History 1957 Chevy 2 Door Wagon Government Car?

2 different '56s from one scene to the next, in north by northwest
1st wagon has a 1 piece gate, 2nd has a 2 piece

 

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That thing bolted to the floor looks like a bumper bracket

 

I just returned home from Majic Dragon car show in Mo. There was a 57 Chevy wagon there that claimed to be a government ordered car.. I didn't get a lot of details but the car had windows on right side but solid on left.. Sedan delivery?? That is why I was checking on this.. Bogus or has anyone heard of this?.

 

Neat thread.Good reference material.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

I thought I had posted mine before, but didn't see it when I went through this thread ... mine is a data plate delivery with factory side glass and one piece tail gate. I have pics from the time it was restored in TX and it was green, no back seat, no radio, no clock ... typical government car, allegedly Dept of Agriculture. It has a rear seat now. And about the production volume of 92 or 93 or 96 ... I gotta believe it was more than that. If normal rates of destruction apply here, then if under 100 were produced, I can't believe there would be more than a couple left, especially considering their government applications. And between here, the Chevy forums, and the Facebook group for Sedan (and Windowed) Deliveries, there are lots more than that from 57 alone.

 

Got rid of the Coys wheels, I think it looks a lot better!!

 

Sure does. Very nice.

 

Had one in high school. US Department of Agriculture. I would love to find it now! 2 door, lift gate, chrome lifts, no rear seat.

 

I had a '57 Ford with similar options. It was a 2-door wagon with the sedan delivery style of rear hatch but it had windows. It still had some of the govt. green paint on the inside and if I remember right it had something to do with the US Agrituclture Dept.

 

About 8-10 years ago I saw an ad on *bay for an unrestored, tired, patchwork quilt paintjob looking '56 wagon/delivery out of South Dakota that was set-up like that. It was solid on one side, with windows on the curb/passenger side with a single rear sedan delivery door on the back. For some reason, I'm believe I'm correct in remembering that the ad said it may have been used as a florist delivery car for awhile. It too claimed to have come from the factory like that. I've seen window'd '56 & '57 sedan deliveries in person & in photos, but that is the only 'half-n-half' I've seen visual proof (photo) of.

Gotta56forme/Scott

 

I found this info on the Internet about the 57-58 Ford Couriers .....

 

Drug store in out town had a 1955 Chevy, no windows, a 1 piece lift gate and a single seat for the driver only.
The delivery boys for the store would battle for the privilege to drive it.
A 265" V8 and a 3 speed stick.
I asked the pharimcist's son, a kid in my school class, why did it have only one seat.
He told me his father ordered it purposely that way. He didn't want the delivery driver hauling his pals around in it while doing pharmacy deliveries.
His delivery drivers were all kids from our high school.
Those guys beat the bag out of that thing.
Last time I saw it was around 1963, sitting in the used car lot at Abbott Ford. It was dirty, banged on near every panel and leaning down low on the right front corner.
I thought it weird to only have a single seat, looked like the type they put in early Suburbans.
It probably left Abbotts to become a salvage yard resident or maybe if it got lucky it became a Junior Stocker or Gasser.

 

Does the car have the chrome horn button in the wheel, or the horn ring with the 'onefifty' script?

For the 150's, the horn ring was an OPTION, but standard for 210 and Bel Air. I've been told many Goverment cars were spec'd with the horn ring. What is ODD is the factory used TWO different steering wheels - one for the button, other for the horn ring!

I have a 150 Utility Sedan that the PO built into a Black Widow tribute car (283 FI, 4-speed). It has the horn ring, standard heater (hid behind a homemade delete plate), began as a six with 3-speed. Only rust I've found is in driver-side footboard and body bolt pocket! -Tim

 

In the movie "North-by-Northwest, Cary Grant was loaded into a 56 Chevy 2-Door Wagon like your '57, that was a National Parks Car at Mount Rushmore.

 

My 57 delivery was a U.S. Navy car. It had a button.

 

Sorry to bring up an old thread BUT!! I just bought a 57 sedan delivery with Windows, no back seat, and roll down back windows..... ... Not to mention a 2 piece rear gate!!! It's

not a wagon, it has a D prefix Vin as well as a 1271. It has OA as SPL paint and a special ACC code of P. It has Radio delete but has a heater. No government ID tag or double stamped VIN. I believe original color was silver. How about some help with this LOL. Message here or feel free to text me at 207-664-8699 This kind of blows away many of the theory's on this thread.

 

Just gotta add my 2 cents worth. I don't know what the 57 is or was, but it's cool, different and could go stock / restored or built the way the owner want's. O yeah, with 22 years in the Air Force, many of them as a flight line expediter the only vehicles with a "nomenclature" (data plate) affixed to the dash were the M-series. Ford Falcon pick-ups, Chevy pick-up / step vans DID NOT.

 

My friend Vinny's '56. Flat rear floor, bench, one piece lift up tail gate, factory powder blue, and some weird aide windows. No special VIN tag.
Forestry department possibly? Civilian use delivery? Florist delivery?
A little puzzling.

