My father just bought this '57 Chevy 210 sedan with plans to make it his daily driver. The original 283 currently has a spun bearing, so a rebuild or donor engine is in order. I haven't seen it in person, but all indications are it's either original paint or a quite old paint job. My mother (she's been around us and old cars for years) actually went and looked at it and paid for it. The worst of it (that she saw) is a crack in the paint above the rear drivers side door handle. Maybe a quick repaint will be in it's future, maybe not. Interior needs a little work, but my father's an upholsterer so not a big deal. I'm thinking it's a pretty good buy at $4K. What do you all think? What's the value of this old sedan?
Sean,that is a really nice little 4 door,I don't know what the market is but I would think that was a pretty good buy,won't take much to put it on the road.........Phillip
Phillip...we've never been big follower's of '57's. Always liked 'em, just not something on our radar to have to have. My father's been looking for something as a daily he can relate to. He's tired of the new computer controlled, sensor fed engines. This came along, price was right, and he figured a new engine was still cheaper than most m*** air flow sensors! LOL We know it will have its sins once we get into it, but it's a cheap buy in to something that he can drive daily and not worry about door dings, etc.
I'd say that they came out all right on that one even though that door is going to need some work and the engine needs rebuilt. A guy could probably go clear though that engine for a thousand or so depending on what the machine work cost or it might be better to pull it and the trans and stick them in the corner of the shed for safe keeping and put a crate motor and od trans in it and call it good. Any way about it, it should be a comfortable and easy to work on car that your folks can jump in and go where ever without a second thought.
Wow! That thing is in great condition, great buy. I think you got a great deal, spun bearing and all.
Excellent buy!!! Had a few of these for dailys in the past, great and dependable cars. I understand your pops. I feel the same way about this new technology ****. I dont drive anything newer than '72. Good luck and have fun. There's lots of cheap smallblocks on craigslist. Throw one in and fix the 283 over time.
I see a lot of sedans at about $7,500 or more. So it looks like you got a sweet deal, the car looks very nice in the pix. Congrats, going to be a fun cruzer. Looks great just the way it is dressed, love it! ~sololobo~
Thanks everyone. We have a lot of blood and sweat in our other builds. This one will be nice/fun for him simply because it's low-buck, and isn't the result of years of work. If a chip or ding happens, no big deal. We have a couple of small blocks sitting around. If the 283 needs too much it will be replaced, but hoping once we get in it, we can salvage it.
Sounds like a good deal to me . It looks pretty nice - I'd rock that ****er as MY daily , that's for sure !!
Well, we went and picked it up last Saturday. Very pleasantly surprised. The car is showing only 68,**x miles. Judging by wear on the pedals and lack of grime in the engine bay, I'd say that is about right. There is essentially no rust on this car. Bottoms of fenders, rear quarters, rockers, bottoms of doors, etc are as solid as when it rolled out of the factory in '57. There's a slight bit of rust through on the trunk floor on the drivers side only - a section about 1" wide by maybe a foot long that's has a bit of rust through. Otherwise it's spotless. I pulled the spare tire out of the well, and no a spot of rust. It still has the rubber mat in the trunk. The original undercoating is mostly in place. It still sports the original shocks (with some cool "helper" style springs). The front end needs rebuilt - the rubber in the control arm bushings are in bad shape from age. Kit has already been ordered. The engine does have a spun bearing. Amazingly, the engine has tons of compression and started right up without any smoke, so it should be a pretty straight forward rebuild. It has the powerglide trans, which seemed strong pulling the car on and off the trailer. There's a new 3 core aluminum radiator - about the only non-original part on the car besides the re-done interior. As for paint, it looks great from about 20' away. Up close, it's been painted twice. It appears originally to have been coral, followed by teal, and then black. Cheap paint jobs with little prep. Nothing that can't be remedied over a few weekends. The positive side of the ****py paint job is it certainly can't hide anything! Current plan is to rebuild the engine and front suspension, new tires, work out the bugs while driving, and eventually I'll put a new paint job on it. Plus it will give us a few more things (misc. trim, etc) to look for at the swap meets!
I sold my 57 hardtop to continue funding my house remodel....... sad days.... nice daily driver.... enjoy
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