To many, the styling of the 1957 Chevrolets was the best of the “Tri-Fives” era (1955-57). The cars would sprout tailfins for a single model year, only to return after skipping 1958. The Sport Sedan, available in Bel Air and 210 trim, may be the most desirable body style today except for the Sport Coupe and convertible. This ’57 Bel Air Sport Sedan isn’t necessarily rare, but its combination of options adds up to one well-equipped Chevrolet. Located in Seeley Lake, Montana, this solid restorable project is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $17,500.
Chevrolet built 142,500 of the Bel Air 4-door hardtops in 1957, but we’re betting the MSRP sticker on the window reflected an assortment of features that most of them didn’t come with as a package. Let’s start with the 283 cubic inch V8, which was new that year as an extension of the 265 that was introduced two years earlier. But it has the Power Pak option which added a 4-barrel carburetor and dual exhaust for maximum performance.
This engine is paired with a 2-speed Powerglide automatic transmission (nothing extraordinary). But neither are original to the car, yet the seller has the original duo and they will come with the car should you decide to rebuild and reinstall them. Getting back to the list of goodies this car has, you have to include factory air conditioning, power windows, a power front seat, a power up-and-down rear antenna, and steering and brakes that are also power-assisted. If you put all that together, could the number of Bel Airs built this way be drastically reduced from 142,500?
We’re told the Chevy has 80,000 miles but we’re not told why the drivetrain was replaced or when. The seller reports the car has only had two owners, but we don’t know when the second owner may have driven the automobile last. The machine seems largely devoid of visible rust, except for an ample amount of the surface variety and — of course — patina. The color of the car may be silver and the interior, which needs work, is a contrasting black-and-silver. Does this equate to a project you’d want to get your hands on?
Is the knob on the driver’s door for a remote mirror, or something else? Doesn’t look like a remote mirror.
The ad says the original transmission was a Turboglide. I know the last time a ’57 with a Turbogilde was featured here, the comments were full of very useful information on real world experiences with it. Maybe that is why it now has a Powerglide…
I have the same question about the knob on drivers door. I can’t find any info on it. It looks like it can slide horizontally. But still never seen one.
I don’t think I ever seen power windows in a 57 Chevy before,all the bj and mecums i watched I don’t think I ever seen them!
It’s a remote control mirror, it just isn’t the cable type, it’s a solid link between knob and the mirror, I had a 59 Cadillac with the same thing
The know is for the vent window..as it is not a power window
Uh no, the window crank next to the knob is for the vent window, the knob is for the MIRROR LOL
Wow, a ’57 Chevy. You never see those…
They were never really that popular is why…
I’m not generally a fan of Tri-5 Chevys, for the same reason I don’t care for ’64-6 Mustangs- I’ve seen one every day of my life. However, the ’56-7 Bel Air Sport Sedan is my exception. Add in the fully loaded spec on this car, and it’s probably the only ’57 Chevy I’d really want to own.
A car with that much “power” has got to be worth a lot of money. Options add value, how much does it add to a 4dr 57 that needs everything?
Steve R
I wonder how many years the chrome rocker switch for the power windows stayed in service. I remember the same design on vehicles in the early ‘90’s.
I think is does add value, in fact this one is priced pretty fairly. Except for 4 doors, it would be highly collectable. But even with the extra doors, the number of factory options all together in one car is rare and is astonishing. Someone really paid a premium in 1957. Once the money is put into it to restore, it will become a very desirable collectible and would certainly sell at the top end of the 4 door 57 market, which is currently in the 30 to 45K range. Would you be upside down? Probably, but wow, what a great car to own once done. And in a perfect color for the optioned out luxury ’57. I’d buy it, but my wife would kill me as I am forbidden to purchase anything more that doesn’t run..
Do not see that many 4 door hardtops, although 142K+ were built. Does not look too bad; clean it up, get it running & enjoy, then this coming fall, do some extensive restoration.
“I’d buy it, but my wife would kill me… ”
Not unless you get to her first ha!
My goodness Joe you’re a real gas!!!
That has to be some aftermarket control for the outside mirror. All I can think of anyway. Maybe someone know more.
Thanks Tiger66 – from Don66 – you beat me to it about the a/c, etc. I’ve never seen a ’57 that has the combination of power options this one has! I’ve seen factory a/c before, power steering and brakes before, but never all on the same car…
+ power windows! Someone please grab this car and do it right!
What, no power vent windows? I’m out. Seriously this car is amazing, get her running and drive as is. My guess is, that is a control for the mirror, I remember seeing something similar on another car, maybe aftermarket
Okay, so where are plastic air ducts for the A/C? GM cars of this time frame had them mounted in the package shelf in front of the rear window. And I don’t see the outside
air ducts on the rear fenders either.
