1957 Chevrolet Bel Air 2 Door Sedan
For consignment, a 1957 Chevrolet 2 door sedan in Bel Air trim. Built in late 1956 and purchased new by the original owner on July 15th 1957 off of the showroom floor at Girard Chevrolet in Philadelphia for the original owners wife. The car was mainly used for trips to the market and hair salon and was maintained by the owner and his son. Whatever the back story, the car looks great and was purchased by our consignor in October of 1990 and faithfully cared for and maintained since. This rare piece of Tri-Five history comes to our Hallowed Halls sporting a new interior and a rebuilt for modern fuel correct, original, and somewhat rare chartreuse painted 265ci V8 Then it has all been bathed in Imperial Ivory over Inca Silver, retaining most of its original trimmings, wears 2 doors, and is like a veritable trip back in time. With 73,889 title verified actual miles on the odometer, it's one for the money, two for the show, and three to get ready now go cat go!
Exterior
At the front of this five-seven hangs a bright Chevrolet crest and polished parking lamps between chrome trimmed eye lid-esque headlights and a broad bumper and a shiny gold egg crate grille. Also we see some round turn signal lights in thick bezels and rubber tipped "Dagmars" on either side. At the top of that grille, a domed hood centers polished spear bullet and rocket tailed spoons in front of wraparound glass that's draped in polished frames. This is all steel straight with well minded gaps, and is bathed in Inca Silver. The paint presents as miles deep with only a few areas of light spray and inclusions. At the base of those frames, polished wipers, driver's and passenger's door mirrors and traditional door handles complement flashy trim spears and elegant "Chevrolet" scripts in grandmother's handwriting within the ever widening silver and ribbed stainless panel in the rear quarters. Undulating chrome is on the sills and this frames the lowers for the roof line which comes to us in Imperial Ivory as a beautiful contrast. At the back of the car a second broad bumper frames the trunk line lower, and a second colorful crest. The fin edge trimmings form a Z on the tail as they ground themselves on the bumper. Smaller flame shaped tail lights reside on the bottoms of these Z's. A backup light is within the bumper just below and a chromed tipped single exhaust is coming from under the bumper. Simple Inca Silver painted steel wheels with standard faux knock off wheel coverings are wrapped in medium whitewall 7.50-14 rubber on all 4 corners. From the curved glass to all the chrome, things are near showroom new.
Interior
Featuring a stunning array of black flagstone broadcloth and red vinyl, this Chevy's new interior is both clean and impressive. At the center of the cockpit, firm bench seats wear a retro amalgamation of red vinyl bolsters with black vinyl fronting the base of the lower cushions and silver piping separating the black and red flagstone broadcloth inserts. A matchy matchy sprawling bench is in the rear and presents as nearly new. In front of those seats, a full metal jacket dash forms round wide steel bezels bathed in red and house round black faced gauges and a lineup of small round lights in deep chromed bezels just above these gauges. These circles border on a square weave pattern chromed strip that runs the length of the dash, and houses some knobs and pulls, the factory AM radio, and a rectangular clock in front of the passenger. Fronting the dash on the driver's side is a red bakelite steering wheel with a complete circle horn right in the center. Just below the chromed square weave strip is another horizontal band which is back to the red paint just like the all steel dash top. Here the heater control buttons and a glovebox are seen in front of the passenger. Wonderfully clean and new black thick loop carpeting is in and flooding the floors and a tight white headliner is just above.
Drivetrain
Within a fully restored and silver and black painted engine bay is stuffed a rebuilt and correct chartreuse GM block 265ci and is an 8 cylinder. It has an black air cleaner and this covers a 2-barrel carburetor. On the back is a 3-speed manual transmission and a 3.55 rear axle to spin the rears. The original radiator is keeping things all cool my cats!
Undercarriage
Fully structurally sound underneath with the exception of some light surface rust on the untreated components. The floor pans and body hangers, much like the rest of the underside, are covered with patina, factory undercoating and some surface rust. Independent coil spring suspension is on front and leaf springs are on the rear and looking good with the original shocks still bolted to the rear. Drum braking is on front and the back to keep things stopping properly.
Drive-Ability
The car started easily and was fun to drive. It had nice acceleration, bias free braking, and had a few rattles here and there. I was amazed at the quality of the originality on the interior, and all functions were fully operational save for the clock not keeping time. Also, I noted that during extreme cold weather first gear is difficult to engage. Even with those faults it was so great I had a tear in my eye..decoder..hand me a Kleenex! While Classic Auto Mall represents that these functions were working at the time of our test drive, we cannot guarantee these functions will be working at the time of your purchase.
The upper echelon of the tri five and the last of said trio year example, nicely gone through with an amazing history and low miles accrued over the years. A mostly new interior and all looking good enough not to step on, but into and just drive and smile. Pure 1950's heaven my cool cats...
