Red And Rusty: 1957 Chevy Chevrolet Bel Air Convertible
This Chevy listed on eBay looks nice from here, at least at a glance, doesn’t it? It’s located in Dade City, Florida. Bidding is over $16,000 at this time and there is no reserve. It will take a lot of work and money before it’s ready for a top-down cruise, though. It was garaged from 1985 until recently and in this case, we don’t even have to wonder why. The seller provided lots of pictures showing the sad state of this droptop. Twenty-eight years of Florida roads took their toll.
With so much filler and rust, there probably wouldn’t be much left after media blasting. The seller has included lots of pictures showing the grim details. Luckily, the parts to fix it are easily available, even for convertibles. The trim is mostly complete and usable. There’s no information provided on the drivetrain. Hopefully, the seat frames are usable. The hole in the transmission tunnel is typical of much of the rest of the car.
There’s no gravel showing through the floor in this picture, but everything you see needs either work or a dumpster.
Here’s the best-looking part of the car. There’s no mention of it, but it appears there’s been some work done in there. Perhaps the engine is already up and running?
The bottom looks much better than you’d expect. There’s no rust showing on the frame or the suspension, which a big plus.
There it is in all its red and rusty glory. Even the new replacement sills are rusty. There are lots of possibilities for this droptop but most aren’t promising. Perhaps the best thing would be someone with lots of skill, money and time who will take this on and be able to finish a restoration. The winner might take his prize home and soon realize how much work and skill it would take to restore this car and give up. Hopefully, it won’t end up in a body shop that will suck up the buyer’s money and never finish the project. Do you think any really good, honest shops would take this on instead of suggesting the customer find a better car? It will be interesting to see how much someone is willing to pay for it and to know what their plans are for it!
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Comments
L Ike it, the floors look dynamite, is yo have welder skills and deep pockets, this would be perfect !
If I wasn’t moving, I’d ake a closer inspection !
Fix it little by little and use it to bomb around town every once in a while.
Back in fall of ’74 I coulda bought a black 57 Bel Air convert for $100, was in a towing yard in S. Seattle, was complete & orig w/ solid floors but rough and no motor.or trans. In summer of 76 I looked at a running and driving 57 Bel Air convert in Duvall that I had spotted in Hemmings classifieds (was about 20 mi away from where I lived), anyhow it was rusty and needed restored, but was a complete presentable driver, right on down to its tired looking convertible top (extreme patina). But $1500 was lot for the car back then, and my $1000 offer was turned down.
I could imagine remedial treatments ranging from Foos, or Kindig, or Fantomworks, all the way up to Roadkill.
I’m old, but I don’t recall tri5s having x frames.
Convertibles did because they lost structural rigidity provided by the roof .
Buzzard. Only convertibles have X frames. They need the extra support. (No roof )
The X frame was installed on all convertibles to add strength and stability to the vehicle due to not have a metal top structure to tie it all together.
IIRC, X frame was for the convertible. , the seller is very upfront about the condition. Sitting at 19k right now. seems very complete with lots of spare parts. Lots of work!
Good luck to the new owner!
It is not an X frame by classical definition. The frame is very similar closed body 57 Chevys with convertibles receiving an X brace to provide more torsional stiffness due to the flexibility of the open body.
Back in the mid 1980’s there was a car similar to this on the side of the road in Huntington, New York for $2500.
It was rusty, interior was beat, and my father talked me out of buying it.
In the early seventies I was offered an extremely nice ’57 convertible for only 4~5 hundred dollars. The owner was leaving for the army and had to dispose of it quick. It was light yellow with black/silver interior and a black top. I turned it down. The reason? Someone had removed the iconic side trim from nose to tail fin and filled in the mounting holes and it was a powerglide. It just didn’t have the ’57 look without the trim so I passed. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I ended up with a two hundred dollar ragged out ’57 2 door sedan that had a three speed on the floor. The chrome stick coming up through the floor and standard shift was the deciding factor. It was also junk. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
I hope the people bidding on it have $25K in the budget for a reproduction body. As David said in the article, once you remove the Bondo and rust there’s not going to be a lot left. With a reproduction body it would be a nice solid car again.
But in order to do that legally you would have to get a “Reconstructed” title, that lowers the value for a lot of people. You can just change the VIN tag to the new body, but that’s really illegal and you’re in big trouble if you ever get caught doing it.
My guess about how it got this bad is it started it’s life 20 miles west of Dade City. The original owner lived on the Gulf and drove it to the beach to wash it with salt water a few times a week. In the 1980’s I had a parts car for my 57 that was driven in the Cleveland to Buffalo snow belt (salt heaven) for 25+ years and it wasn’t near this bad.
I have this same air cleaner on one of my cars and I was told it actually uses more gas that the bigger air cleaner.
Does anybody know if that is true?
Oh Heck,,,,,,,,wanna know what I would DO with this car? Something I have always wanted to do. Buy it….leave it exactly as it iS now, except make it safe to drive, do all the needed mechanicals. BUT…….leave it ratty looking as it is now. Then drive it around on Friday and Saturday nights to all those little 1950’s kind of drive-ins and park with all the beautiful shiny duded up, fuzzy diced wonder wagons and just SIT there with your main squeeze in your James Dean outfit looking oh so cool. Oh, I so wanna Do ThaT !!!
Oh Yeah, forgot to mention I wanna park next to a beautiful total restored 1957 Bel Air convertible with fender skirts and a Continental kit. The driver has to be in his late 50’s with a duck’s butt Elvis hairdo , white tee shirt and a pot belly. Wonder if he will sense the irony
No.
The frame looks solid and the car is pretty complete. It needs a total restoration anyway, so the body rust isn’t a huge deal. Restored ‘57 Chevy convertibles are pretty valuable cars, and virtually every body panel is available new.
