Got myself a new ride recently so thought I would share. We've just had a baby so we were looking for a family cruiser, I heard about this four door '57 210 Sedan on the way over to the UK from LA so got in touch with the guy who was importing it. It sounded like just what I was after so he said I could have first dibs until it got here. I started making plans as I want to build a mild Custom with the '57. I had a couple of pics so set to work with photoshop on how I want it to look. Before: Flaked roof and rear panels, air ride, spider caps and trims on steels... I'm also going to change the interior to red and my friend Nefarious will be waving his pinstripe brush over the car. It's called Passenger '57 as it was bought to carry our extra passenger, it's a 57 and of course "always bet on black!". The idea is also to have a few modern conveniences and gadgets to make it more usable on a daily basis, but these will be discreet.
Looks good both ways. If you flake it I wouldn't go with anything too drastic. Keep it a finer flake.
Yes, miniflake is on the cards The car came off the boat and Wayne and Lee who brought it in brought it along to a car show (Wheels Day) for me to have a look at. This was the first time I saw it... The deal was done so it needed to be registered before I could collect it.
Then followed a month of bureaucracy while our lovely friends in the government made Lee and Wayne jump through hoops before the '57 could hit the streets. Finally I went to pick it up and took these shots the next day...
I for one would leave the interior as is...."if it's not broke don't fix it"....other then that it would look good either way (metalflake or not)
looks NICE! i woulda mess with the interior either but i understand if you do. sometimes ya just gotta have things a certain way... should be a great car for you!
Had a visit from Nefarious (Simon) today - www.pinstriping.co.uk who did a great job. I wanted to incorporate the hood bird from a 55 Chevy into the design as the 57 is the only Tri Chevy without a bird. It also fits with the Passenger 57 name of the car.
Not done much with the 57 other than drive it, I have a problem with the fuel pump at the minute but that should be sorted soon. Got a bunch more parts on the way over from the US. I did use the car for a shoot the other day though, more of these later...
Really, really nice. A family custom ready to drive, well worth the wait! I see the dual master cylinder, disc brakes? You may want to go with an electric wiper motor over there in rainy England. Not that you plan on driving it in the rain much, but I can tell you firsthand that the vac wiper motor leaves something to be desired.
Thanks dude. Yes discs up front were fitted in the US. There is an electric motor fitted to the wipers now but it only gives about 2" of movement of the wipers LOL I'll be fitting something more suitable soon. Lucky we have had about 2 months of dry weather here in London.
That pin striper is awesome. i do a little myself and know how hard it is to pull lines 1/4 good as that. real good eye for design.
Another '57 escapes the USA!! Oh well, it looks like it landed in a good home. Hope you and your "passenger" have many years and miles cruising it over there. Frank
Just build the car the way YOU want it! Go with the heavy flake and new interior, after all, everything you have done so far looks awesome! (including the girl)
When I got my 57 Chevy I wanted this to be a fun car that I could get creative with, it was never going to be a 100 point resto. The next phase of creativity is complete today with the new headlining. I took down the fabric liner and covered the roof in damplifier to keep the noise down, then I painted the bit of roof on show black to tie in with the body and finally I have covered the roof in some of my favourite black and white photos. So next time your see the Chevy at a show check out the roof, you may find that you or your car are travelling with me all the time.
Been a long time since I updated this thread! Just been driving it pretty much since I posted before apart from having to have the gearbox rebuilt as it was stuck in first (out of two speeds). When they took it apart it still had all the factory seals so had provided over 50 years of service The car is now undergoing some major work, which is about 75% complete. Mostly to make it low and loud and handle much better. This is the list of parts going on... Rack and Pinion Steering http://www.unisteer.com/seach_by_veh...lack_rack.html Power Steering Pump http://www.summitracing.com/parts/aaf-all48242 Sway Bars http://www.summitracing.com/parts/bel-9989 Dropped Spindles http://www.summitracing.com/parts/clp-cp30102 Coil Over Shocks (front) http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hal-gs501-11250a http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hal-t114w Rear Shocks http://www.summitracing.com/parts/mmc-2051 Shock Bar http://www.classicchevy.com/chevy-sh...1955-1957.html Headers http://www.summitracing.com/parts/pte-h8055-1 Carb and Intake http://www.summitracing.com/parts/cmb-03-0206 I also have some stainless steel Y pipes and electric cut outs for the exhaust. 3 dropped rear leaf springs Moon steering wheel and boss as the steering will be too light I guess with the existing wheel , once the power R&P is in. So far all this bolt on stuff has proved to be far from that! RM Restorations near Glasgow are doing the work for me. The springs that came with the coil overs were not man enough so have now been swapped for some shorter 500lb ones. The shocks I ordered for the back were too long so have been swapped for ones that are only 9" closed. The headers have needed some adjustment to get the new steering rack to line up, and an extra UV joint will be needed. We are trying to presvere the column shift which has caused Ross to do some fabrication work. The biggest delay has been with the brakes though as the discs that were fitted were of unknown origin and didn't work with the new dropped spindles, so a new set of cross drilled brakes needed to be ordered from California which has taken a while. There is a fixed deadline on this as I am planning a 1500 mile trip in the '57 at the end of July so we need to get a crack on.
Right some photos, first of all some of it getting used a lot over the past few years Put about 9000 miles on it Loaded up for a day out... Passenger 57 with roof rack by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr For my mate's daughters prom... 282260_10150906090393922_1193991213_n by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr 177576_10151008820791220_2063055931_o by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr 179177_10150918457008922_713365542_n by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr Why the Anti Roll bars are needed... 398808_10150906091993922_914939411_n (1) by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr Brooklands... 461515_476888175671609_533426914_o by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr Krispy Kreme Meet... 170018_144383658952795_4826675_o by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr 228950_10151152994458815_1479726274_n by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr Chelsea... 582231_10150732782723922_801189375_n by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr On a run to Brighton... 242022_173876069336887_8359498_o by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr Buster Langs Car Show... 290832_10150281713368922_8067372_o by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr Belgium (Chimay).... 314826_10150933175813897_1577484291_n by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr 553156_10150933551108897_392403676_n by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr Camber Sands and Rye... 387586_250231331701360_1604675736_n by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr 385390_10150482509126804_1154754393_n by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr 310319_10150386089408922_526552429_n by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr 385380_10150482657761804_1769537222_n by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr 305317_10150391730468922_1102060687_n by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr
Wheels Day... 540835_422767407740743_1633263764_n by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr 527823_10150934953579762_236908787_n by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr 556471_10150678143843897_1163103460_n by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr Night Shot... Light Painting Passenger 57 by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr New Air Cleaner, pinstriped by Nefarious... Nefarious-Air-Filter-1 by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr Nefarious-Air-Filter-2 by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr Nefarious-Air-Filter-3 by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr With my son.... Eddie and the Chevy by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr Speaker grills... Organ pipe speaker grills by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr
Then came the time to move to Scotland from London. I brought the car up and put in into Storage for a few weeks before we moved the whole family up into the new house. Weather got better the further north I got. 440 miles used about £150 of petrol The day I set off was the day of the London to Brighton Veteran Car run! Passenger 57 by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr Passenger 57 by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr Passenger 57 by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr Passenger 57 by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr Passenger 57 by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr Passenger 57 by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr Passenger 57 by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr Passenger 57 by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr Passenger 57 by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr
The Jalopy Journal
