1957 Chevrolet 150 2 Door Station Wagon
1957 would be the last year for the tri-five era, but in most people's minds the best as far as design and styling. It has the lineup of the models ranging in price and options from the 150 which was the basic car, to the 210 which gave us some upgrades, to the top of the line Bel Air, which was the "loaded version".
For consignment, a 150 version of a tri five wagon. This original model came from the factory with 2 doors, a rear gate, and a back bench for extra passengers. The car was mainly built for the suburban family to get around or the sole proprietor to carry out their trades with the use of this car to haul, store, and shuttle to various job sites. That is where it ends for the utilitarian 150 and our consignment takes over with numerous mods, upgrades and customizations literally to the nines, making it even better than the top of line Nomad in several more modern ways. READ ON!
Exterior
All beautiful straight steel panels, with well minded gaps cover the now deep green painted end of the pool exterior of this car. The visored headlights, gold grille side mounted rubber tipped "Dagmars", wrap around grille, and lower grounding bumper are the essential for the 57 year. Also the hood embedded rockets with their dip down in the hood are another nice 50's futuristic touch. All this chrome, brite-work, trim and badging is excellent, having been removed and polished to a sparkling shine. The front wrap around windshield is trimmed with shiny chrome as are the windows, and rear wrap around the corner side glass has a very beautiful rake rearward from the side view. This in conjunction with the slowly descending spear and stainless steel ribbed panel on the rear quarter are making up the "look" for the iconic 57 models. Large fins protrude way past the rear roofline and house the vertical tail edge trimmings, crescent moon shaped tail lights and rear backup light ovals firmly implanted within the rear bumper below. Vertical ribs adorn the rear tailgate and above is a crank down rear glass within a working up and down tailgate. Fins were a big thing in this era and these take the cake with a protrusion of at least another foot of bodywork past the tailgate. Don't pierce yourself when loading that 4x8 sheet of plywood or 5 gallon buckets of paint inside! 15-inch Centerline drag wheels are on all 4 corners and all wrapped with 215/70R15's in front, and larger 275/60R15's on back all fun black-wall form.
Interior
Custom is the word bird, for this car as the confines of the doors which sport black horizontal ribbed vinyl panels and chromed actuator and cranks is a brand new interior. It has a 10 point roll cage with swing-out side bars for easy access to the front modern buckets with large bolsters and stitched tuck and roll inserts. Racing bets will keep you secure during the boost to hyperdrive. The dash retains its original square bump up from the factory 57 look, however is now all black and sports more modern gauges flanking the 50's styled round large speedo. Plenty of extra gauges are peppering the remainder of the dash now set up to monitor the healthy mill upfront, (more on the in a few, stay tuned...), and on the dash to is a huge tachometer with a shift light imbedded within its black and silver round exterior bezel. Vintage AC and heat are installed, and a gold BelAir badge is next to a rectangular 50's styled clock. All the dash front is full metal jacket black. For the back, a simple bench/bucket arrangement is in and it will be a quest through the roll cage to get to it! Jumper styled seats are only as a second thought back here. For the remainder of the storage bed area, all is nice, clean, and with black short pile carpeting. A Hurst shifter sits on the hump and black carpeting floods the floors where the chairs are. The headliner above is nice and tight and has back metal ribs in the seams to ensure it stays that way.
Drivetrain
Residing within a completely restored engine compartment, we see a clean well done 502ci V-8 monster mill which is the consigner stated cubic inches. Within it has hydraulic roller cams with a .640 lift and a 264 duration @ .050. The heads are Edelbrock Performer RPM rectangle ported heads with 315cc runners and 2.91i/1.88e valves pushed up and down by Crane Race Gold roller rocker arms. On top is a single 4-barrel carburetor on top of an Edelbrock Endura-shine intake and its a custom 850cfi double pumper version. On back is a 6-speed Richmond manual transmission, with a Lakewood bellhousing, it has a Ram billet flywheel, and a Ram clutch. On back a 12 bolt Eaton Pro Posi axle with 4.56 gears. Kooks headers with a 2-1/8-inch primaries lead to a 3.5 inch FlowMaster custom exhaust. Our consignor states that all this adds up to 638hp, although no documentation exists to back this up, so we will take his word.
Undercarriage
All normal underneath with no rust present, although if you call "normal" ladder bar suspension with leaf sprung sliders on the back, and independent coil sprung front suspension with front disc braking and rear drum braking all like new. Also a custom 3-1/2 inch driveshaft and a 15 gallon fuel cell with a 1/2 inch fuel line...completely "normal" for a racer. Performance enhancing on steroids.
Drive-Ability
Our resident Motrhead drove this car and stated it was like high octane sex. The buckets keep you secure whilst the throttle snaps your neck and the sound produced from all these cubes is just melodious. Great stable braking and power steering and braking making driving this former 150 wagon a breeze. He likes it, Hey MIKEY!!
I have a sneaky suspicion after reading this description I've just conjured up that the only "trade" this vehicle is now involved in is that of pink slips when the competition saw the back end of this car from the rag drop. A super duper 150 in straight line competition form with all the comforts of home save for the fireplace! Only that's under the hood one could say during this holiday season?!
A57T276647
A-1500 Series 150
57-1957
T-Tarrytown, NY Assy Plant
276647-Sequential Unit Number
Classic Auto Mall is a 336,000-square foot classic and special interest automobile showroom, featuring over 850 vehicles for sale with showroom space for up to 1,000 vehicles. Also, a 400 vehicle barn find collection is on display. This vehicle is located in our showroom in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, conveniently located just 1-hour west of Philadelphia on the I-76 Pennsylvania Turnpike. The website is www.classicautomall.com and our phone number is (888) 227-0914. Please contact us anytime for more information or to come see the vehicle in person.