My Dad told me that the Turboglide
tranny was a roarin’ pain in the ass
because it slipped a lot in city driving
and caused the car to waste fuel And lest you forget the high repair bills if lunched one of it’s expensive
internal pieces. In that context, the
Powerglide is a more reliable unit and I believe the past owner knew it. If I
were able, and my girls would let me,
I’d scarf this one up and spend the rest of my retirement just enjoying this car.
Chevy never had the plastic a/c air ducts or rear fender inlets because they never used the Frigidaire system that had the evaporator in the trunk. Chevy (and Pontiac) used the Harrison system, which had an underhood cowl-mounted evaporator with the a/c integrated with the heater just like a modern system. The round underdash outlet seen in one of the photos is correct for a ’57 Chev with the cowl-mounted factory a/c system.
Cadillac, Buick and Olds used the trunk-mounted system in the early ’50s but went to the cowl-mounted system after 1956. So AFAIK no ’57 GMs had the plastic ducts apart from one exception: the Cadillac Fleetwood 75 limo.
You are thinking of older cars that had the AC system in the trunk. AC was entirely under the hood and under the dash of Chevy’s from at least 1955 forward.
1957 Chevys didn’t use a trunk mounted A/C unit. It’s in the dash like modern cars.
Starting in 1955 Chevrolet’s were offered with factory air conditioning. All of them had the evaporator on the firewall. Cadillac was the last holdout on the trunk mounted evaporator at GM. Oldsmobile moved it under the hood in 1955, Buick in 1956 and finally Cadillac in 1957.
Not a fan of the 57s, but a 57 Chevy this loaded up with options must have been one ordered to sit on the showroom floor to show what prospective owners could order for their new car . I know I’ve never seen power options like this on any 50s Chevy. Usually if a customer had extra money to spend, he’d move up to a Pontiac or an Oldsmobile – kind of a “status” thing
Maybe this was a Factory or a Dealer Show Car, that’s why is so loaded.
Yes, 1955 was the first year for the optional AC in Chevys. Even by ’57, a miniscule percentage of cars would have been so equipped. Those with PW and a power seat were surely even fewer.
Factory AC was an expensive luxury well into the 1960’s. The Impala my parents bought in 1965 had a sticker on the rear window with a Chevy logo, “Air Conditioned”.
By the time the car was two years old, the system needed repairs.
I remember that the early A/C units were not terribly reliable. I remember driving 2-3 year old Fords where it already didn’t work.
Yes, this car is loaded with factory accessories but this guy is dreaming. It would cost 3 times the value of the car to restore it back to original. Sorry….
Awesome car and really is a unicorn of options. As for the knob in question it opens the vent window not the mirror
Look again, this time put your glasses on lol
My wife and I bought our ‘first’ and ‘only’ house in the early fall of 1998 in Fords, New Jersey. On the day we completed the ‘closing’ and before starting the process of moving our belongs from the apartment we had been renting in Bayonne, New Jersey for 18 years (including my then, 4000 piece model car collection which now numbers 9000 pieces), and my # 2 condition, 1969 Hurst SC/Rambler), I rode around ‘our new neighborhood’ for a little while to scope things out and I spotted two older ‘collector’ type cars almost immediately. One was a white, 1964 Buick Skylark convertible (A.K.A.) “My Cousin Vinnie”, although at that time, that movie hadn’t even been made yet. And the other, was a yellow with a black roof, 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air 4 door hardtop. Both cars were sitting outside, the Buick behind an ‘auto repair shop’ and the Chevy on a ‘used car lot’ both within a few blocks of each other. Well believe or not, almost 26 years the Skylark is still sitting there, while the 57 Chevy finally disappeared about a year ago.
Exactly what dad had dropped off in my driveway in the 70’s and I don’t remember what options but it had that paint along with it being a 4dr hardtop…I should have spoke up but it was gone in days.
Not quite fully loaded.
Options that are not there but could/should be… traffic signal prism, tissue dispenser, cigarette ashtray vacuum, fender skirts, dual rear antennas, spotlights, continental spare, “Mae West” rubber bumper tips, chrome doorhandle guards, padded dash, Wonderbar radio, windshield visor, special exhaust tips, tri-bar center hub caps, and maybe the 270hp dual four-barrel engine or “Fuelie” engine option.
Ditch the continental kit and the skirts, they do nothing for this car in the looks dept.
I think everybody is right about this being a special order car. Who is the one guy that couldn’t move up to a Pontiac or a Buick? The Chevy dealer. I wonder if this was the dealer’s or his wife’s personal car. As a side note I read the reason behind the Caprice Classic was most GM execs. were driving Cadillacs but were told by top brass to stick to their own divisions. Either way this is one rare car and needs to be restored, a unicorn for sure.