A 1955 Chevrolet Bel-Aire has sat on a pole at 2412 Clear Lake Ave. in Springfield, Ill., for 17 years. Locals call it the “Chevy on a stick,” and Route 66ers are fond of seeing that landmark during excursions through town.
Now that the car dealership that it presided over has moved, the “Chevy on a stick” faces an iffy future, reports the Springfield Journal-Register.
The owner of the landmark and the land, George Stelle, says that both are up for sale. Whether both actually are taken is another matter.
“Maybe I’ll just take it down and scrub it up,” Stelle said.
More about the car:
“I had a lot of fun doing that,” said George Stelle, the man who topped the pole with the ’55 Chevy in 1991. “I looked all over trying to find that thing, from Las Vegas to Springfield, and I found it about three blocks away,”
Stelle at the time was a partner in Young Motors LTD. He bought the car for $900, restored it and up it went. […]
According to newspaper accounts, the steel pole is set in a 6- by 6-foot hole. Steel rails at the top of the poll were clamped to the car frame. The car was last taken down for refurbishing in 2002.
There’s no sense in trying to steal it, either. The car doesn’t have an engine.
Above is a screen capture of the landmark via Google Street View (link here).