Air It Out with Air Suspensions for your 1958 Chevrolet

You've got to give General Motors credit for seeing this lowrider trend coming decades in advance. How else can you explain the optional air suspensions--complete with catchy names like "New-Matic"--available from nearly every GM division back in 1958? Not only that, but since The General's systems were prone to failure, sooner or later your car would be "layin' frame" whether you wanted it to or not. Talk about being ahead of the curve!

Thankfully, air suspensions have come a long way since then, with big trucks and production cars by the millions employing them on a daily basis without reservation. Companies such as Air Ride Technologies have helped bring "bags" to the hot rod and custom car masses, where they've been met with open arms. The concept is just too enticing for many rodders: a car that can be dumped in the weeds while parked or profiling, then raised to a safe and comfortable level for blasting down the freeway. Best of all, good handling and ride quality can be maintained if the system is properly designed and set up.

Like any good company, Air Ride Technologies is continually refining its products and adding new applications, which brings us to a couple of recent offerings that we think will interest R&C readers. First up are the new StrongArm front and rear control arms for full-size '58-64 Chevy cars, which serve several purposes. First, the jig-welded tubular arms look good, which will make the chassis detailing guys happy. Second, they're designed to work properly with air suspensions and lowered cars, with optimized arm lengths, dimensions, and angles to reduce binding and interference during extreme suspension travel. And finally, they simplify air suspension installation since they're already set up with proper air spring or ShockWave mounts. In addition to '58-64 Chevy applications, StrongArms are available for '55-57 Chevy and Mustang II-style front suspensions, '64-72 GM A-body (Chevelle, Skylark, etc.) front and rear suspensions, and many GM trucks.

The other item of interest is the new RidePro e control system, which can be installed or retrofitted on almost any air suspension application. The compact RidePro e is like a "brain" for your bags since its ride height on start feature can be programmed to inflate springs to a user-determined pressure whenever the ignition is turned on. Furthermore, an optional auto-leveling feature lets you program three ride heights that remain constant regardless of load. RidePro e can also be had with two sets of controls--a standard, hard-wired electronic keypad with compact switches and digital readouts that you can mount most anywhere (or leave unmounted), plus optional remote control fobs that let you to raise or lower your car from a distance. Best of all, RidePro e is designed for do-it-yourselfers, with Weatherpack plugs and indexing, locking connectors virtually eliminating the need for cutting, splicing, and soldering wires.

It just so happens our pal Chris Bassett, a certified '58-64 Bowtie freak who hawks Chevy restoration parts at CARS, Inc. in Fullerton, California, was recently preparing to install StrongArms, CoolRide springs, and RidePro e on his in-progress '60 Biscayne, Naturally, we stopped by to snap a few photos. For the most part it was a simple remove-and-replace process, although since Chris was starting with a bare powdercoated frame, we'll only be showing the "replace" end of things. He did encounter a few hiccups along the way, but most were due primarily to the combination of other aftermarket parts on Chris' car. Check out the photos and captions for more specifics.