I have a 1980 EL Camino s.s. matching numbers 305 A/M New seats carpet head liner and dash cover Factory wheels no rust has a few dents.This is a driver .
I gotta tell ya, I have never seen a site where everyone is so damn quick to throw an old car onto the scrap pile. And, ironically, named “Barn Finds”.
C’mon, people, get real. This is a ’57 BelAir convertible, mostly complete including trim, with a solid frame and apparently original running gear. Of COURSE it will get restored. The body rust may or may not be too extensive for repair panels; if it is, that’s why they make repro bodies for these. Unless you’re a flipper, if your primary concern is always whether or not you’re going to be “underwater” on a car, you’re in the wrong hobby.
And speaking of replacement bodies, nobody is going to get a salvage title or an assigned VIN on this. Yes, that may *technically* be the law, but it ain’t happening. The new owner will have good paperwork, and it’s a simple matter to cut and weld a small portion of the original cowl/doorpost (with the undisturbed original VIN plate) to the new body. The difference between doing that versus just using new floor, quarters, fenders, doors, etc. is only quantitative, not qualitative.
I don’t think anyone is suggesting scrapping it but the real question is which way to go. Most of us would like to see the new owner do the necessary restoration and enjoy this five seven droptop in some fun way. The other way is for someone with deep pockets to do a ground up big bucks restoration and build a trailer queen. I think a lot of folks are like me and think the best cars at shows are the ones showing a few rock chips and perhaps even a door ding or two. These are the cars that are driven and enjoyed.
This is one convertible I would definitely like to own.
Solid frame and looks complete. All sheet metal is easily available and not that pricey and not that difficult to replace. If it can be purchased close to the current price and can do most work yourself you have a nice car to drive and an investment to boot.
you need deep pockets for this one,
If I was going to do this, I’d do exactly what cyclemikey said and “bypass” the technically legal way to do a replacement body. The best way to do it is replace all the panels, and if the frame is OK and the body structure holds up, that’s the way to go. But there might be nothing left once the Bondo and rust is removed and the body is toast.
I keep everything, kind of like a 3 year old. “It’s MINE and you can’t have it.” I still have my first car, a 62 Impala that Dad got me in 1972 after I went to college and he sold my Jeep. I have a 57 Bel Air that has been in the family since 1963. If I did this one, I’d die with it. But I’d like to retire some day so I can’t spend that kind of money on a Bondo box.
That being said, I’d have a hard time investing whatever it takes to restore this car without doing it legally if it needs a new body. Whoever does it will be 99% sure fine with transplanting the VIN tag, the cops have a lot more problems than checking for hidden VIN numbers on a replacement body that doesn’t have them.
The real problem could come a few years down the road when it’s sold a couple of times (and this restored car will bring big money). If it’s worth a lot
less than a stock body car because it’s a replacement body and not disclosed, somebody might get a lawyer and find whoever did the body change without
doing the paperwork. I wouldn’t want to have to hire a lawyer and fight that one. It could get ugly.
So I had a 57 HT that was lightly rodded back in the 80’s. Burgandy metal flake with button tuck interior. Had a 327 with a 4 speed on the floor. I sorted out all the mechanicals and had fun with it for a while then sold it and made $123 bucks profit. At that time I was looking at other 57’s and saw what nicely restored rag tops were going for around $155,000 that was restored. Original excellent concourse might bring about 185K that was about 8 years ago. I think 85k might be tops for one now even at Mecum auctions. Could even be less.
Lets say you wanted to keep as much original metal as possible on this car, I woulds still recommend a dyncorn body you could cut the pieces you need out of. Overall I think that would be a cheaper way to go, rather than buying each part individually so to speak. Ofcourse you would have to strip the car first to figure out which would be the right way to go with it.
I do sort of like Smokey’s idea as well. Just get her up and running safely and park it beside the nicest rag top 57 you can find. Rent a 25 year old hottie to go with it. Bahahahahaha, I’m all about some cheap thrills. :-)
Well, I’ll be darned! Thanks for the nice comments on my intended plans. I also agree with you on the facts of the decreasing high prices for the more popular collector cars, even the Porsches are seeing that!! However for my companion in the car on cruising nights I was really hoping for a cute little 19 year old hottie.
hi! well , if thats what ”rusty ”means to yu all , come on over and take a look at my 912 porshe that i aquired from ”wisconsin ” hell yu guy ”dont know what rust is , and let the doctor show yu all ,how that ;s done !and by the way 57 ,have lost their ”appeal&popularity, and yu’d think yu all are going about this car ????man ! the hot money ,’s still on porshe’s, fastbacks, and ponys convt!
Sorry Pete,but the 57 convertibles have not lost their appeal or price tags. 57’s needing some work range around 50,000.00. ones that have been restored good to great range 100,000.00 to 150,000.00. Just bought one a year ago at a reputable auction for 48,000.00,thinking minimal work needed. All was good til we took the seats out. No minimal now. Will be putting about 40,000.00 more into it. I’ve been offered 120,000.00 when its done. Won’t be selling .
For me I would do the compleat break system ! $ 500 fuel system $400 Mexican blanket seat covers ! And drive the car EVER day I could ! It needs to be seen again as often as possible ! Not a trailer queen but a working man’s car !
Nice Parts car If you have a ’57 Conv. !!!!!!!
I remember back in 1977 when I was 16 I saw a 1956 Bel-Air Convertible here in Los Angeles. The guy wanted $3500 for it and I thought that was astronimical. I wanted to sell my 66 Fairlane Conv ASAP but the thing was only worth about 600 bucks. LMFAO! My how times change.