When you’re actively in the market for a tri-five project, it’s not uncommon for various obstacles to pop up during the search, as many of these cars seem to be plagued with rust issues or have already gotten modifications that the next owner may not care for. But now and then one comes along that screams the search is over, and that might be the case with this 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air here on Craigslist in Corona, California. Not only is this one an unmolested example, but it’s also been in the same family since it was new and lives in a favorable climate, making the asking price of $29,000 here sound somewhat realistic.
Chevy offered three different trim levels on their ’57, starting with the base 150 followed by the more upscale 210. But some good news is this one’s a Bel Air, the top-notch offering, and not only do all the moldings the car came with outside seem to still be there but they also appear to remain in reasonably good condition. The seller also states that his car is all original and the paint we’re viewing is the born-with finish, with just a bit of corrosion present on the lower fender and front part of the door on the passenger side and even less on the driver’s side.
The 283 Chevrolet Super Turbo Fire V8 was the largest displacement you could get under the hood here in 1957, with the seller telling us his car has been parked for more than 30 years so the drivetrain is probably going to need a thorough going through. Things do get a little confusing when it comes to exactly how much pavement has been traveled prior to the last three decades, with the seller writing that the Bel Air has very low mileage but not providing any additional details other than filling in the number 10,000 for the odometer reading field and a photo of the instrument showing 00521.
The two-tone interior must have been a beautiful combo when this car was made, but it isn’t anymore especially where moisture has developed underneath the once clear plastic still covering part of the driver’s seating area. But the floor metal appears reasonably solid, with some surface rust showing but hopefully not anything that would compromise its integrity, and the trunk photo also depicts a similar condition. At nearly thirty grand, this may not be the cheapest ’57 project on the market, but paying for decent bones to start with on a complete and non-butchered example seems like money well spent in my book. What do you think?
Agree on that Mike, but what I see here is a car that’s going to have to have every square inch of it done to bring it up to original status. If you can do most of the work yourself it will be worth the high going in price. If not, hope the buyer has a whole truck load of money.
This is a very unusual find. It’s almost like opening up a time capsule.
I have never tried to restore a vehicle like this where ‘everything’ is pretty much original and intact, just old and crusty. It’s a long way from being new looking now.
Like Bobhess just said, hopefully a person can do most of the work themselves?
It will be a beauty if it is restored
properly.
Just my oponion!
The key to most restoration work is being able to do most or all of it yourself. If you have to farm much of it out, you’ll get upside down real fast.
I’m a fan of authentic patina and this is a thing of beauty. I’d scotch bright and satin clear it. That’s me. For my friends on here who would restore this lovely lady to factory fresh. I wholeheartedly agree it would be stunning. Don’t hate me too much for a different vision. Either way, what a fantastic find. Good luck to the lucky new owner.
I totally agree with you. Buy it a little cheaper and do the interior and for me it’s a modern LS with upgraded suspension and brakes. It almost looks like distressed copper with the faded green paint.
Big fan.
With the pedigree and history of this car the only way I see is to do a frame off rotisserie restoration. The car is definitely a survivor. In parts it maybe worth equal to double his asking price.
Relatives of mine had one of these, new. Theirs had air-conditioning with a decal on the vent window indicating that. What became of the RADIO in this one? Given the outrageous value on these cars now, the price seems fair for one that needs everything gone through — but the missing radio somehow detracts from that “unmolested” claim. Everything about this car is familiar to me — not only the outside, but also that steering wheel and dashboard. This was when cars were still NORMAL.
There is a radio in a couple of the pictures on craigslist.
Anything pre-1964 (I think) had a tube radio. Many times, when they quit working, they just get tossed out. Most of us guys that can restore them to playing condition have died off. I have repaired hundreds. I’ve got a collection of pre-war radios that I’ve restored. It’s sad that this happens because there is nothing that sounds better than tubes.
Tune on, wait a bit and the sounds hums out.
…………..yawn…..
To Johnny Cuda: Thanks for correcting me! I can only go by what is posted here, so I didn’t know.
Harrison there is a highlighted link that will take you to the posting and provide you with more information and details about any vehicle listed.
Thank you, Frog! Now, if only I knew how to get there on this ‘phone: I am NOT computer-savvy. What I NEED, is a nine-year-old to show me how to DO all of this!
There was a time when I liked the idea of applying a clear coat over faded paint for originality, but that was before The “P” word came about. In my day the “P” word meant something totally different. It’s gotten to the point where it’s thought to be cool to clear coat over any and all rusted out junk rather than repair it and paint it. Now 57 2 door hardtop Chevy is one of my all time favorite cars. I owned one back in the late 60’s. This car is at that point where a complete restoration is called for. If you don’t have the money or time to do that then I believe you should pass and let someone who does have this car.
