Mike Ellesio of Guilford and his 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air that has been in his family since it was new. Bud Wilkinson/For Hearst Connecticut Media Mike Ellesio was far too young to drive when his grandfather gifted him a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air. “I got the car in 1980, so 46 years ago,” he said last weekend during a driveway interview on what was a blustery day. The car had been purchased new by his grandfather and granduncle from Cooley Chevrolet from New Haven.