Does anyone know of 1957 chevys getting the Corvette 4 speed as dealer installed option.Did this really happen or is another urban legend.thanks
To the best of my knowledge, the 4 speed was listed as a service part. meaning that it could be dealer installed, although I don't know if there are any documented as such. The NHRA allowed 4 speeds to be run in stock classes for that reason. Kevin
I don't know if the 4sp was available for the sedans but I can think of one thing that would have been interesting. The corvette shifter would not work without some kind of troublesome modification for a sedan. I don't think Hurst was around yet, hence no help there. Anyone who has had a four gear in a tri-5 knows about the crazy dogleg shift handle that is necessary.
yes it was a factory option late in the 1957 year.My dad ordered a 283 fi,283 hpo belair 2 door hardtop in may of 1957,don,t remember what he paid for it but some where around 3000.00 (just a guess) car was black with black and silver interior .Don,t kmow how many were built but a guess less than 10 to 15 Talker
yes it was a factory option late in the 1957 year.My dad ordered a 283 fi,283 hpo belair 2 door hardtop in may of 1957,don,t remember what he paid for it but some where around 3000.00 (just a guess) car was black with black and silver interior .Don,t kmow how many were built but a guess less than 10 to 15 Talker
I hate to stir the pot BUT. I may be old and forget a lot of the past but as a young Hot rodder and hanging around a lot of Burger joints "Back in the day" I never saw a 57 chevy with a factory 4 speed. I saw several added by the owners but no factory installed unit. Seems the factory 4 speeds came out in 1959 in cars as I saw a lot of them. Never saw a 1958 chevy with a factory 4 speed either. Sooo if they came out in 57 why did GM miss 58 ? Can someone please prove an old man wrong again !!!! Have fun. Tom ( Tired Old Man)
I know of one ordered in my home town in '57, the 4 speed came delivered to dealer in a box in the trunk...................
Earl McKenzie's wife raced a 57 sedan delivery with a 4 speed as a stocker in the Lawton, OK area in the 60's. There were LOTS of discussions about it being a legal option, but I don't remember them ever changing it. Larry T
In 1957 my scoutmaster had a black 2dr htp 270 hp 283 w/a Borg Warner 4spd. The car came from the factory with a close ratio 3spd and the dealer installed the 4spd after the car was delivered. Frank
The only 4 speed was in the 57 Corvette. NHRA kissed Chevrolets ass for 40 years on this deal and in the late 90's finally changed the rule saying the 4 speed was illegal in anything but the Corvette...
I have never seen a stock 57 with a 4 spd--the early (57-58) trans only have the mounting holes for a shifter way to the rear-59 up have the two sets (this is all from memory) my current 57 FI hardtop had a 58 dated 4 spd in it when I bought it in 76-they had made a plate to move the shifter base forward about 2 1/2" and it had a pass car type shifter (which I still have) --I think it's a factory 59 pass car shifter but not sure-was allowed by NHRA as some have said-I put it back to 3 spd on column 34 yrs ago.
Classic Chevy International covered this a while back and concluded that NONE left the factory with a 4 speed. Dealers were privately owned and may have done swaps to individual cars as asked in the OP. Does this make them "original equipment"? I'd like to see one with some real documentation. How about a sedan delivery with the factory bucket seats? Would a 'Vette shifter work in that case?
Just to add a little more to this fire. I got my first Rod magazine in 1956. I read every thing from almost every magazine ref to cars to this day. I belonged to The old "Classic Chevy Club" and had every issue printed by that group up until 2008. Never in any auto magazine did I see a story of a "Real" factory installed 4 speed in a 57 chevy !!! So thats that for what it's worth.Also I have never met anyone with a 57 Chevy at all of the many Rod runs and Classic chevy shows that I have attended in 50 years to have ever seen one in all their years of attending shows.Would love to see some type of paper work from a dealer in 57 showing the "Junk or in this case Transmission in the trunk" deal to a buyer of a new 1957 chevy. Your thoughts. Tom ( Tired Old Man)
I had a 57 chevy back in 65 ... 270 hp with a T10 four speed ... it still had the shifter with the handle removed on the steering column ... The guy I got if from bought it new in 57 and he converted it ... I ran it as a stocker a couple of times at Westhampton ... If it was available he would have bought it ...
Not available from the factory, just like the Sedan Deliveries didn't come with Hydramatics, though through some loophole NHRA allowed them. Sedan Deliveries were sold through the Chevy truck line, and Chevy Trucks could be had with a hydro, so I THINK this is why NHRA allowed racers to run them in tri-5 Sedan Deliveries back then. -Brad
In 1957, 3 speed column shift transmission was the base for Chevy cars. The Powerglide and Turboglide were factory options. If any new 57 had a four speed it was dealer installed or customer installed.
I agree with Tom. I ran Woodward Ave. in the 50's and never saw a Chevy with a factory 4 speed until '59.
The 4 speed was a dealer installed option and considered that way until the early 70s . Before that the 270 hp ran I stock and the 283 hp ran H stock. If you ever see any late 60s, early 70s race film you will see a lot of sedan deliveries and ststion wagons running stock. They were used for weight transfer and all was outlawed at the same time.
You could order one pretty much any way you wanted it. I had a '54 wagon for awhile that was all corvette under the skin. Blue Flame, twin pots etc. Got it off an old farmer in the Ozarks who ordered it new that way. I don't know how common it would be to find a five seven with a 4 gear from the dealer/factory. But it was definately a possiblity.
Hmmm,gotta see some documentation on that one,maybe dealer installed. And will the side draft carbs clear the inner fenders cause it was 3 carbs not two
Just thinking. If the dealer installed the 4 speed do you guys think that the dealer cut the seat to fit the shifter,fab up a shifter handle that was tall enough to be shifted from a stock bench seat and cut the drive shaft to fit the drive line ? Did GM make a factory drive shaft to do this change over? Did GM make a shift collar to clean up the looks after removing the 3 speed shift handle ? Sounds to me like the GM dealer had a lot more work to do than just swaping transmissions.All the above could be done but the story of the transmission being in the trunk at time of sale sounds like some big name Jr.stocker using a story about the 4 speed that the NHRA could not disprove !!!! Again has anyone seen the paper work about the 4 speed in the trunk when the new 57 was delivered and sold at a GM dealer? Just thinking and my Bride of 44 years has told me I have to stop doing that LOL !!!!!. Tom ( Tired Old Man)
A '57 Corvette shifter in a '57 Passenger car? Not unless you had arms like an Orangutan!! And just to add fuel to the fire, ...................... although not readily available to the general public, ....... remember the Black Widows?
You got that right !!!! Seems like GM would have put the 4 speed in their stock cars.Maybe NASCAR did not feel it was a factory set up with a 4 speed. Tom (Tired Old Man)
I agree with the "no such thing" theory. Too much "some guy I used to know" stories, and no solid facts. I don't doubt that if you had enough pull (or money to throw at the dealer), they'd order a T-10 over the parts counter and install it in your BelAir for you---sort of like ordering a tripower setup from the Pontiac dealer and having them install it on your non-tripower car. I do know that, in late 1961, Ford made four speeds a dealer installed option. I'll bet some of those transmission humps got a real hack job, depending on who they assigned the job to!
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