Parting Shot
InTheGarageMedia.com
Photography by GM Photographic
The ’55 Chevy Biscayne is currently on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum and will be through March of 2026. It is well worth the time and effort to see this ’55 Chevy Biscayne, along with the other five masterpieces. Could this be where the “bubbletop” front glass (and then the rear glass) came from?hile we all have ideas about what’s cool and what we would build, there can be no denying that the concept cars from the major auto manufacturers were great sources of exciting ideas. As a budding hot rodder, I couldn’t wait to see and read about the GM Motorama concept cars. Often, I would see them at the new car shows that came to the towns around my home. It was amazing.
Joe Bortz is a longtime car collector who has amassed some very interesting pieces over the years, not the least of which are two dozen former Detroit concept (show) cars. His collection is currently on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum in a compilation titled “GM’s Marvelous Motorama” and will be on display until 2026.
Bortz had an affinity for concept cars, and it wasn’t long before his son, Mark, discovered the ’55 Chevy Biscayne in 1989 at the Warhoops junkyard. Although the Biscayne was cut in half and readied for the crusher, it would be a lucky find, and Joe (after digging deep into his wallet) would bring home the “gold.” It was some time before the Biscayne underwent restoration, and as luck would be, fellow hot rodder Kerry Hopperstead was charged with building the frame. Based on building photos Bortz found, Hopperstead recreated the frame.
You can see where the ’62 Corvair and the ’57 Corvette found much of their lineage. We thought it would be cool to show off one of the truly unique concept cars, the ’55 Chevrolet Biscayne. Looking at it, you can see multiple styling cues that would eventually find their way onto several different Chevy and other GM production-line automobiles. Unlike what Detroit’s cars would look like in a few years, this design is often called a “minimalist” appearance. What stands out is the “stratospheric” windshield all hot rodders enjoyed then and today.
Joe Bortz, a real hod rodder, is shown here with the GM Motorama concept car, the ’55 Chevy Biscayne, cut in half and ready for the crusher when he found and rescued it. One of six concept cars called the “… Picassos and Rembrandts of this automotive generation …” was painstakingly restored.
The interior was a harbinger of styles, materials, and creature comforts. Although titled a Chevy Biscayne, you can see where the influence of the larger GM cars received their interior cues.
Titled the “1955 Chevy Biscayne,” there is no mistaking that GM was trying out styling and design cues at this time. Can you see the future influence of the Corvair (rear quarters and decklid), the Corvette (side cove, rear bumpers, exhaust, license plate frame), and the “thin” (pinstripe) whitewall we would see from 1962 to 1964?