57 Chevy Convert back from the dead

This got rolling in March of this year as a project. This was in no means a small undertaking. The car was purchased from a Wisconsin boneyard in 1976 for $100.00 with a GM/Delco Continental Kit. Thought i'd share the adventure up to this point. It's come a long ways in a short amount of time. There is roughly $7000.00 worth of new tin in this, Enjoy.

 

on it goes....

 

More work ongoing...

 

Off to the paint shop.

 

I believe that's the understatement of the day...how many pieces was it in? Is that how it was purchased, or just how far down and cut apart it was for storage? I'd love to here more background on the last 30 years...

 

WOW! looks great, nice work.

 

Very nice! A lot of impressive work done there.

 

It was in the bone yard for a reason!!!! Thats how far down we had to take it to start to rebuild it. The guy that owns it kept it in storage from 1976 until early this year. The Continental kit he has , he's been offered $10,000.00 for and has turned it down. all the parts have GM/ Deleco part numbers and are mint. The car is now in paint, arrow straight black!!! As soon as i'm smart enough to figure out how to post those pictures i will.

 

see if this works...

 

This is about where it's at as of now, will post more updates as i get them.

 

damn, nice work

 

very nice

 

Thanks, it was a labor of love and the owner is just a really down to earth, cool dude. Love doing work for these kind of people. Glad he's the one that has to keep it clean!!!

 

Nice work.

 

That’s absolutely fantastic! You are an Artist
“There is roughly $7000.00 worth of new tin in this”
How much in Labor?
How much to finish it?
What’s it worth when it’s finished?

 

Thank-you

Ah, the power of beer and hammers!!!

As Elvis would say, Thank-you, Thank-you very much.

Thanks for the support!!!

We had 165 hours in the metal work and we are @ $35.00 an hour ( dirt cheap, he was quoted over $10,000 by others and most would'nt even touch it). Think he said the paint was $8500.00 cause it was really straight when the painter got it and no surprizes for him. Figure he'll have somewhere around $48,000-55,000 in it when everything is said and done, but then i have'nt see one of these that is nice go for anything under $80,000.00 at sale. He told me that he'll have it till he's dead and seeing he's already had it 33 years theres no reason to doubt him.

 

So what's next? Straight-axle? Moon tank? Radirs? Blown Gen VI BBC?

J/K. Nice work so far.

 

It's not mine so the build will be a little OT but i think he's using a late model injected 5.4 chevy and OD trans. Know that he's going to run Crager wheels and thinking that outwardly it'll have a 60's vibe going on.

 

The old quarters look clean in the first pic, especially for a Wisconsin junkyard car. I'm shocked at how much trunk floor was still left in it. Excellent work though, looks very good.

 

Yeah they look solid cause of all the fibergl*** mesh, bondo and misc. patch work. The floors were really thin and a lot of pin holes. I hung the better of the two quarters on the garage wall, the thing weighs about 80 pounds. The car was in inside storage for the last 33 years.

 

Dedication, you have it by the bucket full, GREAT work!

Nick.

 

Looks great. Nice save.... Why not put a full 1/4 on that left side instead of having that 10 foot long mig seam??

 

hey SCRUFFY...great body and paint. YES you are an artist for sure, but the owner knew that, YES? and i SALUTE the man for saving that 57 chevy. argueably americas most loved car. and certainly 1 of mine. please keep us posted, as i'am very interested in outcome. call me POP...or the old FART!

 

The owner had all the sheet metal before we got it. We worked with what we had.

 

VERY NICE! Love the color combo!

 

Great job. Im glad the car was saved instead of s****ed.

 

Was it originally a black car?
Do you have any pics before you started on it?

 

Looks like it was white originally??
I'd love to see some much before pics too if you have any. Does the owner have any from when it was found?

 

those converts are so valuable , it would be smart to keep it stock
a powerpack and glide goes down the road real good
but , it's his car
I would big block it and watch the body twist

 

Beautiful job. Great to see another one saved.