This remarkable old photo from the USSR was posted in a comment by Big Beat. It shows a 1955 Chevy sedan that was updated with ’59 Chevy front clip. These kind of modifications were not uncommon in the USSR at the time as those affluent enough to have bought something as rare as a ’55 Chevy or other prestigious car, European, American or Russian, could afford to have the bodies updated since there was no way to trade this in for a real ’59 Chevy.
And just how was the significantly wider ’59 Chevy front end grafted on? A close look at the grille shows that.
The grille and hood were narrowed, as can be seen by the reduced spacing of the outermost “bullets” in the grille. And the front of the door was modified a bit to make the transition there a bit less jarring.
Unfortunately there’s no shot of its rear end, which also looks to have been updated some too. It now appears to slope down a bit, having lost its straight fender line and fin. One can only speculate, but sadly it does not seem to be sporting a ’59 Chevy’s batwings.
If this shot were taken today, AI would have it looking perfect!
Could those added rear wings end with the wing-tip indicators from the 1957-60 Vauxhall Cresta PA?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vauxhall_Cresta#/media/File:1957_Vauxhall_Cresta_Saloon_rear.jpg
Wow ~ a relic of the time when labor was the cheapest part of owning a car .
To me it looks like they added finlets .
-Nate
It does look like that, but I think it’s just the hood of the car behind it.
Nyet.
I was trying to rationalize this modification in my mind and I came up with this: from a Gene Winfield or George Barris point of view, this is a kustom with a K!
My fantasy garage includes a 59 Impala coupe with a ‘60 Impala front clip.
The featured car is a little crudely built, which makes me wonder if a enterprising comrade and his comrades built this from two wrecked Chevies.
This had me singing ‘One piece at a time’ by Johnny Cash.
Not having to resort to this sort of thing isn’t the best reason to be glad we didn’t live in the USSR, but it’s a reason.
Chrysler did the same thing a bit more professionally when it grafted the ’53-54 Chrysler front clip on the ’49 limo and wagon bodies. And again with the ’62 Dodge Custom 880.
“Ewwww”.
Strange and ugly, one odd duck. Quack, quack.
A Cuban classic before there was a need for it
As if owning a decadent capitalist-produced car wasn’t bad enough, this obviously bourgeoisie (almost certainly descended of a Kulak) individual has to further insult the proletariat by grafting on an even more decadent grill. Truly an enemy of the state and the revolution – to the gulag!
Apparently there’s a museum of Soviet self-made cars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHWpxeS3e5E