Anyone here own a '57 Chevy or '57 Ford Fairlane? (sedan, brakes)

[picklejuice]

If so, which one? And what mods, if any, have you done? Just curious.

[drjones96]

Past tense here but I did own a '57 Chevy about a decade ago. 2 Door Hard Top Bel-Air. We rebuilt it from the ground up. It was polar white with custom red upholstery (trunk was upholstered to match). It had a pretty stock 350 SB with single 750 Holley. Polished aluminim everything under the hood. Jet-Hot coated headers. Vintage Air Heat/AC system. Alpine stereo system, hid the head unit in glove compartment and kept the old radio installed so as not to have to cut up the dash. Dakota ditital instruments. 4-wheel disk brakes.

It was a great looking car. Building it was an absolute bear. Nothing came easy. We kept it for about a year after we got it done and then sold it. I think it just wore us down. Prior to that we had just built streetrods....which are so much easier in comparison. On a '57 there's a right and wrong way to do everything...and there are soooo many peices of stainless steel and other parts that have to be straightened and repaired. OMG I've spent what seems like a lifetime working on all those stupid peices. On a streetrod you don't have any of that kind of stuff. It's kind of liberating....it's like creating art. Don't have a part? Just make it....and make it your way....there isn't a right or wrong.

[drjones96]

Someone asked if I have any photos. Unfortunately my hot rodding days were pre-digital camera. I didn't own one until about 6 years ago. I've actually got a couple of hard copy photos here from when we were building it up but don't really have a way to scan them in.

Back in about the mid '80's my dad and I helped my cousin fix up a '57 2 dr sedan that had just been collecting dust in his storage shed for the previous 15 yrs. We painted it a metalic maroon color with silver interior. It was an ok car but that sort of planted the seed for us to start building our own. For about 5 years my dad started collecting '57's in 'various stages of rust'. Eventually we had 22 varying body styles of '57's. Most were 2 dr sedans. I think we had 5 2 dr ht's. And the rest were 4 dr sedans and ht's....and there were a couple of wagons in there....no Nomad's though...those were hella tough to find and the people who had them seemed to know what they were worth. Most of these cars were either bought cheaply or given to us for the price of hauling them away. A lot of the parts were shared across the body styles so that was the logic behind picking up the other cars. We gathered enough parts off of all the cars to possibly build 2 good 2 dr ht cars. And the rest of the parts were sold off. We started to build 2 2dr ht's but quickly realized this task was a little bit tough so we sold one of them along with one set of chrome and stainless trim to a friend of ours who went on to build it. So then we dedicated all of our efforts to building my car.

[Swampmonster]

Like Doc,I'm speaking past tense and pre digital cam era here also...I had a '57 Fairlane 500 that look about like this one minus the flames and with a set of chrome reverse and baby moon hubcaps on it.

I didn't do any mods on it at all other than have the mufflers removed(it already had duals on it) and had pipe put in place of them so it had straight pipes on it.

It rode great,steered like a boat and stopped like it had brakes off of a conestoga wagon,but I felt like I was Robert Mitchum in "Thunder Road" everytime I drove it.

BTW I gave $600 for it,drove it for a few months and got $800 out of it which paid for the exhaust work and made me a bit of change...at the time they weren't worth anything and I'd like to pay $800 for it back now.

[drb85650]

Had one only, '57 Ford 2 door post, 292, 3speed with posi. Bought it only because it was in good shape and cheap. Think I paid $125 or less, this in '74.
Had more '57 Chevy's than I honestly recall, last one was in about '76. Never had a convert, Nomad or 2 door hardtop. But did have a sedan delivery, 2door tradesman wagon, several 4 doors and other wagons. Leaned more towards 55 and 56's. 57's just too "chromie" for me, didn't care for the tailights that much. 55's are a work of art, simplistic beauty. 56's just seem unique, stand alone, plus I like the 2 and 4 door hardtop lines better. Just my belly button opinion

[Swampmonster]

Originally Posted by drb85650

Had one only, '57 Ford 2 door post, 292, 3speed with posi. Bought it only because it was in good shape and cheap. Think I paid $125 or less, this in '74.
Had more '57 Chevy's than I honestly recall, last one was in about '76. Never had a convert, Nomad or 2 door hardtop. But did have a sedan delivery, 2door tradesman wagon, several 4 doors and other wagons. Leaned more towards 55 and 56's. 57's just too "chromie" for me, didn't care for the tailights that much. 55's are a work of art, simplistic beauty. 56's just seem unique, stand alone, plus I like the 2 and 4 door hardtop lines better. Just my belly button opinion

Only opinion WORTH having...I'm like you,I loved the '55s chevys...never cared for the '56 and liked the '57s if someone drove by in one,but never lusted for one.

[roosevelt]

Originally Posted by muleskinner

Only opinion WORTH having...I'm like you,I loved the '55s chevys...never cared for the '56 and liked the '57s if someone drove by in one,but never lusted for one.

Since we have some knowledgeable people on Fords here, these two 1955 Fords are American but I have never seen the trim like this, these are not Canadian. Can anyone tell me what these are?
Attachment 46618
Click to enlarge

[Swampmonster]

Originally Posted by roosevelt

Since we have some knowledgeable people on Fords here, these two 1955 Fords are American but I have never seen the trim like this, these are not Canadian. Can anyone tell me what these are?
Attachment 46618
Click to enlarge

They look like customlines,but I've never seen any marked up like that.ODD

Were they a production or pre production show car?

[drb85650]

Originally Posted by roosevelt

Since we have some knowledgeable people on Fords here, these two 1955 Fords are American but I have never seen the trim like this, these are not Canadian. Can anyone tell me what these are?
Attachment 46618
Click to enlarge

I'd be willing to bet they're dealer "custom" or accessory packages. Not uncommon back then, can't recall the name of the big Ford dealer in Phoenix around then, O Meara or Sanderson perhaps.
Not uncommon to have trim and such from big dealers. There was a dealer in Denver in '56 that offered custom F100's....get this, they would chrome the entire front fender assembly, then paint flames or scallops over the chrome. Saw a HOTROD article reprint about them, and used to see one survivor beater around Denver in the 60's/70's.
Pontiac dealer I worked at in '69,71 used to put vinyl tops on F birds, entire roof, pillar and trunk lid....all vinyl. yuck.

[roosevelt]

Originally Posted by drb85650

I'd be willing to bet they're dealer "custom" or accessory packages. Not uncommon back then, can't recall the name of the big Ford dealer in Phoenix around then, O Meara or Sanderson perhaps.
Not uncommon to have trim and such from big dealers. There was a dealer in Denver in '56 that offered custom F100's....get this, they would chrome the entire front fender assembly, then paint flames or scallops over the chrome. Saw a HOTROD article reprint about them, and used to see one survivor beater around Denver in the 60's/70's.
Pontiac dealer I worked at in '69,71 used to put vinyl tops on F birds, entire roof, pillar and trunk lid....all vinyl. yuck.

The Ford dealers in Phoenix at the time were Madison Motors and Read Mullan Motor Co. Surrounding cities had Butler, Earnhardt, Sanderson, Smiley Berge and Paradise.

Both cars say Customline on the side. Each car has thin chrome trim around the dark color. I think they look kind of silly. Photo was taken in front of the new library at Central and McDowell.