This pastweekend I had an older guy bring me a SB Chevy engine to check out. He wants me to put it in his 34 Ford coupe, but was not sure the engine was any good. I will spare you all of the engine details, the main thing about the engine was it looked like it came out of a fire. It was a good '69 327 with good heads, ****tershield, and Muncie 4 speed. So I asked him about the origin of the engine and he told me that in the 70s he bought it as part of a 57 Chevy SW that had burned up in a fire. I asked him what became of the car and he said it was still sitting right where he left it...on the back of his property. So I am thinking with this engine there may have been some other good parts on the car...like the rear end. So I ask him if he pulled the rear and he says "no". (I am getting close to the point here!) So later in the day I go to his house (out in the sticks) to look at the car. It has been there so long there is a tree growing up thru the engine compartment. It was in a fire alright and burned up all the interior and most of the exterior paint. But all the stainless trim is still on it as well as the rear axle (posi) unit, tailgate, rear bumper, doors, dash, etc. He has told me I can take anything off the car I want as it is junk to him. So here is where I need help from HAMBERs. What little brackets etc do you need for your 4 door station wagon? The car is not worth taking the whole thing. So I will get the rear end and after that I dont know what would be good as I am just a simple 32-40 Ford guy needing some '57 Chevy education!!! I will get some pictures next time I go there just for entertainment purposes.
How badly is the body burned? Things like the lower rear of the rear door opening rust terrible and are not reproduced. Pieces like that might be worth cutting off if they survived the fire.
Save the dashboard, inside garnish moldings, and, if they're not too badly rusted, the tailgate & liftgate hinges, latches, and hardware....
If it's a P case posi rear they bring good money. Maybe it's even a vette center section. Somebody on here will know what casting #'s to look for.
The entire front suspension and steering, the rear door doglegs if they're good (not repro'd and everyone wants them), gas tank, ANY of the gl*** if good, bumpers, and the aforementioned tail gait lift pieces. Butch/56sedandelivery.
As said, the tailgate and ***ociated hardware. The roof itself may be worth something as well as the side windows & trim.
Went there again today and discovered it is not a 4-door, but a two door wagon. Here are some pictures of it. Was probably a cool car when it went up in smoke! The last picture is a shed that fell down 10 years ago and is full of 55-57 parts. You can see the 55 grill sticking out of the rubble. Parts are not for sale, I asked...
If it where me I would grab the whole car, get it in the light and up in the air. Then you know what you got.
There is absolutely no floor in it. I can see the rear end housing just by looking inside. The frame has been on the wet ground for a long time so I cant see it being any good. I really feel that trying to get the whole thing would be a waste of time and effort. The pictures make it seem like it is not that bad....but it is!
Your first posting referred to it as a "4 door station wagon", but it's a 2 door. Changes a lot of things. I see something MORE interesting in the collapsed barn pic, a 55 grille! What else is in there? Better look. As far as the wagon goes, the heat of the fire probably warped every panel on it, but iF there are any that are not, get them. Too bad of an untimely end for what was probably a decent wagon in it's day. Butch/56sedandelivery.
Yep you're right, I said it was a 4-door wagon. Either I cant count or my eyes are worse than I thought! The collapsed barn has lots of 55-57 parts but the owner says none of them are for sale.
Sorry for the randum bump... this is a shot in the dark...I am having trouble finding a 57 wagon tail gate & lift gate... Is this still alive?
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