1957 150 4dr Utility Sedan Checking in!

I posted this on the intro page and it was suggested that I post it on the board........

So, to be short, Can anyone decode my Cowl Tag?


click for larger image
Style: 57 - 1219
Body No: K 4460
Trim: "2226XC..............B"
Paint:
ACC.:

Check out the Trim: "2226XC...........B" big space before the "B"
A blank Paint Code!
The care is in original condition with two-tone paint Highland Green/Ivory; not a listed option!
Appears to have no back seat, "4dr Utility Sedan?" vinyl on rear wheel humps & no upper back seat retainers.

BUDDii

 

The cars model # is not identified by the Cowl Tag, it's on the vin tag (in your door jam) There will be either a A, B, or C if it's an A it was a 150... I don't know for sure but i don't think 150's were offered in 2-tone.

here's a good link to decode both your vin & cowl tag.

http://www.danchuk.com/PDF/Original_Specs.pdf

-Justin

 

Sorry man, I think you are mistaken.

It even says so in the pdf you linked to!

Look at the Cowl tag section "b".

 

My bad, your right it is also on the cowl tag, however it doesn't seem to work for this tag, unless it's that floating "B" and that would make this a 210.

I'd still rely on the vin tag over the cowl. I know especially with GM cars form the 60's alot of different plants would use different codes, as where the vin tags are more standardized.

 

You can go to tryfive or chevytalk and also ask. I have owned a '57 2dr 150 for over 25 years, never seen a 2 tone 150 (except the black widow) don't meen they didn't and, never seen a 4dr. never meens they didn't do it. I would have to see your side trim, your lower rear windshield corner trim, etc.................................

 

Very cool. Sounds like an interesting car!

Of course back then, you could special order a car however you wanted it.

 

Definitely there are 2 tone 150's. My 57 150 wagon was factory 2 tone.
Thats why they had the stainless "paint dividers" on the side trim...

 

Is this the car that was on eB@y a few years ago? Does it have U.S. Army #'s n the dash?
Do the rear windows roll down?

 

My 57 150 is Larkspur blue and india ivory.

 

my 150 was red/white,no back seat. why did i ever get rid of that car????( smacks self in back of head,ala Gibbs)

 

I have to think the guys over at Chevytalk.org will be able to give you a detailed answer about it. But the Military was able to special order some different cars - they bought sedan deliveries with windows instead of the filler panel, too.

 

150's could be ordered in two tones - got a black and white sedan, and larkspur blue and white sedan and wagon out in the pasture. Seen a few oddball four door 57's before also - FI four door Bel Air wagon, four door hardtop and 210 sedan, but never a utility sedan four door. Anyone on here with a two door - does that metal look right?? I always thought there was just a fibreboard panel instead of a seat.

 

Great input.......

I have been researching this for a few years....browsed all the known online and a few off line books.

It is a 57 150 as identified on the VIN (door jam). A 57K######
With that, it is a 6 popper; no "V" but the"K" tells us she was made in Kansas City, MO.
Two-tone paint is an option for the 150 in 57; sorry for the confusion guys!
Mine is odd because the two-tone paint is not an option that was offered.
Highland green was only offered with Surf green. Mine is White and Highland green.
For the floating "B", I have found another guy with a floating "B" too
brigrat, I will get some pics of side trim and rear lower window trim for you. The trim is 150, not sure what the corner pieces have to offer. I know the 55 150s have no stainless around the back glass.

Troy, Yes, this is an interesting car!

Henry 29, Yes, mine was on e-bay 3 years ago; but not the army one. I have been trying to find it. I have had several folks tell me about it. I missed it. It too was a 4dr sedan with a delete back seat....so I have been told. too many reports of it to doubt it. My rear windows do roll down. Do you know of the Army green 57's rear windows roll down? I have never asked that question. Just too bummed I didn't see it I guess.

I hope to get the car rolled out of the garage and get some good pics of it. I have been letting her sleep until the time is right. Weather here in Colorado is pretty cool. I need to get some work done on about 4 cars this winter so she will have to be out. It is ok, no worse than the 50 years in Kansas..... The other side of the garage is sheltering the 68 Dodge Charger. She hasn't been out in 10 years, not driven in 15. Just a little over 100K miles on her. Life is too short, I will pull her out this spring and it will be my fair weather daily driver. I am the second owner; and yes the first owner was a little ole lady. I love that I can say that.

Anyway, got to get out to the garage and air up a few tires, take a couple pics and get back on here for you guys enjoy.

BUDDii

 

Up here we called the 150 utility the "cigarette" model, as the cigarette salesman would by them and drive around filling their cigarette vending machines. The trunks and void back seats would be filled with boxes & cartons of cig's.

