This thing was created to run.
The 1975 album Born to Run was the first to put Bruce Springsteen’s name on the American map. Springsteen paid $2,000 to purchase a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air. The baby blue would eventually turn to a golden yellow with flames and become an iconic part of rock & rolling history.
The car would be his only two-year-old possession, having been sold several times. Anyone looking to buy the classic would need to pay a lot more than the $2,000 original asking price. According to Driver, it was recently sold on eBay for $350,000.
It was Michael Crane who purchased the Chevy in 2006. Crane bought the car after it broke down in his Long Branch driveway, New Jersey. The gas leak was discovered by local police and he set about restoring the car.
The car was restored to working order just one year later. The car was only used for short trips to the Jersey Shore and was even loaned to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in New York and Cleveland for Springsteen-related exhibits.
Before Springsteen’s success with “Born in the U.S.A,” the ’57 Chevy was featured in Springsteen’s music in a variety of songs, including “Racing in the Street” and “Darkness on the Edge of Town . Springsteen is said to have written three songs while sitting in his passenger seat, including “Born to Run”, “Thunder Road”, and “Backstreets.”