Hot Rods 57 Chevy hot rod in the early sixties...

How was a 57 Chevy modified as a cool Street machine? Let's say early sixties...what wheels, what interior, what color was hot at the time?
I guess 327, 4 speed on the floor, slot wheels....SS buckets, black vinyl....what else ? Anyone has memories on these cars? Thank you

I have just bought a rusted conv...and would love to have some input

 

...you got it real close; here's my 56 from the mid to late 60's, 283 bored out,mild cam, 3 speed floor shift, 4barrel, dual glasspacks, tailpipes out to rear bumper, chrome reverse, bucket seats, interior dyed black, etc, those were the days.

 

For early 60's I'n think'in black paint, white wall slicks, on chrome reverse wheels, no hood, no frt bumper, dual fours on that 327, nose in the air a bit, with an axle. Von Doc

 

Car has to be driven often...also long distance at highway speeds...so tube axle and no hood is not an option....besides black, what about Roman red or Honduras maroon....?

 

My pop's friends had many of them. As a 59 model myself I can't say much about early 60's by 67 or so.. chrome reverse or Cragar SS (for the guy with bucks) maybe aluminum slots, chrome slots were out by then. 283 or 327 or any combination in between. 4 speeds were a bit expensive but fast cars had them, fully syncro 3 speeds were a bit new yet. Most had stock interior, maybe seats out of a 62 - 64 Chevy, buckets or bench. Rich guys Tuck and Roll was the only way to go. As they were 10 year old cars many had original paint. Street cars had original suspension, some up in the front, most had air shocks by then so up in back. The 56 above had the look.

 

Back in the early sixties not many cars had aftermarket wheels. I'm not sure too many were even available then. Cragar S/S wheels didn't come out until 1964. 57 Plymouth and Dodge caps were popular as were no hubcaps. I can't remember anyone that had enough money to buy after market wheels. Hot cars from Chevy, Ford, Pontiac and Mopar were just becoming available. In those days cars were not normally driven long distances at least not from where I lived. I think California was the first place car shows originated. I don't even remember there were even any car shows available to go to. We just went to local drag strips. There were no car shows 4-5 hours or more away like there are today. 4:11 and 4:56 rear ends were popular because you never drove long distances. The guy's I hung around with could care less about what interior or the paint we had. We cared about what would make our cars go faster not what they looked like. SBC parts were available cheaply from local Chevy dealerships and junkyard parts were readily available. Cruising, street racing and chasing hide was what we cared about.
I feel sorry for the young guys who never had the opportunity to participate in what was what I consider the hay day of hot rodding. American Graffiti was not a myth. Thats the way it was. Too bad you missed it.
Don't bother to post what you think it was like as if you weren't there you have no idea about the way it was. Ask those who were there for the real information.

 

Since I was a teenager in the 60's here in the South the 55-57 Chevys were hot rodded a lot.

283/327's were the most common engine,4 speeds and chrome rims or 5 spoke mags.

The guys that had a few more bucks to spare used the Crager SS mags

The front bumper was almost always removed and the bucket seats from Impalas and corvairs were the seats of choice.

BTW,in my neck of the woods the 2 door post was popular. HRP

 

This was mine in the late 60s 4 speed was auto I changed that 327 2 x 4 s. 14 inch chromes with baby moons on front 15s stock wheels with slicks Testors Saphire Blue metallic (Dad worked at testors model paint and got me a gallon) stock two tone blue inter JC penny's headers out of catalog etc. good times for sure

 

Based on this principle, we shouldn't even be asking Rikster what a pre-war custom looked like back in the day.



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Early 60’s, Black wheels with baldie hubcaps and white walls. Gasser style jacked hop in front, front bumper off.1960 Valiant Red, which was red with orange in it. Black tuck and roll. S/W gauges, Sun Tach, Vette steering wheel. Bored 283 with stroked crank for about 337 inches, Howard Cam, AFB Carb. Then your best buddie steals it one night while you are in school.. The devil got him before I could extract my justice on him.

 

Mine in late 60's

a couple years laterhttp://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/media/go-mad.201218/full
Poor thing 20 years after I sold it found on E bayhttp://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/media/my-nomad-20-years-after-sold-and-found-on-e-bay.328406/full

 

There was a '57 (2drht) around here in the '59-'62 ish era. It was black lacquer (rumor was 37 coats), nosed & decked, red & gray interior, 283 2X4, some kind of 'special' cam, floor-shifted three speed. Black wheels with whitewalls, occasionally baby moons. I was just a kid, but that car was a local legend in these parts. The owner at 76yrs old is still into cars, but that one's long gone.

 

In 1968 just before I went to Vietnam, not much on the custom side but my 57 had a built 283 with a fuelie solid lifter cam, vertex magneto, T-10 4 speed and 4:88 gears. 67 Nova bucket seats.

Pat

 

...my 55 in the late 60's, 210 tudor, six, stick overdrive, jacked up all around, coil spring helpers on rear shocks, front coils full of spring spacers,reversed original wheels,faded chocolate milk brown w/ offwhite top,.. great, cheap fun lil car...wish I had it back today in this condition.

 

Check out my album. I have had this 57 chevy for over 25 years. I built it as a tribute to the way I remember the way they were built.No money for paint or interior.
I'm 70 years old and still a kid !!!! LOL

 

My dad had a 57 in the late 60's just like your guessing but with a 283 bored to a 301, 3x2 intake, isky cam, 4 speed and no front bumper.

 

Google "Project X", back in the '60s Popular Hot Rodding ran a monthly series of articles converting a '57 Chevy to the then current build of a street machine. They covered everything from engine work to paint and upholstery. Most of the stuff was done with hand tools and backyard garages. I had a '57 at the time and did a few of their tricks. Over the years the Project was reborn and I think the latest effort was high dollar frame conversion and LS power.