 

mr57,

Great attention to detail. I don't bring out the metal on the back until someone brings it up. This lets me know that someone is really looking. I am not trying to build, hide or create a car..... I am a purist. I want the correct information......

....back to the metal. What is the operational purpose for it is my first question. Not thick enough to stop a bullet, but if you have the trunk full of shine, this may add an extra layer of protection. That is if one was running from the law or someone with a gun! Or, what ever they were putting in the back was heavy and would crush the fiber board! ¿ ¿ ¿

More layers of the 57 4dr Utility Sedan peeled off.... The body production number is low, but the VIN production number (when it rolled off the assembly line) is high. Bust guess the body was made in fall of 56 and rolled of the line in Sept of 57. Could be nothing, but I would lean to the fact that the car was sent out, like some were done back then, to a specialty shop and then brought back to run across the assembly line.

Who takes a 4dr and removes the seats, welds in metal and does an OUTSTANDING job of covering the rear wheel humps? WHY?

The drivers door has a big round area of primer..... I would bet that it isn't a door kick in. I think it was a logo for a company. The green leads some of the people that have commented on the car to possibly a Forrest Service car. I'm not old enough to remember all the 57s I saw. Plus being raised in small towns, didn't see too many cars. I plan to wet sand the car down and look for signs of logos on both doors. The car has one coat of paint....with the exception of a few fender-bender or whiskey bumps!

I did look at the rear stainless, there aren't lower corner pieces; they are up top on each side. I am aiming to get more pics up tomorrow. The ones I took when I got the car are on my other computer....

So, I have to commend you mr57 for the keen eye. Can I ask you and the rest of the folks to be creative and think of who, what and why a car would be like this?

A "cigarette" or low buck 150 with options that it shouldn't have. After a car reaches a certain age, the price is low and people would mod them. I did; pulled the 6 and thru in a V8! Doesn't appear that these options were put on in it's recent years. The whole car and all the wear is very even.

BUDDii

 

What I ment was the trim on your lower windshield trim corner, if it's a true 150 that trim piece will have a point facing the rear, all others are blunt. Looking for pic's but can't seem to find them. I have seen the rear "humps" covered like that on a '56 4dr. hardtop. ............................

 

brigrat,

After I read my post and yours, I realized what you were saying.....
So, went out to the garage and snapped a picture with my phone. Sent it 1/2 across the US of A to have it sent to me via email. So quality is low.


It points to the back..... I had to put a piece of paper behind the stainless to get it to show.

BUDDii

 

Added some more pics; low res but will have to do for now. This will give you an idea of what it looks like.

VIN# (I didn't clean it, just used a flashlight to shine on it. Even thou
it is real dirty, looks shinny. A neat trick I will have to remember.
It took me a long time to get some decent pics of cowl tag.


You can see the paint is getting thing in many spots....
Car is dirty; I didn't wash it when I got it. Still the same as I got it.
Just a little more dust on it.


Top of rear 1/4 with the 68 Charger sleeping in the background!

 

A lot of different things have been done to these cars over the years. The real clue here is NOT the VIN TAG, but the COWL TAG. If ANYTHING had been factory special ordered on your car it would say "SPECIAL" right on the cowl tag, just like on the government ordered windowed sedan deliveries. There were also many companies that made production line cars into special use vehichles such as ambulances, hearses, flower cars; perhaps your 4 dr. 150 was built INTO a similar delivery type car. I would also suggest you go over to ChevyTalk.org or TriFive.com and join/post. It's an interesting car and question for sure. Butch/56sedandelivery.

As far as the added metal in the rear seat/trunk access/support panel, it's too hard to see any detail because of rust. Is the paneling cut out really well, rivited/welded/screwed into place? Most guys who filled the panel in did'nt do a "PROFESSIONAL" job, whereas an aftermarket body company would.

 

Butch /56sedandelivery,
Thanks for the input.

I don't have real good pictures of this yet, like I said, it is still unwashed. Going to document it all at once when I take it apart.

Without dusting off the dirt in the back area, it looks like the metal is cut with a machine and I haven't measured them, but they appear to be the same dimensions. They match the car as if they were stock, but we know that this isn't the normal way Chevy rolled them out the door. They are welded in; and appear to be satisfactory welds. Not fully beaded, but they were not meant for structural reasons. Still wondering why they went metal. When the weather breaks, I will play C.S.I. Chevy and get some real close up hi res pics. When I do that, I will post them on photobucket, fliker or some picture hosting web site. Then, all I will have to do is link them.

