MODELS:  The model names essentially differentiate the line or level of trim on each car.

There are basically three levels of trim for these years:  Bel Air, 210 and 150. 

The One Fifty (150) is the base-level trim, the Two Ten (210) is the common mid-level trim package, and the Bel Air is the highest-level Chevrolet trim during these years. Within each of these trim levels there are different body styles we will describe later.

In '55, the 150 basically has no chrome side trim or window mouldings. The 210 exterior had an "L"-shaped stainless steel spear along the rear quarter panel. In '55, the Bel Air had a similar rear spear as the 210, but may also have another stainless spear on the front fender. The Bel Air also had stainless trim around the windshield and back window. The rear spear on the '55 Bel Air differs from the 210 with the horizontal stainless being wider with a painted band down the center length, making it appear as two largely parallel stainless bars. There were also additional optional stainless pieces and paint dividers available.

In '56, the 150 no longer lacks any trim, but has a stainless spear on the front quarter panel similar to that of the previous year's 210 but reversed to be on the front. The 210 model extended the single spear the full length of the car with the rear sweeping down toward the bumper. The '56 Bel Air split the stainless spear of the 210 into two which connect into a point on the front fender forming a spear shape outline of the paint.

The '57 150 model trim again resembles that of the '55 210 with just the single spear on the rear quarter.  The 210 has a full-length spear from the front fender to the taillight, splitting into two behind the front door.  The split trim of the 210 looks virtually the same as the well-known Bel Air of 57; however, the 210 originally had a painted section between the stainless trim while the Bel Air had an aluminum insert.  The similarity of the dominant trim element, and the availability of replacement Bel Air trim has made common, placing Bel Air trim on a 210, and frequently calling it a Bel Air.  A true, original Bel Air had stainless rocker mouldings, gold anodized aluminum trim for the front and rear "V", a gold grille and gold louvers on the fender; whereas, the 210 had no rocker mouldings, and the trim was all silver.  The Bel Airs and 210 models can also be distinguished by the differences in the rear fin  crown mouldings which run horizontally on top of the rear fin.  The Bel Air stainless crown moulding is several feet long and runs from the tip of the tail fin to almost the rear window.  The 150 and 210 models only had a short crown moulding about one and a half feet long, starting at the tip of the fin.

Within these models 150, 210, and Bel Air, which are mainly differences in trim within each year, there are other sub model names. These names: Del Ray, Nomad, Handyman, Townsman and Beauville are largely descriptions of the body style, or name modifiers. 

BODY STYLES:  Convertibles, Sedans, Station Wagons.

Within the broad class of Station Wagons, there are 4-door wagons with the names Townsman, which is a six passenger wagon, and Beauville which is a nine passenger wagon.  The Beauville was only in the Bel Air line in '55 and '56; however, it was only in the 210 series in '57.  The Townsman was only in the 210 series in '55 and '56, but was in both the Bel Air and 210 series in '57.  There are two-door wagons with the name of Handyman, Sedan Delivery and Nomad.  The Handyman wasn't offered in the Bel Air line, but was offered in both the 150 and 210 series.  The rear doors of station wagons are two parts, a tailgate which hinges down like a pickup truck tailgate, and the liftgate which contains the rear window, which is hinged at the top.

The Nomad was only offered in the Bel Air line.  The Nomad shares the long roofline of a Station Wagon, but the roof is lower, it has distinctive ribs or bars on the tailgate, the "B" pillar behind the doors is slanted forward, and both the rear window and tailgate have a distinctive slope. These and many other traits make the Nomad far more sporty than the other wagons.

The Sedan Delivery was only offered with the base 150 trim. The Sedan Delivery, which isn't really a Station Wagon, also gets confused as a wagon because it looks similar to a two-door Handyman, but with metal rather than glass behind the doors.  It also only has one large rear door with no rear window, which is hinged at the top and opens up like the liftgate on a wagon. The Sedan Delivery was the working-man's delivery vehicle and they were actually marketed by GM under their "Truck Line".  Apparently there were a few Sedan Deliverys which came from the factory with the glass all around, and looked look like a Handyman Wagon, except for the rear door. The U.S. Forest Service bought a few of these, and I have heard of a couple of these supposedly unmodified vehicles still in existence. The Sedan Delivery style holds the distinction of having the fewest models produced.  Since the look is quite popular, and is frequently used as a "rolling billboard" by many companies today, a lot of Handyman wagons have had metal welded in to replace the windows, creating a similar look to a sedan delivery. The Sedan Delivery also originally came with just one bucket seat and no rear seats.  A passenger side bucket seat was an option that was available.

Chevrolet used a slightly shorter windshield on Convertibles, Nomads, Sport Coupes and Sport Sedans. All of these have a lower, flatter, sportier roofline. The easiest way to observe what I am describing as flatter, is to compare the amount of roof you see above the door on a Sedan and on a Hardtop when looking at them from the side. The crown or curve of the metal is much greater and at least an inch more paint may be seen when viewing the Sedan from the side.

Sedans vs Hardtops, Club Coupes vs Sport Coupe and Sport Sedan - all of these are often confused.  

A common misconception is that because the car has a metal roof and isn't either a Station Wagon or a Convertible, it is a Hardtop.

The easily visible difference between a Sedan and a Hardtop is the "B" pillar or Post.  The "A" pillar is the post supporting the roof between the windshield and the door. The "B" pillar is the post just behind the door. If the car is a four-door the "B" pillar is in the same location, which is between the front and rear door.  Sedans, often referred to as a "Post", have a full "B" pillar which extends from the floor to the roof; whereas, Hardtops have only a partial "B" pillar which extends from the floor to the bottom of the window, and are therefore commonly referred to as "pillarless".  A very easy way to differentiate between the hardtop and sedan is this:  If you can roll down both the front and rear windows and run your arm from front to back, then it is a hardtop.

The doors of sedans have a rigid painted frame and track surrounding the windows. On hardtops and convertible, the glass has a chrome edging on the glass, but the glass lacks the support of a track on both sides.

And if you are not confused enough, here is another bit of information:  The Sport Sedan isn't a sedan, some, but not all, coupes are 2-door Hardtops, and not all 2-door cars had "Coupe" in their name.  The Sport Coupe was a name Chevrolet used to identify the two-door Hardtop, and the Sport Sedan to identify the four-door Hardtop.  The Club Coupe looks the same as a standard 210 2-door Sedan, but was only used for the 210 Del Ray Club Coupe.  Club Coupe is being used incorrectly if it is referring to a Bel Air or 150 two-door Sedan.  The one fifty two-door Utility Sedan looks outwardly the same as the 150 two-door sedan, but the interior was even more spartan.