‘57 Chevy

‘57 Belair convertible; the most desired.

The most recent issue of my Hemmings Classic Car magazine, August 2008, makes an interesting assertion: that the 1957 Chevrolet is the ultimate American icon.
To my humble mind, that’s a rather sweeping statement, but the 1957 Chevrolet is by far the ultimate American collector-car.
Pristinely restored examples of the ‘57 Chevy convertible are nudging 100,000 smackaroos, if they haven’t already gone over.
And this is despite Chevy losing the sales-race to Ford in 1957.
Ford had a completely new car, whereas the ‘57 Chevy was only a rehash of the ‘55 and ‘56, although both were extraordinarily good cars for their time.

Lordy-lordy. Fuel-Injection in the lightest and most basic ‘57 Chevy.

The main reason was the new Small-Block motor, introduced in the 1955 model-year, a motor so good it’s still in production, although vastly improved.
Despite losing the sales-race to Ford, the ‘57 Chevy went on to become one of the most popular used-cars of all time.
They were particularly in demand among youth, due primarily to the Small-Block.
And now everyone seems to want to go back to those days.
Everyone seems to want a ‘57 Chevy, particularly Baby-Boomers, who might have had one in the past.
The ‘57 Chevy restoration business has gotten so good, aftermarket suppliers are selling everything to make a complete non-Chevrolet ‘57 Chevy.

The fake.

The car pictured is a complete ‘57 convertible assembled from aftermarket parts.

Our family had a few.
One was a puke-green Belair four-door sedan powered by a Stovebolt.
It was a pig; even slower than our ‘53.
After my freshman year at college, my father purchased a silver ‘57 Belair four-door station-wagon (pictured below).
I was ecstatic. It had the Power-Pak V8 motor; four-barrel carb and dual-exhausts.
I used to want to drag-race it, although I’m sure a properly tuned car would have whomped it.
I used to remove the air-cleaner and drive it around that way; mucho induction-noise: WONK!
A quarter-mile was measured out on a well-paved rural road near our northern Delaware house, and the wagon would do over 80 mph.
And that’s with the PowerGlide tranny, and I’d still be in Lo gear.

“The Wagon.” (Photo by the so-called “old guy” with the ancient Hawkeye.)

After I got married and no longer lived at home, my father purchased a ‘57 Chevy two-door hardtop with a Stovebolt as a collector car.
But my mother put her foot down, and made him sell it. —A tragedy.

So now the ‘57 Chevy is in such demand, it’s out of reach for Average Joe.
And I’m not sure I’d even want one.
Years ago I looked at a hot-rodded ‘55 with a 400 cubic-inch ‘77 Monte Carlo Small-Block.
The guy who built it had died.
It had a four-speed floorshift, and I let his daughter drive.
What a dishrag! I came away cowed, much preferring our Faithful Hunda.

What did I ever see in these things? It’s a turkey styled by a committee. (Stovebolt One-Fifty post — two door sedan.)

What had I ever seen in such a thing?
The Small-Block was uproariously loud, and the chassis wimpy.
Throw $35,000 at it, and it’d still be an antique!
And there they were: those dreadful wire doorlock pins. The plastical knobs had broken off and disappeared, as they always did.
The replacement clear-plastic knobs were aftermarket, and didn’t screw on. All I had to do was remove them, and there was that wonky threaded wire that could flex and disappear into the door.
The ‘57 used the same flimsy system. Our wagon lacked lock-knobs.

The Chevrolet “Small-Block” V8 was introduced at 265 cubic-inches displacement in the 1955 model-year. It continued production for years, first at 283 cubic inches, then 327, then 350. Other displacements were also manufactured. The Chevrolet “Big-Block” V8 was introduced in the 1965 model-year at 396 cubic-inches, and was unrelated to the Small-Block. It was made in various displacements: 402, 427 and 454 cubic inches. It’s still made as a truck-motor, but not installed in cars any more; although you can get it as a crate-motor, for self-installation.