Another thing about the trim code on the Cowl tag before we dismiss it as a clue (understand that SPEC would be the smoking gun)...
Trim: "2226XC..............B"
The numbers and letter don't match a standard pattern found on 567s. The floating "B" ; it means something.

Again guys, thanks for the interest and if you have a "special" cowl tag, please let me know via post or pm.

BUDDii

 

Here is a pic of the top of one of the metal pieces in the back seat.
If you look at it, you can see that there is a coating of a gray/mauve coating. This weird coating covers the welds too (remember this, it will come to focus in a second and is important in trying to understand how this car was assembled). You can see what appears to be contact cement on top of the back seat area; all the way across the rear shelf (but not on the rear shelf flat surface). The weld is small and the density of the glue is thicker; just to let you know that it wasn't a lightening storm weld job. Also in the pic is a hole where the back delete seat cardboard was screwed in. There are a few across the top. The gray/mauve coating covers the normal backseat metal part of the car too, all the way down to the floor as well. So, when the metal plates were put in, the coating was applied to the whole area back there.


This next pic is a picture looking up at the ceiling. The headliner is out of the car, but there is evidence that one was in the car. What got me to notice this new information was the coating on the ceiling that had run and had run badly. I hate runs, so my eye was drawn to it. One can tell that the coating (gray/mauve) was applied while the headliner retainers were out. Then there appears to be white overspay on the gray/mauve coating. I figured it was from when the sprayed the roof, trunk, window pillars and upper quarter panels white. But, the anti sound proof pad was put in after that; it doesn't have overspay on it either. Then that is when it hit me. The same coating is on the rear metal plates and back seat area. You can see the overspay of white on it too! This ties the two pieces together and proofs that the metal was put in before the headliner. This is big.

One theory, the body left the plant (Oct 56) with the two-tone paint, dash, front seat and rubber mat. It may have been drivable and loaded up and delivered to a company to do the custom back seat area. They put in the metal, sprayed the ceiling and back area and then put in the sound proofing. Covered the rear wheel humps w/ vinyl and put in the rear cargo deck. The car came back to the plant to have the rest of the interior put in. Rolled across the assembly line and got its VIN of (Sep 57). The cowl tag was placed on; the trim code (that doesn't resemble a 567 trim code) is a reflection of the work.



I put this picture in to show the coating on metal parts and floor; to keep them on the same page of the post so you don't have to page back to see it.


Most of the roofs that I have seen are painted red primer.
I had to shoot this to a friend tonight and we chatted (online) and he thinks that the ceiling pads are tar like. The one in this one is brown, pressed and there may be a piece of this on the rear metal back.
Don't have high res camera yet, so will not disturb it until I can get some shots of this.

So, if you have a 567 and the headliner is out, check it out to see what color the ceiling is. Post a pic of it so we can see how the are the same or how they differ. Thanks.

BUDDii

 

Added rear back seat area full view to keep them on same page for easier viewing

BUDDii

 

I asked a graphic artist to check out the color hue on the ceiling, back floor and metal pieces (that aren't normal). He stated that they are all the same. I didn't tell him why I was asking, didn't want to spoil the results.

On a new note, I was asked by someone if this had a heavy duty rear end. I checked and it has 5 leaf springs. My 57 4dr Sedan 210 has 4 leave springs. The 210 is a V8 car and the 150 is a inline-6 car.

The person suggested that the car could have been an oil field tool runner car. He had seen some back in the day. They had metal cages in them and hauled heavy loads.

So, with that said, what oil company would order a Highland green/white two tone?

 

The black 150 I posted pic's of was an Oregon St. ATF car, even had the red light mounted inside on the dash by speaker grill. Ordered with a V-8 and rare factory front sway bar. It was bought by a guy from my home town at an Oregon auction in 1959...............................

 

I would think a '57 Handy Man wagon would have been a better choice...........................

 

A '57 Handy Man Wagon would have one option over the 4dr Utility Sedan. a more functional back storage area. Both would be better for heavier objects over the 2dr Utility Sedan. The only thing I see that the 57 4dr Utility Sedan (delete back seat) over the wagon option is the price. Plus, some people don't like wagons. It always comes down to choice.

BUDDii

 

Completely Unconfirmed, but I was told that the bulk of 150’s were sold to the military and the phone company.

 

No complaint but if this doesn't sound like some of the discussions I overheard during the anal retenative days of being involved in Corvette restorations. Hot rodding is ripping out everything that keeps it from going fast and adding anything that makes it loud, obnoxious, and unreliable all while poking a stick in the eye of anyone who cares if it's origional or not.

Frank

 

yeah..like i told the guy 4 days ago on his intro...he's thick skulled

 

Maybe you are the one being poked here?