Can somebody school me on 57 coronets. I just scored a free 57 with 58k original miles with I think a 325 poly hemi, It`s a poly for sure I know the look of the valve covers. It`s a 4 door. Man I`m so pumped, this is my first old car ever. been searching for a deal for 5 years, and was in the right place in the right time. It needs tires, plug wires, fluids and gas. I`ll have pics tomarrow afternoon of it. It looks like it has old 60`s glass packs and duals on it. I heard the timing on the ignition was actually retarded and made 20+ more hp with it advanced. It`s the 4 door of this http://www.carnut.com/cgi-bin/_mopar.pl?/show/00/ark/ark016.jpg
Congratulations on finding that neat old Dodge. It should have a 325 Poly (don't refer to it as a Hemi ). If you can get the info off the data plate - it should be on the passenger's side of the firewall - you can post it up on www.forwardlook.net and there is a guy there that has fun decoding them. He'll tell you all about your car. So is yours a 4dr sedan or 4dr hardtop? One, two, or three colors? Stick or pushbuttons? Doesn't really matter, they're all good scores these days.
I bought a '57 Coronet 2 dr hdtp in '65 with 28,000 miles on it and traded it off in '74, mileage then 130,000. Torqueflite, 4 bbl & duals (all hardtops & converts supposedly got "Power Pack' equipment), power steering, brakes, seat, & Solex glass. Total expenses other than routine service ? A voltage regulator, 1 brake reline, & lower ball joints every 3 or 4 years. They throw out the first quart of oil - run it on "add oil'' or it'll eat a quart a day. They have pretty dashes ... They handle better than any other '50s car ... You can lower it with a wrench ... And the factory dual exh. head pipes are designed to have cutouts welded in right where they kick up at the torsion bar anchor ... They look pretty good with 4 '56 Chevy tail light lenses.
Where can I find a 2 or 3 carb intake and headers for the 325 poly? I wanna go with the stromberg 97`s eventually and a 3/4 cam in it. It`s a 4 door sedan I believe. I would had pics already but my camera didnt take the pics for some reason yesterday when it was on the flatbed. I couldnt sleep all last night thinking about this beast. theres very little rust hole on it and the floors are solid with no holes at all. the pipes look good too. Would I be able to use chrysler 300 parts for it? like a front end rebuild? All the rubber on the front end looks too rotted out for the road, so I dont wanna drive around like that.
Sweet car man! I have a 59 Plymouth I'm getting together myself. I'm heading to St. Louis in a few weeks on business. I'll be there for two weeks and plan on taking the weekend to look around junk yards for some cool $hit for my car. Where did you find this one?
It came from my brother in law`s grand parent`s property that was bought out by a developer and I had it towed out at the last second. They were going to bulldoze it, can you believe that. wtf. Originally it was his uncle`s car he was going to fix up 20 years ago but parked it there in the woods. I see Kanter automotive sells the brakes and suspension rebuilds for a reasonable price. I also scored a free drill press out of this whole thing and some cool old time pellet guns.
haha... You know theforwardlook.net, as mentioned, is a great place to start. I also just recently found a site called 59sportfury.net. Although you have no Fury, it's still worth checking out. I hope you get yours on the road in shorter time than it's taking me. Good luck!
Good find man!! You definitely have a poly. Hemi and poly intakes are the same as well as cam, lifters, timing chain, etc. Just behind the thermostat housing on the top of the block just in front of the valley cover will be a STAMPED set of numbers and letters. Please post here or PM me with the first 4-5 digits and I can verify exactly what you have. Should be a 325. These things actually run as good as the 325 Hemi but that is just my opinion. Assuming you have a pushbutton automatic it will be a cast iron torqueflite trans. Glad you were able to save another old car destined for the crusher!! Al
I`ll look up the numbers as soon as I can. Yea I saved this car from the crusher at the last minute. They were signing the property over today so I was so stressing about getting somebody to tow it all day tuesday, that I felt sick by night fall lol. It`s good to know the intake is the same as a hemi. I want to have atleast 2x2 intake in it`s stock form. Maybe some headers and advance the timing a little with a light. I almost crapped my pants when I saw it on the roll back in the parking lot when I pulled up to meet the driver. It seemed too good to be true. I`ve also got a 331 hemi sitting in ewing Illinois. I dont know when I can get that pos desoto towed out but the engine is all thats left of it. How long do these polys last? Milagewise on average. I think a roller cam and lifters will do alot for it and port and polish the heads. eventually this car will drag the bumper and spit fire from the ass end.
At one time i was told that the intakes interchange between Hemi & Poly, but it seems they don't. The short block is the same except for the pistons, you also have to change the complete head assembly & pushrods. The 331 is a Chrysler, if you have a DeSoto Hemi it would be a 330, unless someone swapped engines. Check the code on a flat in front of the valley cover.
Dodge poly and hemi intakes are same. 2x2 intakes go for stupid money. Last one on ebay was about $800. Offy still makes 3x2 and 2x4 intakes for about $350. Go on the hemihotheads wanted/for sale site and you can get a factory 4 bbl intake for about $100. Good luck finding a roller cam as they never made one. Chrysler poly and hemis along with the DeSoto's are different. Get the Poly Perfomance book from Victory Library. It will tell you everything that was made and what interchanges. The first thing you need to buy is a good hub puller.
www.forwardlook.net - just don't let the boys on the board know you're building a hot rod. But they can decode the tag on the cowl under the back edge of the hood and tell you just about anything you want to know about it. They also have info on brake upgrades to get a conventional Bendix type on the front and how to get rid of the tapered axle rearend so you don't have to contend with a drum puller every time you work on the rear brakes. These being leaf spring cars, there are some later model Mopar rearends that bolt in. I saved a '57 Dodge 2-door wagon from the scrapper last year, not as nice shape as that, but a cool car just the same. Sold a '58 Coronet convertible out of the same yard, too.
Holy Sh!t, you just made my day. That car is in my barn now! I bought it in Redondo Beach in '99 (damn time flies). Here's what it looks like now. ...at least my car made it to Paso. Any idea what year you shot the picts??
What does it take to air bag one of these? Will kits from other cars interchange with it? Or do I have to do some cutting and welding?
I looked at the back of the pictures and found out they are from the 1994 WCK Paso Robles show and the 1994 Blessing of The Cars in Burbank, Ca.
Torsion bars for the front suspension and leafs for the rear. Cutting and welding will be required. But then that is the case in 99% of all bags. Even with 3" blocks the driveshaft will hit the tunnel. E-body rears are a bolt in but a puller will a be lot cheaper. Look into putting discs on the front. Most of the parts you can get from a 'yard.
My dad bought one new. I was 12, I guess. Of course I wanted him to buy a Chevy............ We kept it 2 years and traded it in on a '59 Royal Lancer..... Both were that "rose and grey" combo. He loved those MoPars.
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