buddy of mine, his ma is having a estate sale and is selling a non restored 57 chev four door sedan. not a belair. here are my findings original motor gone. replaced with a 350. no ac. no electric windows and such 3 on the tree removed. now located on the floor. floor replaced but left old floor beneath... ugh floor bracing shot custom bracing welded to frame but not in use. upper fender wells slighlty rusted all chrome there and in good shape some body lines are off. missing some stuff, radio, antennas, original motor, driver mirror and reverse lights mouse piss. seats slightly torn but in pretty nice shape. body is in great shape non original paint white and metallic forest green now runs and does move but missing linkage glass all good. has all chrome on it not sure what model it is but it doesnt have that belair white part on the sides just chrome strips and totally basic
Hard to say without seeing it. You say the body is excellent but body lines are off. That says "bondo" to me especially with all the rest of the rust you note. The car I'm picturing might be $2500 give or take a $1000.
well, it looks like the door is either up or the fender is down and im thinking the fender cause the door shuts real nice. but who knows when you tear into these old cars ya know
the body looks really nice just the fender and door dont look good. lines anyway. but no rust visible on the outside
there's a big window for what it's worth. tri fives seem to be losing value right now, you can build a car like that for about $4500 just how you want it if you know how to hunt deals, so i'd say $2500 give or take $1,000, since it has a running small block. my 6 cyl belair with a stuck motor and no paint left, horrible interior was $1500. that floor is what makes/breaks the car. a 4 door with a usable floor and frame can make a cheap hobby car, but a 4 door that needs a floor and has frame issues is worth more in parts. the metal alone to do the floor right is about $900, then add in welding and it gets expensive quick.
Sounds like it's a Model 210; if it has the stock steering wheel, it should say "Two Ten" in the center of the horn ring. Course a Bel Air says "Bel Air"; the Model 150's only have a horn "cap" (NO ring) with a Chevrolet emblem. Virtually all the sheet metal for repair work is available, even COMPLETE one piece floors. My next door neighbor's Father passed away, and he inherited his Dad's 56 210, 4 door sedan. Your thread title says , "4 door sedan", so I'm guessing it's a "post" car. The factory referred to 4 door "hardtops" as Sports SEDANS; so, there's some confusion involving posts, hardtops, Sports Sedans. A 57, 4 door, Sports Sedan would be rarer than a 4 door, and bring more, even though they were even more prone to floor rust (and some other areas also). Personally, I'd prefer a 4 door post over a 4 door hardtop. I'm on my TENTH 56, along with other year Tri-Fives. There are several Tri-Five sites on the web; ChevyTalk.Org, TriFive.com, and TriFiveChevys.com are the biggest/most popular, and there are smaller ones. Then there's JalopyJournal.Com/the HAMB. LOTS of 55-57 vendors too. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
ya shes a post. i like it alot so im going to see if i can nabb it up. its really not bad. its got good floors but i just dont like how he didnt cut the old out just went over it. i dont know a whole lot about the 55-57 chevs but i have been digging them. the dream car is a 55 150 210
floors are good, but over junk. that's not a good floor. dream car is a 150 210? long dream, they never made such thing. being a driver makes it better, but really a crusty 4 door is a parts car where I come from
well yea, you know what i mean. it could of been a good floor if they did them correctly.. doesnt mske sense to me the 55 chevy 2 door i was referring to
That floor is not good and needs to be redone. It’s gonna need braces and a bunch of cutting and welding or a complete new floor (best route). That’s gonna cost you probably at least 2 grand. This car can be fixed fairly easily just keep in mind the prices of what you’ll need to do to it post purchase, and keep in mind the overall value of the car. Might be better worth your time to buy a better car to start with rather than dump a ton of money into a car that isn’t really worth it. Like i said, a solid 4 door is a cheap fun car, a rusty 4 door is parts. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
if you're really into the idea of fixing this car, i'd say go for it but with those floors i would not offer more than about $2500-$2700. I'd love to see more of these tri five 4 doors built.
I'd say start at $1500-2000, and go up from there if you have to haggle on it. There's a lot to building such a car as you've described. You've got to have the space AND tools to accomplish it, and you need to have the talent also. It's OK to learn as you go, but it's really $$$$$ to have someone else do most the work; some of it's OK here and there (such as bodywork and paint); but, to rely on someone else to do it all................................unless you're Jay Leno. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
If a 55 Chevy two door is what you really want, don't settle for something else. All of these old cars require a sizeable commitment of time and money. If you are going to make that investment, do it on what you will have your heart into.
yea. your right. 55 has been the dream car. after seeing that movie as a kid "sometimes the come back" ive always been a huge fan of the 55's i love those front ends. i guess i have a old car hoarding problem haha but yes i should just wait to find that 55 i been wanting
My buddy always wanted a 55 two door. Life got in the way........he is now in his 60's and slowing down but he never made a ton of money. He came across a really solid 56 4 door he can justify the cost. Being a mechanic all his life he has it in top running shape. At some point we will convert it to a 2 door. Maybe not his dream but attainable and the dream may never be.
Also keep in mind, you might look for a 55 2 door for a long time before you find the right car for the right price. If you can get the 57 cheap, do it and it'll tide you over while you search for your 55. once you find the 55, you could even get a roller and just use parts from the 57 to build it. That's what will eventually happen to my belair, if i can find a roller 2 door or 4 door hardtop, i'll just swap over all the parts and work i've done on my sedan.
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