 

I've seen many sedan deliveries with added side windows. Probably after people figured out the huge blind spot.

 

When General Motors built Sedan Deliveries they were built, titled, and licensed as "trucks". The single "drivers bucket seat" was STANDARD equipment. The second passenger bucket seat was an OPTION, as was a bench seat. They were only listed in truck brochures, not at all in passenger car brochures. Now, because they were "trucks", NHRA loopholed the optional truck Hydramatic for use in Junior Stock Class Sedan Deliveries; Sedan Deliveries were never made with the Hydramatic however. Deliveries with a single bucket seat also had a single sun visor on the drivers side, and a hand pull on the drivers door; those were not on the passenger side unless they were optioned out with a passenger bucket seat or bench seat. Fred Ashmore's Delivery was probably a true Windowed Delivery, but somewhere along it's life, it gave up the lift gate, and someone then installed the wagon 2 piece rear door. JMO. The blue and white striped (or white and blue striped) Yoo Hoo Too, Junior Stock Class, Sedan Delivery, after it was sold to Supinski, was converted to a 2 door Wagon, and a Powerglide transmission was swapped in; that was done after the Hydramatics were no longer allowed by NHRA, and was done to keep the car (truck) competitive, but it was't. It's possible something similar could have happened to Ashmore's Delivery. Most Sedan Deliveries were used as business, or construction vehicles, and generally not treated well. They are difficult to see out of, and outside mirrors are a must. Probably why so many had aftermarket glass installed on the sides I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Factory bench seat... even spent the extra bucks for both sunvisors... lol .. Like Butch/56sedandelivery said... SD weren't treated well... And yes they are pain in the ass to see out of... I even made worse by re-installing factory mirrors...

 

Looks like a '57 lift-gate wagon for sale in the Columbia City, Ind. area.

http://fortwayne.craigslist.org/cto/5964912849.html

 

Hard to see on the 57 above, but I think it's a Windowed delivery. The "paint divider" that dropped from the belt line, and at an angle, to the long horizonal trim, is't used on Sedan Deliveries. I've heard all about the "92" Windowed Deliveries built in 57, but I think that was probably the number meant for one order, say to the ARMY. There's just too many of them around now to have been a total of 92 Windowed Deliveries. But, you never know.
I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Actually ; 56sedandelivery, it is Easy to See, that it is a Windowed/Delivery, because it is Not showing the 2 outside lower hinges, on the rear gate !
Just saying !

 

The Tri-Five cars are now at least, SIXTY years old. A LOT can happen in that time amount of time. A lot of Junior Stock Class Tri-Fives, Wagons and Deliveries, were changed around to remain competitive; John Dianna's Delivery became a Wagon, as did, the Yoo Hoo Too car, and some wound up back on the street; others became Super Stock Class cars, Modified Production Class cars, Gassers, and Altereds. It comes down to what's on the VIN and firewall tags (and even that can be changed!), not how a car "appears" currently. I have a friend who deals in 55-57 Chevrolet cars AND parts; in fact, he has one of my Deliveries (traded it to him for a repaint on my DD Truck). He also has a 150 Handyman Wagon he has installed a Delivery rear gate on, rear seat, side glass, and all. He also has Delivery side panels for sale he has removed from Deliveries too far gone to economically save; cheaper/easier to convert a Handyman Wagon into a "Delivery", than to try and save a too far gone Delivery. But his parts are't cheap! I've had 4 Sedan Deliveries now, and all of them, except my current one, have had some prior owners modifications that raise a concern they might not have been Sedan Deliveries originally (removed smugglers box, rear seat added, trim removed/added, etc); what some people have done to these cars is both amazing and horrifying. My current Delivery was titled as a "Bel Air" (???) from Illinois, when I bought it sight unseen and shipped here. I'm just happy there are so many of the Tri-Five Chevrolet's surviving that there are, 4 doors, Wagons, and all. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

While watching the movie North By Northwest I noticed that two different 56 Chevrolet wagons were used. The scene at Mt Rushmore following the staged murder of Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant), Roger is placed in a 56 windowed delivery sedan with a single tailgate. The Professor (Leo G. Corrall) gets into the passenger side front seat. The next scene, the wagon arrives in a wooded area, Mt Rushmore in the background, The Professor gets out of the wagon and opens the two piece tailgate, of what should have been the same 56 wagon, to let Roger out. Somehow the tailgate changed form a one piece lift gate to a two piece tailgate.

 

Love it when this thread comes back around, not sure, I think this was already mentioned, doesn't matter though, thanks for posting this.
One thing, I did miss those big ugly add-on tail lights from the earlier post.

 

It's a 1957 Window Delivery only 92 built

 

I wonder if those were used as tailights or stoplights/turn signals. They look like the kind they used on big trucks.

 

No its not a Hearse or a Funeral car. what ever that is its Sedan Delivery model 150 Factory black