 

My fathers car in 67...
Last shot was taken 2 days ago.

 

Wow.....I guess when I built my 57 back in the high school days ....late 70s...I built it the same way. Removed the front bumper, 283 with headers from a totaled 57 Vette , Muncie 4 speed and bucket seats from a Chevelle, 4:10 pumpkin from a 4dr 57 that was an OD car , Gray primer and some ET mags from a car in the wrecking yard I worked at after school.

 

In my area it was chrome wheels and baby Moons. The kids with money would go for American 5 spokes and then later on it was Ansen Sprints. They caused a stir when they came out and then all the cheap clones.


I'm going for the same era. These are clones and probably were not available in the EARLY sixtys but tough shit.

 

San Jose, 1962:
Courtesy Chevrolet was the racers' parts counter. There was a 'new look' to the Chevy Street racer, and a couple of 270 HP '57s were right with it: Front and rear lifted, 2"-4", small 'street' tires...(6.70 X 15") front and rear. Black tires on shiny black steel wheels, small Chev 'dog dish' caps.
One was that light tan, no markings...tudor sedan, looked like a 'salesman's sedan'.
The other was Indian Red, 270 markings. Black wheels/tires, no front bumper, also sat 'tall'.
Some other '57 Tudor post types followed the look, but weren't particularly fast...

'Shwartz' had a light tan '55 tudor, no markings, raised up, no front bumper, Shwartz started the black wheel/tire look (lifted, small tires all around: the "Businesslike look". Shwartz did it in '61)
Everybody had speed secrets, but if you hung around Arnold Chaves' speed shop (Dos Palmas Machine Shop) you could find out who-had-bored-what-to-how-big...
Shwartz ran a 292 (283 .060" over) had Chris Seever heads, and bought hydraulic cams 6-at-a-time.
He ran the juice cam with solid lifters, (car would raise the front tires with his slicks on) but replaced cams and lifters bi-weekly!
Gary 'Gearbox' Vierra had another '55, but a white tudor hardtop...Corvette caps, narrow whitewalls,
lowered...but when Shwartz and the downtown guys went black-on-black with wheels, Gearbox did the same.
So did I...my white '56 Ford convert got the tall, no front bumper black wheels/tires look, as it was one of the 'fasties'...
I loved that look. The cops were soon to get on to it, our cars looked as 'invisible' as their unmarked Felony Cars!
It wasn't a 'club', but we all hung around if there were a couple of guys parked the rest would show up eventually...

 

I know a wagon probably wasnt the ride of choice back then, but I tried to do this one in a mid sixties style. Warmed up early 327, Cragars pinner whites, modified stock suspension, slight rake. Interior, and paint next.

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Thank you for the input. I have all the basics covered...buckets, Corvette wheel, Cragar or reverse wheels, 4 speed with Hurst shifter. I have a 4x2 Edelbrock manifold that would look perfect....anly trying to decide on the color....black or dark red or metallic blue....what was the hot color back then? Customs were Titan red....some Street machines were Honduras maroon....what about blue?

 

Look at the original AMT 1/25th '57 Chevy customizing kit. Not the wild nose and tail, but the drag and basic custom builds. '57 Buick grille, '57 Corvette grille, or bumperless, and no caps, custom caps or Keystone mags. Came with kitchen-chair style buckets but 61-64 GM factory buckets would be more likely. And it would be a bright color, if not the factory paint, none of this flat black nonsense.

 

Mine was '57 "210" 2dr sedan with a 283/270hp, four-speed, 4:88 posi., narrow whites with no hub-caps, raised front using '59 station wagon springs, '61 Impala steering wheel.
I have pictures, but can no longer post them new the new format here.

 

1964, my first car at 16, Milwaukee Wi. 210 2 door sedan, junkyard 348 w/ tri carbs, 3 speed, hurst floor shifter, 4:11 gear, front bumper off, spacers in coils for nose lift, black steel wheels, narrow ww, baby moons, recap cheater slicks, interior stock, 3 gauge panel under dash, sun tack on dash, pale blue, spray can white top, gray primer in approiate spots for rust repair, glass packs, no tail pipes. Funny, I can remember this car in such detail, 50 years ago, don't ask what I did last month. Hope this paints a plcture for you from back in the day, been there, done that. John

 

I don't have any pics handy, but Dad bought his Harbor Blue 270hp convertible new, then pulled the aluminum Belair insert (but left the spears) and added 57 Plymouth wheel covers, a second antenna, and a wagon bumper (to move the license plate off of the trunk). I know that's a little more custom than hot rod, but he raced it regularly in the Philly area.

 

Yep. Plymouth and Lancer caps were very popular back in the day. In my area I never remember anyone removing a front bumper for no reason. That must have been a regional thing.
What I find amazing about all those who have posted about what cars were like "back in the day" no has yet to mention Atlas Bucron Tires which were the tires of choice of street racers and drag racers alike. Everyone with hot cars in my area used them. The only drawback was the softness of the Butyl rubber. You didn't get too many miles on them.
Another trend in our area was to build a "sleeper". A good friend of mine took his mothers 55 Fairlane four door, black wall tires, small caps, added an open drive Ford truck three speed open drive floor shift, 312 Mercury engine with a wolverine cam and a 57 Ford Nascar dual four barrel set up. I can't tell you how much fun we had with that car. Another friend had a stock bodied 53 Studebaker with a 389 Pontiac and 37 Buick floorshift. I once owned a 55 Buick special tudor with a 264 c.i. three speed that had 1958 Buick Roadmaster 364 c.i. 315 HP and 37 Buick transmission as well. Another fun car.