Almost Too New To Be True: Marketing the 1958 Chevrolets

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.

 

3 thoughts on “Almost Too New To Be True: Marketing the 1958 Chevrolets

  1. Always liked the 58 Chevy’s, especially the Impala. Much better design than the horrendous 59 and 60’s. Not as big a following as the tri 5’s before them, but still nice cars in their own right. Would love to have a 58 Impala with a 409!

  2. Had a coworker at Chevrolet Engineering who bought a new car every model year with all the latest equipment. His ’58 had the air bag suspension. Every morning it was a surprise as to which corner(s) would be collapsed until he started it and the compressor got the bags all evened out. He begged the dealer to replace the bags with coil springs but no luck. He was stuck with it until he got his ’59 Impala.

  3. To me the 58 was the ugliest fifties Chev. The 59s too were ugly but were ‘fashionable.
    The 58 following the tri 5s were a big step back.
    The W engine while quite powerfull were a bit weird, especially the angled deck. What were they thinking!! This from a manufacturer that had the best engine around with the small block.

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