted to snap a photo and upload it on social media. There were people who traveled across the country just to see the gold Chevy.

The piece of automotive history on wheels will be on display at several automotive events throughout the year. And we already know the reaction of people seeing it.