“Fuel-Injection” is a special application to allow more precise fuel-metering than carburetors, which were sloppy. The main advantage of FI (Fuel-Injection) on a Small-Block was tuned intake ram-tubes, which couldn’t be done with carburetors, and enhanced high-speed breathing. The ‘57 FI was troublesome, and beyond the ability of the average backyard mechanic. The ‘57 FI on the Small-Block was the first FI in production. FI is now the norm, but mainly to meet emission-requirements. (The FI car pictured could be a stock-car racer.)

“Puke-green” is our family’s description of anything pea-green. Our ‘57 Belair four-door sedan was two-tone green; bottom was dark green, and on top was a lighter green: i.e. “puke-green.”

The Chevrolet overhead-valve inline “Stovebolt-six” was introduced in the 1929 model-year at 194+ cubic inches. It continued production for years, upgraded to four main bearings (from three) for the 1937 model-year. In 1950 the Stovebolt was upsized to 235.5 cubic inches (from 216), and later upgrades included full-pressure lubrication and hydraulic (as opposed to mechanical) valve-tappets. The Stovebolt was produced clear through the 1963 model-year, but replaced with a new seven-main bearing (as opposed to less — like four) inline-six engine in the 1964 model-year. The Stovebolt was also known as “the cast-iron wonder;” called the “Stovebolt” because various bolts could be replaced by stuff from the corner hardware.

“Our ‘53” was the navy-blue 1953 Chevrolet Two-Ten two-door sedan I learned to drive in. It had automatic transmission (PowerGlide).

A “four-barrel carb” is a four-barrel carburetor (the usual V8 application was a two-barrel) — for performance; as were two exhaust pipes (“duals”). Most cars had only one exhaust-pipe, and at that time exhaust-pipes were rather small.

A “drag-race” is standing-start to the end of a quarter-mile. Whoever finished first won. 80+ mph at the end of a quarter-mile was fairly fast at that time, but now cars are much faster. Cars specifically designed for drag-racing are now hitting well over 300 mph.

“PowerGlide” was Chevrolet’s first fully automatic transmission, introduced in the 1950 model-year; but it was only two-speeds: “Lo,” which was sort of a fluid-drive; and “Hi,” which was direct (1-to-1). Both the ‘53 and The Wagon were PowerGlide, but The Wagon would rev higher in Lo; 80+ mph whereas the ‘53 might do 65. (This was a function of how high each engine would rev.)

“Tranny” is transmission.

RE: “Photo by the so-called “old guy” with the ancient Hawkeye.......” —My macho, blowhard brother-from-Boston, who is 13 years younger than me, calls me “the old guy” as a put-down (I also am the oldest). The “Hawkeye” (“HAWK-eye”) was on old Kodak Hawkeye camera I inherited from my father when he gave it up. It was the first camera I used, and it used 120 VeriChrome Pan black & white film. (See image.)

A “four-speed floorshift” is a four-speed transmission shifted with a floor-lever; as opposed to a shift-lever on the steering column. Floor-shifts were preferred by hot-rodders as more direct; as was standard transmission over automatic transmissions, which consumed power to operate the transmission, and were less direct than standard transmission.

“Monte Carlo” was a Chevrolet model during the ‘70s and the early ‘80s. — It was based on the Chevelle. You could get the Small-Block in it at 400 cubic-inches, the largest ever displacement for the Small-Block. But it required siamesed cylinder-bores; i.e. no cooling passages between cylinders. Too close = not normal. 350 cubic-inches displacement (with cooling-passages) was more normal.

“The Faithful Hunda” is our 1989 Honda Civic All-Wheel-Drive station-wagon, by far the BEST car we’ve ever owned, now departed (replaced by our 2003 Honda CR-V). (Called a “Hunda” because that was how a fellow bus-driver at Transit [Regional-Transit-Service in Rochester, where I once worked] pronounced it.)