There has been a slew of early Corvettes coming out of the woodwork lately, all in project quality condition. I will say this ’57 project is enticing due to it potentially being a factory Fuelie, but also from the condition and the number of parts that are included in the sale. The body is free of any major damage, making this project just one step closer to getting back on the road. With a little over a day remaining bidding has risen to $18,000. Take a look at this ‘Vette here on eBay out of Brooksville, Florida.
While this is only a small snippet of what is included, the seller claims that there are only a few known missing parts. Although this car is thought to be a factory Fuelie, it seems that there are no fuel injection parts included in the sale. Instead, there is a 283 V8 with a Dual Quad set up, with a manual transmission.
Although bare, the body looks decent for a 61-year-old fiberglass sports car. Don’t worry, the driver door has been placed inside of the car. There are some signs of bodywork, but there does not appear to be any evidence of cracking or breakage. There are a few interesting areas on the frame where it would appear that someone custom welded brackets or flanges to the frame rails and later cut them out. With a decent body and a truckload of parts, this ’57 looks like a great start to a restoration. Would you take on this project ’57?
Gasser.
It’s like a model car disassembled with missing parts and no instructions where one needs lots of air plane glue to sniff then buy this one and drop another 50+ grand in and say what did I do …
When completed one could of purchased a running one cheaper .
If you do not have the Fuelie injection parts I guess it’s a carot to dangle to hook a buyer .
Let’s help the flipper with a “Catfish” story..
This car was owned by Ernest Hemmingway and the car was driven by his six toed cats 🐈 on weekends .
This Corvette was disassembled under an all night gambling bet at a Duval street bar and lost in a poker game but never reassembled. Then After his departure was traded around Florida but now available without the fuel injectors do to the last poker hand was won by Ernest with FI system bet.
The six toe cats hid the part won’t tell where they hid the FI system either 😮😏
It would cost $100,000 for a quality ground up restoration on this car. My advice…. Buy one already completed. Much cheaper !
Conspicuously absent is a picture looking front to back. The left front headlight enclosures looks banged up. With that said it is fiberglass which is easy to fix. I love the cars that include lots of odd and end parts, they are getting harder to find and you get a project included.
Was this a former driver training car? With dual steering wheels?
I took a 1960 Corvette down to bare frame and put it back together using LOTS of pics during disassembly and LOTS of pics of other Corvettes at events, and I got the Duntov Award, NCRS’s top award. I have two basket-case, but complete ’57’s that I am restoring. It’s nice to have the ’60 handy since they are 90% the same. The fuelie engine looks real from what I can tell and the pad, though rusty, looks good, although that doesn’t mean the car was a fuelie. That would require more inspection.
ATTENTION: Carefully check the engine and then hot tank the block, but DO NOT touch the pad and DO NOT machine it away. A pic of a real 283/245 2×4 engine pad is attached. Notice that the last letter on this and the last letter on the ’57 for sale are slightly crooked. This is because all but the last letter was gang-stamped first and then, when they knew what the final engine build was to be, they hand-stamped the last letter.
It looks like this car could be reassembled and restored, but the FI unit will be maybe $10K to buy and restore.
Good to see a couple of guys who know what they’re talking about. I include the seller in that list since he seems straight up and lays it all out for bidders to see, including pics of the build numbers.
This could be a good project for someone who wants a ’57 FI, but with these selling at auctions in very good / excellent condition at a median of about $90K for the 250 HP and about $92.5 for the 283 HP cars I’m not sure you could stay within those numbers restoring this car even if you paid yourself peanuts for your work.
OTOH it could make a good retirement project if you get enough satisfaction from dealing with a car that needs everything.
It would take more than one lifetime to make something out of this.
It’s like an erevtor set. Just out it together. Ezzy-peezy. Lol.
At $18K and the reserve not met, good luck with that. I see TONS of man hours here. Not sure about anyone else, but I won’t work for a nickel an hour. LOL
Maybe put a nice electric motor in it, and prepare for the future of the automobile.. Clean, powerful, reliable, and unusual. Sure to get comments at the next attended car show, My guess is that after we are all gone (maybe sooner, a lot sooner) many old cars will be converted to electric running gear for all sorts of reasons.
