Projects My new 1957 Chevy Bel Air 4dr Hard Top project.

So a few weeks ago while I was out of town my buddy sends me a picture of a 57 Chevy in someone's back yard joking with me saying it looks like my backyard. With 4 flat tires it looks like it hasn't moved in years. All joking I ask him where he had seen it and turns out a widow has it in her back yard just 2 miles from my house. Says it might before sale. As it turns out I know the woman and her grandson. I track down the grandson' s number from a mutual friend and arrange to take a look at it. As it would turn out the county is giving them a hard time and it has to go. I make an offer pretty close to the asking price and a deal is made with a scheduled next day to dig the car out of the yard where it has been sitting since 1987! Turns out the car hasn't been licensed since 1978!

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Despite the lack of faith from some naysayers the old tires actually inflated and held air long enough for us to move the car and load it!

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The old cragars are pretty crusty!

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With a good size chain and 4wd low the 57 moved for the 1st time in 31 yrs. The hard part was more moving the dodge truck that was blocking the gate to the front yard along with all the other stuff I failed to take a picture of! Good thing it was only 90 degrees that day!

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The story of my life, pushing a car while some teenager watches me! Actually the grandson was very eager to help load the 57 but I had to laugh when I say the picture.

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Thankful for a borrowed trailer with a wench!

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All loaded up thanks to some neighborhood kids across the street that were willing to help. Hopefully that will be a memorable experience for them.

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A Ford 3spd o.d. trans......why? Because it was there and for some reason came with the car.

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At home in are yard with my happy teenage son who is excited to get started on it.

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Now that it is up on a trailer opposed to sinking in the ground next to a hen house and a fence I'm starting to actually get to take look at the car. It looks like the car is a 4bl power pack car with factory power steering. Factory automatic but that will get changed to a stick. I'm not sure about the rear end but I'm guessing it's open with 3:30's

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So far the 57 is pretty complete. There is a bunch of stainless in the trunk along with a bunch of other stuff. There is a late model small block sitting in there with no valve covers or intake. Trans is gone. So far the floors look Great! Rear glass is missing. It has some rust in one of the doors. Seats look pretty good.

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All there and straight! Good score. Any Northeast car sitting that long wouldn't have floors or rockers. Are you going deep into it? That one could damn near be put on the road the way it is.

 

I'll say what everyone's thinking. Tell Grandson to put shoes on, no one goes to drag a car out of hibernation in flip flops and keep him away from the Twinkies too.

 

Ive owned two of those 4 door htps. one the center support was weak and you had to hold up the rear doors when you opened them. I always thought if I had some two dr htp doors it would be easy to convert to a 2 dr. Not a factory correct version because the top is different.

 

That grandson is big enough to hunt bears with a switch. I don't think anyones gonna tell him what to do! However I would hate to have to buy his groceries! LOL

 

I don’t understand why you feel the need to post if all you are doing is trying to insult someone. Must be nice to be perfect, or at least hide behind a keyboard. To the op, congrats on the car looks like a great project


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Dogsluvtrux needs that transmission for his 60,s pickup. Its got 8 bolt holes in the mounting face. It will fit both early & late bellhousings.

 

The top on the '56 and '57 4 door hardtop is the coolest top of all the tri fives in my opinion. I have always thought that converting one to a 2 door would just be cool, hell I would drive a more door '57 hdtp but making one into a too door and doing it right would just be too cool for school.

 

Hear hear Fargo, I agree, there is never a need to cast insult on anyone's loved ones. I've always liked 57 hard top 4 doors, they make nice hotrods that can carry the whole family comfortably, actually like a few of the mid 60's models too. Looks like a nice start to something cool. Mitch.

 

Sorry 31hotrodguy this is about all the support for a '57 you're going to to get here on the HAMB 3 comments about your grandson lol ....check out my '57 thread 3 pages of guys chatting about the weather then crickets...good luck neat car!

 

I think that because we are on the web it is too easy to just be mean. We should go by a general rule of thumb if you wouldn't walk up to someone and say that then you probably should not post it.

You are correct there is no reason in the world to bad mouth someone's car. Even a critique should be positive. You will always see something that you don't like about a car, but there must be something that you do like too.

Of course none of this may be valid it is coming from a man who would hot rod a '59 Borg Ward if that is what he had.

 

I think that 2 door hardtop doors would fit ... Then just a matter of post relocation and glass. It would be an interesting project to convert to 2 door ... Surprised no one has done it.

Joe

 

I think some of us have thick skin and possibly a thick skull to match. And nothing bothers us much and we will make abrasive comments. Like this one. (The story of my life, pushing a car while some teenager watches me! ) and it opens the door for others to post something along the same vien? Or possibly we are simply assholes?

 

Its been done sort of. I seen a picture of a 4 dr htp roof installed on a convertible. Looked ok to me.

 

The doors are longer but it is doable. There was a guy up north that did one the hard way a few years back. I don't remember who it was now. cut the doors move the door jam and weld the piece of body into the doors. But if you can find a more door body and a pair of 2 door doors it would be way easier. A matter of moved tie door jam to fit the doors and cutting the quarter glass to accommodate the longer doors.

The hardest part would actually be locating the parts.

 

'56 & '57 Chev & Pontiac 4 door hardtops look sooooo good on their hands & knees ….

 

I like them down in the snout. Got that street brawler look about 'em.

 

yeah $500 to $1,000 for a good pair of hrd tp doors or buy another pair of 4 dr front doors for $50. and slice and dice them together

 

Honestly I would clean it up and drive it but then I like stuff no one else does...like 4 door hardtops


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I always preferred the roof line of the 56-7 four door hardtops over the one they used, similar to the 51-52 two door hardtops. That would be a great project for someone with talent. Not me, with my track record for body work I could screw up a fender installation.