The 1950 Chevy Bel Air brought an exciting new body style and a model name that would stay with the brand for decades.
Under the skin, the 1950 Bel Air was the tried and true: the same ladder-frame chassis, torque-tube drive, and overhead-valve six trusted by all. But the new pillarless hardtop body style brought a new world of glamor to the trusty Stovebolt.
Officially, the new model was called the Styleline Deluxe Bel Air Coupe, with the Bel Air name borrowed from the upscale Los Angeles suburb, while Deluxe emblems on the front fenders signified the Bel Air’s status in the Chevy model line. But if we simply say “Bel Air,” everyone will know what we mean.
With somewhat different styling, General Motors had introduced the pillarless body style on the Buick Riviera in mid-1949, so it’s clear that the automaker already had hardtop plans in place at the other car divisions for 1950. The Bel Air shared its roof stamping and other hardware with its A-body siblings, the Pontiac Catalina and Oldsmobilie 76 and 88 Holiday hardtops, also introduced in ’50.
With its shorter top and longer deck lid, the Bel Air sported the same general body/roof proportions as Chevrolet’s convertible, Sport Coupe, and Special Business Coupe, and this same hardtop configuration, including the distinctive C-pillar, was used through 1952. The trigonal C-post, a nifty design solution, then briefly reappeared on the ’56-’57 four-door Sport Sedans.
Adding to the original Bel Air’s glamor was its exclusive interior with seats of genuine leather—available in red, blue, green, or black—trimmed in “Fine Pile Cord” wool fabric. Bright metal glass-surround trim and headliner bows were also standard Bel Air fare, and one more classy touch was the pair of small courtesy lights built into the interior C-pillars. All this finery came at a price, of course. At $1,741 the Bel Air was by far the most expensive coupe in the Chevy line-up for 1950, and almost as much as a convertible.
The “hardtop convertible,” as the new body style was known to an eager public, outsold the ragtop convertible by a two-to-one margin, with 76,662 Bel Airs produced in the first year alone. For 1953, the Bel Air line was expanded to include two-door and four-door sedans and a station wagon as Chevrolet broadened its price and model range. As things turned out, the Bel Air name would remain in the Chevrolet lineup, ultimately winding up as an economy base model,.all the way through 1981.
Supposedly the HTC format came from convertibles being driven with the top up all the time, so as not to spoil a lady’s hair. Still had the pillarless view out without the wind and eventual top replacement. Of course, when automotive A/C became democratized, the pillarless view disappeared anyway. It took Ford till ’51 to catch up. For ’50, the “Crestline” trim package had to do.
So much love has been given to the Tri-Five Chevys that the great 49 to 54 body style seems often forgotten. I just love these 1950 Bel-Air hardtops! Not a rocket ship but they look great and modern enough to drive modern highways in comfort.
These look soooo much better to me than the Aeroback coupes! It’s a shame the V8 and open driveline was still 5 years away. Chevy, like Ford, stayed with it’s antiquated drivetrain longer than it should have. Put a small block V8 in one of these and you have a nice road car.
Yes, the pillarless hardtops replaced the fastbacks as the sporty body style and soon put them out of business.
The pillarless hardtop wasn’t particularly costly to introduce. Years ago I restored a ’49 Coupe Deville and along the way discovered that brightwork, door components, windshield (actually everything below the beltline) was common with the ’49 Convertible.
I owned a 50 Bel Air for about 5 years back in the early nineties. It was a poorly restored car that never won any prizes at shows but I was and still am crazy about that car. Financial necessities of family and a new house caused me to sell and by the time I had stabilized those, they had doubled in price and I could no longer afford a nice one.