History did any of you older guys remember how cool ,57 Chevys were in the '60s?

Did any of you older guys realize how cool and iconic the 57 Chevies were and how valuble they would become in the future?

 

By the later '60s they were cool in the right crowd but none of this stuff was ever going to be worth anything. They were just old cars.

 

I had a 55, 56, 57 Chevy in the early 60's and then we cut up a 55 ,57 convert. for stock cars. We also cut up Nova's and Chevelle's and GTO's back then. It didn't matter because they were everywhere in the junk yards.

 

Lotsa San Jose guys thought they were 'race cars' if they had 283s, floor shift linkage, and some quarter window decals.
I did my part in 'educating' a number of them with my '56 Ford ragtop...
Some exclamations:
"Hey! That wasn't s'posed to happen..." "Whatcha runnin', Chevy?" "WTF?!!? Fords don't go..."
"What's that '#1' on the rear fin mean?"

 

The first half of this statement for sure, the value part, phtt.
I read Hot Rod, not the Economist.

 

An older guy I worked with would tell how his buddies all knew Fords were for the boys (hot rods) and Chevys were what the daddies bought their daughters.

 

Had a 57 BelAire two door post when I started dating my wife in 1968, was a nice car 283 with an automatic, mags and rolled and pleated interior. I sold it and bought a 64 Impala SS. Wouldn't mind having another 57 but don't want to pay the price.

 

We all thought they were pretty cool in the mid sixties but they werent worth anything,just old,junk cars that were easy to hop up and that we could actually afford. Atwater Mike do you remember when Curtis Turner won Darlington with that 56 Ford and actually flat outran the Keikhafer Chryslers with 354s and two four barrels doing it? I still havent figured that out!

 

They were always high $$ cars. In the early seventies, you could buy a clean 2dr chevy II or or falcon starting point for $200-$300. A clean tri-five starting point was $800-$1000. Now a clean 2 dr falcon/chevy II starter is around $5000, and the tri-five is around $20,000, so things really havent changed much, its all relative.

 

We all knew they were nice cars, iconic, I rather doubt anyone guessed they would become what they are today, and frankly it's a little surprising to me that they became the "quintessential" 50's icon that they are. At that point in time I really would have rather had a '56 Belair or a '55 or '56 Ford of any body style. Ford Crown Victorias seemed to command a lot of attention down South where I was at the time. And we were still enamored with '40 Fords even in the mid-50's.

 

I always thought they were overrated. I actually thought a 2dr 1953 Mercury with a big engine and stick was something that could be noticed.

 

I've wondered this myself. Glad to see the responses.

 

Steinauge, I believe Smoky Yunick had some long con rods and who-knows-what-else he lent to that Ford project...
(if someone knowledgeable would have torn my Ford down, they would have seen the arrows on my pistons pointing at the flywheel end of the crank!)

 

If someone tears down probably 75% of the motors I have built over the last 40 years they will see that...

 

My 57 I bought in 63 for $700.00

 

Yes they weren't as cool at they are today. The new Plymouth Roadrunners and GTX,s the GTO,s and fast back mustangs. The big block chevells where the cool rides. A teacher had a 427 4 speed mercury cyclone. A friend bought a running 55 two door from a older kid who got a new Roadrunner. $125. the 283 burned oil. So a new short block added $150. Then a new interior added another $125. He had $400 in the 55 . And still needed tires and paint & body work that was a fortune in 1968. It was a different time. My 56 ford Victoria htp with a turquoise & white tuck and roll interior cost me $45. A guy traded it in on a new 64 galaxie. he had wrecked it and bent the bumper grill and hood. Set on the dealers back lot a couple of years before they sold it to me. I bought a complete 4 door car with a good front cap for $30 and then swapped in a FE with a stick trans and 9 inch 411 rear. I had maybe $200 in my car. That was in 66. and everyone thought that a ten year old car wasn't worth anything.

 

KOOL then, KOOL now, only difference is the $$$ involved.

 

In the 60's you could buy a Chevy, Pontiac and Mopar that off the show room floor would blow the doors of most Tri 5's.
Gary

 

That's all I wanted in 1966 when I got the driver license. But had to wait till 1969. And drive to Rockford Il to find one for $350. 2dr hardtop The seller was Paul Stage

 

I remember seeing this car one time parked in my neighborhood. Never found out who owned it or any details, just thought it was a bitchin' car, mostly because of the stance. This was the mid-60's, guess they hadn't reached icon status quite yet.

 

I worked a summer job with a guy who had a Sierra Gold 1957 two door hardtop with a fuel injected 283. This was in the early 1960's so I assume it came that way from the factory. I was impressed then.

 

If I had known what they'd be worth. I would have scrapped a lot fewer of them..................

 

I remember a lot of 50's cars growing up in the 60's.....Tri 5 Chevy's didn't really have that much of an appeal in my neck of the woods (I only remember my H.S. principal having a 57' Chevy...we all thought he was weird as it was )....57 Fords were more stylish. My dad purchased a 57' Ford instead in the mid 1960's, as our 2nd car...a black and gold trim 2 door (exactly like the photo)...and very slick looking!...said it had more style to it than the 56' & 57' Chevy's we had looked at! I can still see why he chose the Ford instead

 

Exactly...I paid $45.00 for my 210 two door sedan. It was a stick shift on the tree with a six cylinder in it. It drove and ran and was my daily driver. I was in my last year of high school so that was probably 1967. No one had any idea of how popular they were going to become, at least not me. I sold it for like $300.00 to a couple of guys that were going to make it into a drag car. Took that $300.00 and bought a 61 two door hard top Impala for $90.00 that only had 26K on it but needed a new front left fender and drove the wheels of that car. It was a 283 with a 3 speed stick on the column. I loved that car. I ended up yanking the engine out of it and putting it in my Dad's 62 long roof wagon that he drove it for like another ten years. It's just how things were done back then.

 

In the 60s I bought a clean 57 2door sedan for $150 and abused it for about a year. I then traded it with a connecting rod thru the side of the block for a set of snap-on 3/8 sockets. Never thought of them as worth anything in the future --they were a a poor teens way to compete with the rich teen who could buy a factory built muscle car.

 

Amen, Brother!
As a 10 year old kid in 1976, They grabbed my eye like no other car. Built every model my parents would buy. Wish I had been there when these cars were clean used 10 year old drivers. Some pix of my glue bombs from then.
Hollywood Knights was in the theaters when I was in high school. The mighty X was in it's finest form, yanking the wheels on the street. No cooler ride could be had in my teen brain.

 

I owned several of them ,every year the new cars come out and they were tougher and tougher to beat. After a year in southeast asia I had enough for a 6BBl road runner and it ran a lot better than my old 57.

 

In my neck of the woods the 55 Chevy was far more popular with teenagers than the 57.

I remember my cousin had a beautiful '57 that was darn near mint in 1967 and he still owns it but never drives it. HRP

 

57 Chevys were always cool. My cousin had one. I wanted one way back in the day but I put off getting one because they were everywhere, they made a million of them it seemed so I was in no hurry. Finally got a 57 BelAir 2door sedan around 1972 for a hundred bucks. Like a lot of people, I regret getting rid of it.
First real powerful car I ever rode in was in 1968, it was a 57 150 with a 409 2x4 engine and 4 speed in it. I was hooked.

 

A 57 Chev was the car to have around here. Tri 5s were used for dirt track street stock cars until 1975. Cars had to be at least 10 years old with a stock frame. 58 through 64 had the X frames and were way too flexible. The Ford engines were too heavy and set too far forward to handle well until the 289s were available.