Chevrolet truly was all new for 1958, but not all the bold features stuck for very long.
The top line of the 1958 Chevrolet promo below, smoothly narrated by Joel Aldred, the voice of Chevrolet, is “It’s all new, and almost too new to be true.” Indeed, and there’s a touch of irony in that pronouncement. The ’58 Chevy truly was a bold departure from previous model years, and the one-year exterior sheet metal is a favorite with bow-tie enthusiasts to this day. However, not all the new ’58 features stuck for very long.
+ The optional Level Air Ride suspension package, which employed a complicated system of air bladders at each wheel inflated by a engine-driven compressor, proved to be buggy and unreliable and was soon discontinued.
+ The X-frame chassis, introduced at General Motors by Cadillac in ’57 and adopted by Chevrolet in ’58 with the name “Safety Girder Frame,” was prone to corrosion and drew fire from early safety critics, who doubted its crash worthiness in side impacts. Chevrolet hung onto the X-frame configuration longer than other GM divisions, through the 1964 model year.
+ The W-series engine family, launched in ’58 with the Turbo Thrust 348 cubic-inch V8, had a rather short production life, at least by Chevy V8 standards. The 348 was discontinued in 1961, while its 409 cubic-inch sibling was dropped in 1965.
And as luck would have it, all these features are promoted in our commercial spot below. Still, these miscues failed to put a dent in Chevrolet’s apple-pie popularity. Following the dealer introduction in October of ’57, the brand racked up more than 1.2 million units for the model year—as usual in those years, more than all the other GM divisions combined. Video follows.
