why do you SO CALLED "hotrodders" hate 55-57 chevys???

Sorry I couldn't give you a toast Sam, I passed out before then

 

My first car was a '55 210 sedan, fresh from the field. I horse traded for a slick 55 bel air 4-door for a donor car. I worked on it from age 14 to age 16 and got it on the road. Grey primer , rolled up screen wire and bondo in the rocker panels.
chrome reverse wheels, no interior except for the front seat.
That's the car I should have kept. Not so much because it was a 55 chev. Mostly because I'm gettin setimental in my old age.

 

I think it's because if you're old enough (like me) they represent the first new cars that could kick your ass. I later came to dislike them a little less because they made me work a little harder and become a whole lot smarter so that I could beat the rich kids and their Factory Hotrods.Back then most of these guys couldn't find their ass with both hands. Their biggest talent was having a job to make the payments.
Gemini EFI

 

I don't hate them, but I don't get all gooey inside when I see 'em either.

If I had to pick faves, I'd leave the dull Chevy in favor of the Olds or even Buick of the same year.

But if I were forced to pick faves in the Chevy family, it'd have to be '56 Nomad, then a bare-bones '55 bruiser-type.

I think the real push-back on the tri-five Chevys is the poodle-skirt mentality of the overwhelming majority of them evidenced by the "when you gonna fix it up" commentary above. I believe they ARE cliche '50s kitsch - just like the poodle skirt.

 

I'll tell you one thing I hate about '57 Chevy's... Any regular person thinks that any car made prior to 1960 is a '57 Chevy. You stop at a red light in a in a '50 Ford and some guy is gonna pull up next to you and say "57 Chevy right?"... Stop at the same light ten minutes later in a '52 Willys Aero Wing and the same guys gonna pull up next to you and say "57 Chevy right?"

 

man, the word kool in the early 60's in high school WAS 55-57 chevy - usually with the front bumper removed, sporting a '301' engine and 4 spd....the corvette and t-bird cars were the 'richy' kids cars that daddy bought for them, but the tri-fives were 'down and dirty' street rods of the time...yes, the older cars did exist ( i drove my 34 chevy 3 window to hs and college), but not too many of them were around the streets everyday like they are today - in sheer numbers, the tri-fives were more prevalent...jb

 

Your right about this .My old chopped 54 Chevy that i drove for years was called a 57 often.I even had a old guy argue the point at a gas station one day ,and i am the one who built it ...

 

I've had friends with 55s and 56s that I liked a lot... And I remember they were always able to get anything they wanted out of a catalog, and I was left searching swap meets, which made me a bit jealous and bitter...

But I do remember a certain two tone black and coral pink 55 showing up to a drive in sporting an injected LT-1 and corvette rims which were painted to match.

While I was talking to the guy about my build, I pointed over to my '53... and he looked confused, and asked me "Why did you want to go and build one of those ugly things?"

I guess my dislike of tri-fives isn't of the cars themselves, but the good majority of douche-bags that own them. They are the BMW owners of hot rodding.

 

I hate mine

 

I'm at my Mom's for Thanksgiving today, so I'm breaking my rule of reading all of the posts before I post on a thread. So forgive me if I'm repeating something already said. I just peaked in the check my pm's and saw this thread front and center.

I opened this thread thinking it would be 2 or 3 years old and just brought back to the top. I remember a lot of disdain for Tri Fives from the time I first got on the HAMB. (late 90's?) But over the last year it seems like a lot of closet Tri Five lovers are coming out. I had a '55 in High School, and I've always hoped for another one that I could build the way I couldn't build the first one. Not that I'm doing that, it seems like everybody is building a Tri Five Gasser. I can't imagine how you are feeling much hate for them now? Seems like every third HAMBer is building one.

I just hope I get mine done so I can race next summer in the sea of radiused wheel '55's! I'll be called a bandwagon jumper, but I don't care. It's the car I've had built in my head since High School.

 

I like em'. I was looking for a 55-57 long roof for a while, but now I am really liking the 57' Poncho longroofs. Especially the canadian models. The are different but still have the look.

Anyone ever see a 57' Laurentian longroof up here in canada? I have a 57' Laurentian hardtop and would love the wagon.

 

350/4 speed, sure is fun to drive.

 

I actually never cared one way or another,... until recently, A friend of mine asked me to help him find one,.... in the hunt we came up with this little gem of a 55,.... I went through it for him and cleaned it up,.. drove it,....... I would really like to own this car. but it has taste and is understated with the right colors and a nice stance,.. (IMHO)

 

Sam, I had a 67 camaro in high school, and like you would like to someday build another version of it..

I guess for me, to like a tri-5. it has to be on the outer edge (customer or race). thou the Briz 55 with its billet corvette hubcap wheels knocks me out.. I dig that car so much as it has managed to combine the old and new together and pull it off without to much flash.. (after seeing it at GNRS, it was what made me want to have a tri-5 (that and Sams 56). I dont care to look at a 100% stock looking version but give me a stock bodied, hammered on the ground (key word hammered) with a good rake and vintage americans any day)

I guess what I am saying, if the purist will hate it, then I am sure I will like it.