God Bless America
I 2nd that but will also say I favor newer mechanics for safety and reliability and availability. Not into the flames graphics and other customizations. But to each his own.
Lest we forget the 22″+ ghetto wheels also!
Good for you John, must be a real honor to hang with cool cats like you. Wasn’t aware there were some who were making the rules for the many in the vintage car world.
Opinions and ideas …well you know the rest.
“A ’57 Bel Air 2 door hardtop is an elitist model” huh… Well how about that?! …
Have a happy and healthy ’24!
I believe any individual with the money to buy the car to begin with is more than worthy to do whatever they choose. Be it a full restoration or a mild refurbishment. Are you suggesting only those who have greater means are more deserving? Sure sounds like it.
God bless America indeed. In it’s entirety.
Yes indeed, certain cars no longer belong to the humble hobbies but to those gear-heads who have the loot to do it right. 57 Chevy bel Aire 2 drhdtp cars have become an elitist model and therefore deserve the same treatment as pre-war Packard.
That’s how I feel and stand by it.
God Bless America
Amazing how the attitudes have changed. I have gotten the” people like you shouldn’t be allowed to have this any longer stuff” when I drive any one of the, now coveted classics that were someone else’s junk when I purchased them decades ago. My reply is always the same to these types of attitudes. Guys like me shouldn’t have them and I will stand there and watch it go through the shredder rather than sell it to someone like you. I whole heartedly mean it. The car world isn’t what it was, I find very few car people but mostly profit seekers or as I refer to them,” The fast and loud crowd” This is a great car on here I have a few in this type of condition and it is a time capsule and once running and it appears rust free a wonderful thing to have and enjoy.
I’ve seen wonders done for a solid car with faded paint were rub it out with rubbing compound then polish. The 57 is the tops in the tri 5s.
I had a 55 Belair 2 dr hardtop. It was flat black. It had a 394 ci. Olds engine 4 speed Hydro tanny.
Absolutely!
Also on CL in SoCal is a frame-off restored ’55 for $49k. The ’55 is worth a bit less than a ’57 but even so you could not restore this one for anything close to $20k so if I really wanted a tri-five I’d just go for the ’55 and call it done. Also, you don’t see as many ’55s. You see ’57s at every car show.
Too bad, I was recently informed by an official that all those ’57s were now an “elitist model.”
Funny how that works. I was told that awhile back about my Caballero and an old Impala convertible I still use daily. Not to worry as scrap is three times or more than what I paid for the cars…lol ride on..
Right on Chris! Good on you man.
Personally if someone wants to paint their car purple and pink polka dot they certainly can do so. I’m not advocating conform to my or anyone else’s standards. The true test when the rubber meets the road is who will buy it and how long is it going to take to find the buyer. The world is changing…..
I’d say that would be the opposite. I see more 55’s. At show’s and up for sale on eBay.
Is it evolution progression
or regression? Depends on who you ask.
Ask Devo.
Whip it! Whip it good! LOL!
I shall not forget, in the early autumn of 1955, when the new cars came out and began to show up on the roads. For most makes, it was a dramatic change — even the Ford and Packard drastic face-lifts on their existing designs of 1952 and 1951, respectively. Plymouth simply looked weird to me, though the all-new Dodge was pretty. But perhaps the most shocking (in a GOOD way) was Chevrolet. That was the year when the squared-off new 1954 bodies of Cadillac, Buick, and Oldsmobile, made it down the line to Pontiac and Chevrolet. Pontiac tastefully included their basic styling-cues of 1954, making it look more like a transition than a revolution, following the lead examples of Buick and Oldsmobile the year before. But Chevrolet, which had been the victim of a clumsy face-lift on the 1949 body for 1953, then an update for 1954 which improved things, but still looked like an ageing design — suddenly for 1955 was something ELSE! And I marvelled at the grille which broke pattern with trends at the time and made a statement of its own. Sadly, for 1956, their face-lift made everything more conventional again, and the ’56 Chevy did not appeal to me. The 1957 face-lift, however, at the time, was exciting, and I know why that one has remained the most popular of those three years. They were everything you’d want a car to be — except, over time, they proved to be rust-buckets, sadly. But a ’57 Chevy, with that 283 V-8, would run for ever… until it fell apart from body-rot.
only original once. I would leave the exterior as is and maintain.
this is a gem…
The listing says it has an automatic transmission, but the picture shows a clutch pedal.
