I found a listing for a 57 Chevy shell. Says that fenders , rear quarter panels and some gl*** are good, also says that it has hood and hood rockets and head light rings. No motor, trans, rear end or front suspension, no doors and no interior. car was found upside down but salveageable. This is description only I have only seen 2 pics. 1 of front end and 1 of back end. From the pics the floor boards look ok. Don't know if it is a hardtop or post though. They're asking $400 obo. Does this sound fair, too high, low? It is a 5 hour drive so just wondering what everyon thinks. My dad used to drive one back around 60-61 and I'd love to recreate one but don't want to buy a POS that cost more than it was worth to begin with. Maybe I should just save my $$.
It sounds like a high dollar project. The old saying about "everything is available" is true with the 55-57's but compared to the price of repop Camaro parts you'll think you're buyin' parts for the space shuttle.
Although $400.00 sounds affordable when you add up what body and mechanical parts are missing it really isn,t. I,d p*** on it and look around for a shell that is more complete. Unless of course you know where a basketcase complete one is and you can combine the two.....
If it is a 2 dr of any type with good floors and not wrecked jump on it. Affordable 4 doors are around for donor cars. Here in Florida doors for tudor post cars bring $250 or so. hardtop doors $500 up if they are good. If it is a POS,RUN!!!!
Sounds like a parts car where you can make some money. I have a 57 2dr post that I recently acquired. Parts are expensive!!! Luckily I just need one floor patch panel, windshield and two side gl***es.
If it's a post, it's a good car to buy and use to convert a 4 door sedan. You'll have to buy a pair of doors to use though. $400 is cheap, but it probably won't be a buildable car without a parts donor.
You can always buy a rotty car with a good roof - if the frame is good and the floors and stuff are good, a roof swap is not that hard. Lots easier to do that than to use it to convert a 4-door.
I know there are better cars than that in Washington .Save your money go in with your dad and buy one .Try Tri-Cities Swap in Kennewick this Saturday ! I Think anybody that uses a quote should have to put who they are quoting ! Me !
What you have here is a dream..........................a really bad one. Can you spell MONEY PIT. Reality is a ***** but there are times when she has to be faced. Frank
Half the stuff that's missing would be thrown away for something else, anyways, and the other half could come from one parts car. It depends how bad you want it, and how bad you're spoiled by finding better cars or how fat your wallet is. If you're lazy and think restoring a car means a wash, wax, some detailing and a tune-up, then it's not for you -
The ***le and I.D. plates are worth $200. Complete cars without them are on Fleabay all the time. Something to think about. Could be a good parts/donor car for the project you do end up with.Come out to the east coast and I'll get you a bunch of 57 stuff CHEAP!
the roof is probably shot, but if youcan get it back over with minimal damage, there is probably at least 400 dollars worth of parts there. if the floor anfd rockers are rust free, you are saving thousands of dollars in labor and parts for rust repair. find a good roof, and chop it a little while you are replacing it
150 2 door posts are pretty damned rare . Id be hard pressed not to bring it home , Those 150's like i said are pretty rare .
thousands of dollars of labor?? what's that??? isnt that something that they talk about on street rod sites??? Here it's just work and the patch panels should be cheap
Like the dude said, the ***le and plates are worth nearly that .. If you've got the room to store it I'd grab it ..
Depends on what kind of build you're planning. But I would try to get the price down then start looking for a 4 door parts car. Everyone is talking about converting a 4 door, I don't see why. I would add the 4 door parts to this body.
If it is a 150 2-door sedan and the side mouldings are decent they alone are worth the money spent for the car.
did some closer looking, henry is right . 210. so now there is a slight chance that it might be a 2 door hardtop.... my buddy is redoing a 56 2 doorhardtop, just the patch panels for the tailpan, and floor braces he needs, and about 1/2 of what he needs to buy added up to $536! no labor yet, which we will try to do ourselves... but rust repair can get expensive in a hurry,especially if you have to farm stuff out.
I meant to say thousands of hours of labor and as many dollars in parts, but I figured most people would get the point anyways. Not everyone builds their own stuff, and it doesn't matter to me if you do or don't. But a lot of guys are too lazy to actually build anything at all, if there's rust they won't touch the car, so... Like I said - it's 1000 times easier to find a car with a solid roof and rusty everything than a car that has a solid frame/floor/lower body and just a rotty top. Compared to replacing all the lower stuff, if the worst you have to do is weld 6 roof posts to replace the top without a chop... I have to think most guys could manage that in a driveway.
A couple of questions, what is the difference between the 150 and 210. Also, what years shared the drivetrain and could a truck provide the goods as well just with a gear change?
150 and 210 are trim levels, 150 has trim that looks like a '55 Chevy, 210 has trim that looks like a Belair but without the aluminum inserts, rocker trim, ect. A truck could provide an engine and trans but the rearend will not be the same. You could use an engine and trans from pretty much any Chevy car or truck, you would need to put in side motor mounts, but that's pretty simple. Also keep in mind that the roof from a 4 door sedan will interchange with the 2 door sedan roof if you know where to cut it, but a hardtop roof only fits a hardtop. If the roof is damaged, it'll be much, much easier to fix a post car. I don't think this car would be as difficult to fix as everyone is making it out to be. If you can get it right side up and on wheels without damaging it, this should be a very buildable car. At $400 I would already have it in my yard, even if it was just for parts.