 

I have a fond place for them personally. I drove a 55 in high school in the late 80's. It will always be a really cool car to me. And yeah that's me on the left in the pic. It was 1987, what can I say!


Can someone post a pic of SAMS car that you all keep refering to. I am sure I have seen it but I am drawing a blank..........

 

Ok I didnt have time to read every post, but im sure its been said, Its not the cars I hate, its the cliche above the knee shorts wearing yuppy idiots that own the majority of them you see at shows.
Its the fact that every ignorant person that thinks classic car thinks 57 Chevy or 65 Mustang.
Its the fact that parts are too easy too find and you can open any catalog to find custom bolt on crap.
Its also the fact that anytime you see a new movie made to have supposedly taken place in the 50' or 60's youll see nothing but Tri 5 Bel-Airs, not 4 doors or wagons but all restored Bel-Airs, becasue thats all people drove (even in the early 50's according to some movies). Like mutangs, flat black & red wheels,poodle skirts, 350 SBC's, etc. I am just sick and tires of seeing them, and just feel like knocking people out when I think about it.
With all this negativity ill say this, I wouldnt mind owning this 57 pictured here:

 

I like them as gassers and i love the wagons. I don't get into the billet and chrome that some people go over the top with. Unlike most people my favorite year is the 57

 

And now you know why the same car today brings $75,000 at a Barrett-Jackson auction.

I have no problem with 5-6-7's, I'd love to have one for a winter car.. POR-15 the crap out of it and drive it in the salt just to piss people off..

I think the problem for some people, me included, is I like what *I* like - just because the music industry says Britney Spears is the CD you should buy, doesn't mean I pass up the Lynyrd Skynyrd for the bubblegum pop. Just because the 5-6-7 Chevy has tons of fans and popularity, doesn't mean I don't go out and buy a Pontiac, or a Hudson, instead.

But that doesn't mean if I stumble across the remains of said convertible, mentioned above, sitting in a field somewhere, I wouldn't bring it home and chuck it on eBay and see if I couldn't get $2500 for it quick. $2500 will buy a bunch of Pontiacs or Hudsons.

 

I love em....and I want this one back....bought it in Kansas while stationed there in the seventies. Paid 225.00, drove it home. Original paint, chrome, etc etc etc. ...and yes, that is my Henry J next to it...only 200 for that one...and the 750 Honda was new...barracks life wasn't so bad!!!

 

MAN I SURE MISS MY " UNDERDOG "

 

I've loved these since I was a kid, though I definitely prefer the pure lines and simplicity of the '55 to the more baroque '57. (The '57 is such a icon of "The Fifties" that it can leave a bad taste in your mouth, but I almost emptied my bank account for a beautiful one I ran into a while back.) My buddy in high school had a '57 210 that we got into lots of trouble with. (Blue with stock trim and steel wheels, it was bitchin' high school car, much cooler than my ride, a $500 '68 Plymouth Fury.)

Sometimes tacky people do tacky things with these cars, but one done right is still just awesome. For my money, stock with factory paint, on a rake with big & littles and five-spoke Americans, that's just about perfect to me. (Bonus points if you find one with a straight six, like Jim Aust's dad's car!)

 

I don't hate them, I just seem to feel better when they're not around. Seriously, as long as they don't have some stupid Easter egg color to them and a shitload of billet, I can be in the same parking lot with them.

 

here ya go...in its best incarnation. the way it looks now isn't bad, but it does feel a little bellybutton-ish.

 

Thanks for posting the above pics of Sams car.... I agree that is definately one of the nicer ones out there.

I also LOVE McPhails blue 56. Wish I had the $$$$$ to buy it.

 

they're great for hauling the kids around!

 

Maybe its not that we hate them, just the assholes that think they are the end all.

 

57 chebbys are great, my grandfather's got 2, one is original, the other is a gasser, he drives them both all the time, and the one that is original isnt perfect by any means its got the typical dents, dings and chrome pits, i dont necissarily think it should be the first car people think of when someone says hotrod.. but most people who arent into hotrods think that right off the bat

 

That was my first car! And I will get it back someday- but no hurry as I know where it at

 

I dig the tri 5 Chevys, but I can't stand to see one screwed up! A lot of people tend to screw them up. The '55 and '56 make awesome customs or gassers. The '57 is best either left alone or mildly done. It's lines are a statement on it's own. In my opinion, nothing says gasser like a nose high '55 or '56 Chevy, but it just doesn't go over well on a '57. A chopped and channeled '55 or '56 is great, when done well, but it just doesn't work on a '57. Unfortunately a lot of people just don't do them right. The '57 just looks too big and heavy to get a modified look to work well.

So, '55 or '56 Chevys done well, no problem. '57s are best left alone or barely touched. You wouldn't pierce Marilyn Monroes eyebrow, would you?