If building a ’57 Chevy custom is on your bucket list, check out this McCloud, California classic! The 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air comes to market here on eBay where $12,500 makes it yours via Buy It Now, or you might get lucky with a lower number clicking Make Offer. What might be original Larkspur Blue paint peeks out where trim has gone missing. The seller reports “most” trim except one headlight eyebrow comes with the car. After sitting for about 40 years, it’s time to pass the baton to a buyer who can do something useful with this forgotten Chevy. Thanks to reader Larry D. for spotting this specimen that once represented the epitome of ’50s cool.
Why, you could put anything in there! With an empty engine bay the size of Arkansas, the possibilities are endless, and the lack of original components frees the buyer from the guilt some might experience when deviating from stock. Besides, if there’s one thing the world doesn’t need, it’s another perfect stock 1957 Chevy.
Sporty styling and pointed fins punctuated the final year of the Tri-Five (1955-57) Chevrolet, and owning one of these iconic classics in the 1980s was like a free pass to premier parking and the admiration of all. Five-slot mags suggest attention during the late ’60s or ’70s, probably the last time anyone spent any serious time or money on this Bel Air.
Black vinyl diamond-tufted upholstery fills this ’57, including the headliner, as shown in the listing. A dinner-plate-sized speedometer in the spaceship-style instrument pod begs you to “bury the needle.” A cheesy floor cutout made room for what looks like a later-model floor-shifted automatic. The asking price seems a bit high for someone looking to build a low-buck driver, but the difference between $5000 and $12,500 will barely move the needle on the budget for a high-end custom or Pro-Tour car. How would you build out this mostly-solid classic?
Anyone who pays more than 2 or 3K for this car deserves all the pain that’s coming with it to rebuild it. Must be related to the guy selling the rusty Healey. It would be ripe to build a restomod out of.
I swear most of the people on this site are stuck in the 70’s. Gas also used to be 10 cents a gallon. It’s almost impossible to buy anything “cool” for 2500 bucks anymore in an age where a new Corolla is 30k. This car could be parted out for way more than that. Not a 57 chevy fan, but this car looks a lot better than the usual crap posted that is completely perforated on every surface.
That’s a manual transmission…
Interesting concept…..no clutch pedal….
In the mid 80’s i loaned my brother $125 to buy a 57 chevy 2 door sedan body. I looked at it before he bought it and tried to open up the drivers door and it was stuck so i pulled on the door handle and the whole side of the car moved in and out, looked good from the outside but a rusted piece of crap everywhere else, this car looks way better than that one but still way overpriced IMHO. Little side note, I never got paid back the loan and never loaned him anymore money
So you’re saying he bought the car even though you deemed it to be a piece of junk?
Seriously..12 grand
Hmmmm, kinda pricey for a body,rolling chassis car,but possibly 🤔 a good car to start with,very little 🤔 rust,and it looks pretty straight and mostly, complete although 😉 looks like the original front seat is missing, and maybe possibly 😉, so,of the trim, and possibly original motor, and or transmission, way gone,if it has a title, and you can, 😉 buy it 😉 for less, hmmmm, maybe 😉 but not for sure.
This isn’t too high for a Belair hardtop. I’d have to check the inner rockers and lower quarters closely first. Nice that it’s a stick too. I’d find a 57 283 for it.
You can see it’s a standard shifter and if you look close you can see the clutch peddle is depressed.