why do you SO CALLED "hotrodders" hate 55-57 chevys???

I'm building a 55 Nomad right now for my wife. Really is tough working on a painted car, scares the crap out of me that I might scratch it and she will kick my ass.
Sitting high in photo as no engine & tranny in now. Going to drop it about 3" all around.

 

opinions!, opinions!,opinions! i believe being 6'6'" and too fucking fat tends to draw me towards these cars because of the comfort factor, they have very roomy interiors. most people don't realize that most cars and trucks before the 40's were built with the average sized person in mind and they weren't 6'6". i dig all these t-buckets,rpu's... but they just aren't made for "gigantic" dude's! happy thanksgiving.

 

Sam go get another cold one....

 

Sam, alot of guys don't like 49-51 Mercs, cause they don't got one!...OLDBEET

 

tri 5s are like any other car, some are bitchin, others are so-so, and a few get totally ruined.

 

i think ryan had it right with the word "cliche"

personally i don't care for them. seen too many, mostly done the same. kinda like a SBC, i've already got a damn bellybutton. that's not what hot rodding is about, driving the same thing as the next guy and that's what most tri-5 chev guys are doing. "OOH, that's COOL! i want one just like that, lemme get the catalog and order some shit..." i will however say that i have seen some that were done "right" that did make me look twice, but few and far between. sam, your incarnation of the '56 in your butt reynolds days blew me away the first time i saw it. i don't wanna offend anybody, but the question was asked and i'm never afraid to add my spin to things. i'd still take one of those over anything built after about '71 though

 

I don't hate 'em at all, but I rarely see eye to eye with MOST of their owners.......

The '57 never did a thing for me...I'm just not into the grille. The '56 is perfect as is and the '55 makes a great custom!

Bryan

 

but seriously,,on a different note,,but somewhat brought upon with the earlier thread,,the oother day,,i dont know if it was the seaon change or what,,but i got to thinking about sitting in the kitchen table at the duplex we lived in back in about 1978 or so,,,i rember sitting there with my dad and all my hotwheels and matchboxes sprwaled out on the table with me being about 4-5 years old,,,him explaing to me RAT motors and al that stuff,,,

,,it's weird,,because even at that time 55-57 chevys were maybe 20 years old,,,and yet ,,they seemed so OLD!,,,,,it's weird,,but maybe it's me,,but old cars seemed older back then than the do now...

 

Marty...check YOUR email before you get too faded!

Bryan

 

If you don't like "shakey puddin" you ain't no hotrodder!!!!!....OLDBEET

 

Yeah Shakey puddin's car is just bad ass. Not just that but go to Byron's Gasser Madness and look at the visitors rides. Then click on Tri-Fives. When I see pics of 55 in all out wheel stands nothin looks as good doing a full out launch like a 55 Chev!!!!

 

I've got so I just walk by them unless they are kustoms,then I'm all over them.

 

My only problem is that all you need to do to own one is have a title...you can literally build the whole car from a catalog...and seeing hot rodders prefer to build their cars from many different makes and models instead of 1-800eding them. It takes a special person to make a tri-five look amazing...look at Cole Fosters work...that is a work of art...Its just sooooo many of them out there look them same...

 

I like 'em, and I drive one, and I'd like it even if no one else did.

 

Sam...I own the "World's wildest street driven '57 Chevy"...but I don't post pictures of it here becuz it's painted pastel Mint Green...with Magenta scallops...and tweed interior, with pink accents...last time pictures of it were posted, the "purists" and the "know-it-all" experts on this board tore it to pieces, even tho it's a genuine survivor kustom from the 60's...

I like '57's...and I owned 30 of them at one time in the mid-70's...best part is I've never been without at least ONE since my first was purchased in 1960...

R-

 

I never met anybody who hated my old 57 Belair. Took a tumble with a bigmouth jealous f*cker or two over the years, but that was probably to impress the girls.

I don't buy the cliche bit either. I have a '32 5W now and most folks love it or just don't say anything, but I've never heard a disparaging word. Yet.

There's always an eventual backlash to the most popular. And the 1957 Chevrolet was the king for a long time. The cliche is that the wanna be anarchists on this site have to hate 'em. And that they usually find time to post their hater speech between cutting parts off their bobber trucks with no seats.

Just kiddin'.

 

I'd say I have to agree with most of what everyone said about them being "belly button" cars. I like them alot, with the 55 being my favorite. My dad has a 55 hardtop and my uncle has 56 hardtop, convertible and nomad...I just don't like them to all look the same. But that goes for any car...32 Ford, 50 merc etc, to me a car needs to be an extension of the owners personality. And yes, I'll have another as well

 

Whatcha doin Sambo? Are you having early tri year depression??

I LOVE tri year Chevs SOOO much, I vote we box them all up and ship them to Australia.

No I'm only kidding. I want a 55 2 door sedan, Del Ray. Some day I guess.

 

Someone please post a pic of that red 55 on the cover of Hotrod Magizne. Straight axle, bright red, wheels in the AIR!...............OLDBEET

 

Didnt know I hated them........ Shit! Now I gotta delete those pictures of the ones I thought I liked.

Nah, seriously, I like the 55s but not so much the fins of the 56 and 57. But
i like them all better than my "Exploder" I Drive every day.

 

REAL HOT RODS,ended when they quit making "true roadsters",in some peoples minds.Personally if it didn't come with "running boards"it can't be a "Hot Rod".

 

Shortbull has spoken.........ya'll can shut the fuck up now.

 

I don't like them. I don't really know why. Maybe because they are so common and expected. Maybe it's like how I don't like ice cream. I just don't. Lots of people do, but I don't.

I can appreciate some.

 

why is it that I have that picture on my computer? huh....

 

good,,i should state,,,i was in no means trying to convert anybody over to "tri-fives"...

...it's just that with all the history and such that goes along with these cars,,,i cant understand why it has become somewhat acceptable to not like these cars,,when i first built my '56 all flaked and candy i would get complements,but it was always "...i dont like tri fives but...yours is cool.",,or stuff like that,,,

.that is kinda what i was getting at....like i said a few post back i realize they are done up so gay nowadays,,but so are 32 fords,33-34 fords and rat rod model A's.....

 

Man ... there used to be this really badass one here,... it was orange and silver metalflake with GREEN seaweed flames.. .. it was totally bitchin..

 

Hate them? Back in the 70's, it was my daily driver. 55' 210 with a 350, 4 speed and 4:56. Thank god for rush hour. My commute was 25 miles, 1 way. I took the freeway to work.

 

My Dad babies his 55 (yes, red and white inside and out).
I kinda hate that it looks like every other tri-5, but one day
it will be mine. Maybe I'll like it more then.

 

It's still here. It's just traded its Dickies and Chucks in for Hawaiian shirts and Birkenstocks.

 

Damn Sam, I like em a bunch. We have stayed busy in the shop for 4 yrs bldg gassers out of them... pissed a lot of purists off along the way but I could give a shit, I like em that way and so do alot of my customers, and yes they do the 1-800 build me a car, and I do. I would like to think the ones we do are not the norm. far more 32 roadsters or model a's being done than hot rod tri 5's. now billet resto tri'5s are getting to be everywhere. but I dont hate any car or any builder or owner. unless he doesn't play well with others, and that has nothing to do with the car any way...