Looking at the under hood photo I can see both shift linkage stubs coming off the steering column for a manual transmission. Also, under the dash above the right knee looks like the overdrive T-handle.
To Colin Carnegie: I think you’re right. Though I only can access the photos included in the Barn Finds listing; none-the-less, I remember the semi-circular automatic shift gear-indicator atop the steering column in these cars — and I do not see that here. Curiouser and curiouser.
Thank God there are automobile museums that have unmolested vehicles preserved in their factory condition. Otherwise history would be nonexistent.
Sadly, Frog, given the penchant people have these days to modify these older classics, instead of preserving them as the factories made them, I fear you’re right.
Shipping will add on another thousand dollars, cool car to restore,most cars the average cost to restore is 30 thousand and that’s low ,so 60 grand but you got a car you could see first hand what went through to bring it back to life
To Hoss: cr-ACK that WHIP! Strange, how I remember that weird 1980 record! Despite the reality that my musical era was thirty years earlier; for some reason, the DEVO hit stuck with me…
The … “crankcase ventilation?” tube coming out of the right valve cover is a mystery to me. Everything else on the engine looks original, but that, definitely not. Also, as nice as this car appears to be, if you do ALL the work yourself you will have at minimum an additional $30 grand in it to do a top quality “nothing special” restoration not counting your time. And if you have to pay someone to do the work add $50 -$70 grand. Top quality “nothing special” ’57 Chevy Bel-Airs are fetching around $95 grand today so…… Also the add has been removed so somebody pulled the trigger.
Yeah I also thought that was a little strange as well. Also if that engine was the original one, where are the script valve covers?
Reading all of the comments, it grieves me, rather, that some take these things so seriously, that they would dictate who should, or should not, own these cars. I love older cars, especially as they graced my younger years. And I do cherish their still being around. However, lest we forget, an automobile was never designed to be an icon, and it certainly is not an object of worship. It was a utilitarian machine intended to serve a purpose, at a given price, and to last as long as it might, before being discarded once it longer could service within practical costs of repair. That’s IT. And for most people, that’s what a car IS. Before folks suddenly made the “tri-fives” into elite cultural symbols, the greater number of them simply were parted-out in junk yards, and then met the inevitable crusher to be sold-off as scrap. And yes, I confess a certain sadness in encountering a truck loaded with flattened cars, and the grim squashed face of a 1958 DeSoto looking out from the pile in grimace of seeming pain. We cannot call loved ones back to life from the grave, either. Whatever an old car is, for those who love and appreciate them, it is to be ENJOYED by an owner, in whatever manner that would take FOR THAT OWNER. I bought a lot of phonograph-records in the 1940s and 1950s, which I still enjoy. Some would insist that I ought never to play them, for fear of wear or accidental damage, owing to their “value”. Well, I never have heeded that admonishment, since it is WHAT IS RECORDED ON THEM which gives me pleasure, not what they might be listed for in some price guide. And now I have lived long enough to see their values peak and then crash later — to a point where most of them are now worth practically nothing on the open market. But for me they retain the same value they always have, and I go on enjoying them freely, with a warm smile of sublime satisfaction. And when I am gone, what then to do with these many 78s and others is someone else’s concern: most of them, as carefully as I have preserved them, might wind-up in the landfill, for all I know. Life goes on — this too shsll pass — with or without our transitory trinkets.
You are correct. I am blessed as I still have my first car, including my Matchbox and Hotwheels along with the tin one I peddled through one of the nicer places I grew up. I was made fun of long ago for driving a 59 Impala convertible. I ran a wrecking yard out of high school and literally put thousands of these priceless automobiles through a press. I put up with zoning boards, crappy neighbors, cops, thieves, and so on. Now you can’t enjoy for fear of theft or the snob attitude that this stuff somehow belongs to the elitist class only. Enjoy your records, play them just as I will play with my cars…Ride on
To Chris Cornetto: thanks for seconding my comments! I am not sure that it is elitism, though, so much as it is an internal terror of losing all well-preserved evidence of what once was — especially if that which “once was” at one time formed a part of our everyday experience. But, when it comes to material things engineeered, designed, and manufactured by mankind; nothing is “priceless”, in the sense of being too valuable to let go. Our lives are destined to end; yet we strive to enjoy our remaining time. Our “toys” will become extinct also — so, let’s appreciate them in whatever manner we like! I’ve always disliked “hot-rods”, and “original” cars being permanently violated by irreversible modification with updates. But, in the end, what does it matter? Let’s have FUN with this interest in older cars, and not “judge” the legitimacy of one-another’s ways of doing so!