It’ll sell.
Possibly an FI car the holes for the badging in the cove say yes.. I think I remember that FI cars had unique mounting points (for something FI related) on the left side inner fender.. but maybe I’m mistaken. Regardless by ways of “number checking” there’s really no way to confirm it on C1s.. VINs aren’t what they are today.
Oh my, no, no no. Did I say no? Vetts’ are so overrated. Lovely to look at, yes. Like the cheerleaders in highschool, most don’t age well, and WELL past their expiration date they need lots of updates and maintainace. You gotta really love them because they need constance work.
I’d question whether you’ve owned one? Between a cumulative of 22 years driving between my fathers (57) and mine (56) there’s only been one minor mechanical issue.
I’d trust either of those cars to take my cross country before my late model Silverado…
Every pre ’62 Vette is a potential fuel infected model. All you need are the rare parts and some re stamping on the block. Has anybody ever found out how many more FI corvettes there are than made?
Probably at least as many as the excess number of ‘67 big blocks. LOL
56/57 Corvettes best looking ever designed. My opinion probably comes from owning a 57 in immaculate condition with a 4 barrel, 4 speed and both tops. Got married at 19 and for some reason sold it a year later. A few years later we tracked it down but they wouldn’t sell. We both regret selling it 50 years later. Love to make this a project in my garage!
The price$ they ask & are getting for Corvettes like these tend to make me wonder. Back in 1971 with my brand new Ontario Orange LT-1 2 Top roadster sitting on one side of the garage and my bare bodied roller of a ’59 on the other which I planned to build for drag racing sat untill I found out how much fun the LT-1 was to drive the ’59 went up for sale. I got a whole $ 350.00 for it and had to go repossess it when the deadbeat couldn’t come up with the balance due. $ 200.00 . It eventually sold. Makes me wish I never sold either one.
If I were to invest in a piece of fiberglass, it would definitely be a 50s thru 60 model! After that they all look like crap! This is a great project for some corvvettey fan! I am definitely to old to grab one like this, I just don’t bend and roll around on the ground very well! LOL
My personal favorite Corvettes for the street are the 57 and 62, based solely on looks. The ultimate is the 1963 Grand Sport, which I have seen driven in races on several occasions at Laguna Seca and a couple of other venues. To quote Delmo Johnson, the driver who spent more time behind the wheel of a Grand Sport than anyone,
” Anybody who tells you they were in control of that car is a God Damned Liar.”
The Grand Sport weighed over 1,000 lbs less than a stock Sting Ray, had a 6 inch shorter wheelbase, and a 377 cubic inch engine making over 550 horsepower. The combination of the shorter wheelbase, lower weight, and aerodynamics would cause the car to try to wheelstand coming out of a corner if the gas pedal was too vigorously applied. Johnson said it was the only car he ever drove that would lift the wheels off the ground in all 4 gears. In a road race in Mexico, the aero lift on the front end was so strong the front wheels were off the ground at 160 mph. I can personally attest to seeing the front tires lift coming out of the hairpin at Laguna Seca during one of the Monterey
Historic Auto Races when I had a press photo pass – the owner / driver was vigorously trying to chase down a 289 Cobra ( This particular Cobra was the winningest Cobra of all time, being a regular campaigner in the SCCA )
https://www.classicdriver.com/en/car/shelby/cobra/1964/394593
More on the Grand Sports-
https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/mus/2008/01/Grand-deception/1567289.html
You sound like you are somewhat intelligent? Why cuss God? Why use any nasty words when there are young people looking at this site too? Think before you write! Please
He was quoting a driver.
Dick Thompson said he had to lift to negotiate the “kink” in Mid Ohio’s backstretch. If he didn’t he wouldn’t have enough front tire contact to steer the car.
interesting comments
i have seen cars missing most everything, bodies and frames rusted thru and everyone in a lather to restore. here you have for the most part a pretty complete car, no rust, plenty of parts, and not a bad asking price. but everybody is trashing it. if you think someone other than a dealer can restore a car today and come out even, you aren’t paying attention.most people i know, understand that you are going to lose money but don’t care. they have a love affair for the car they buy.
Very good statement bob!