Several car clubs brought their prized pre-1972 vehicles, including Classic Chevy’s Southern California.
Jim and Nancy Stevens of Chatsworth parked their 1956 Chevy Bel Air next to fellow club members Benn and Joan Kelley of Van Nuys, who brought their 1956 Bel Air.
The Kelleys’ car, an eight-cylinder, is painted Sierra Gold on the bottom half of the car and Adobe Beige on the top.
The Stevens’ six-cylinder is painted Harbor White on top and Matador Red on the lower half of the car. The gas cap is in the same location, the left rear taillight.
Stevens has owned several Bel Airs over the years and keeps this one around for the memories, he said.
“We used to cruise through Bob’s Big Boy on Van Nuys Boulevard,” Jim Stevens said. “I got my first ticket for a U-turn at Bob’s in Toluca Lake.”
And there’s a lot of history that goes with the 1956 Chevy, he said.
“It represents the Valley,” Jim Stevens said. “It was made at the Chevy plant in Van Nuys. It’s an all-steel car.”
Kelley has customized the whole engine with polished aluminum or chrome parts, he said.
“These are all the little things you can do to make your car look different than everybody else’s,” Benn Kelley said.
Joan Kelley collects Betty Boop dolls, and they have incorporated her likeness in several parts of the car, Benn Kelley said. A neighbor embroidered Betty Boop onto the vinyl cover of the rear window shelf.
One of Joan Kelley’s dolls sits in the driver’s seat wearing a Playboy Bunny costume.
