why do you SO CALLED "hotrodders" hate 55-57 chevys???

My fav of the three is the 56 then the 55....57's are okay but thats the year that everyone wants and has and are at every car show or cruise in...I have always like the underdog in cars, the ones least liked and didnt get a chance for respect....In the tri 5 the 56 was that car. As a kid I always thought it was so cool that the tail light opened to get to the gas cap.......I would love to have a coral and white 56 done mild with nice wheels, lowered/angled stance, two tone matching interior, small block with an updated 57 fuely system, 4 speed of course...

Back about 1982 I had a 57 chevy 2dr ht that was given to me and a buddy for towing a guys boat home for him...The car was spray painted about every color imaginable, interior was shot and no engine but the body was solid...Neither of us at the time had the know how or money to build this car so we sold it for $125...The guy that bought it wacked it at the rear door jamb and made a trailer out of the rear half...argggggggggg.....Hind sight SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

id get rid of my cars for a nice stocker any of the 3. i kind of like the post cars more. althought the 57 2dr hardtop belair is pretty nice.

 

I don't hate 'em either but I must admit I'm not a big fan either. I'm just not into bellybutton cars. And that goes for Camaro, nova,chevelle and mustangs. It kinda takes the challange out of building a car when you can buy it from a catalog.
I do see some of the apeal of being able to buy the parts you need 'cause the '54 Lincoln that I'm building has NOTHING availible new or used.
And yes I have see some cool tri-5's

 

I was staring at older pics of Sams 56 the other night, spot on perfection, I would have liked to have seen that orange/silver/& flame paint job in person.

 

Not to crazy about 56 chevys other than i like the tailights .My first car was a 57 4 door wagon ,and i like 55 chevy the best but i like to be different and they have been done to death in my opinion.What a boring hobby this would be if everyone had a tri 5 which is what i usually see at local shows (55,56,57 Chevy 350/700r crate motor hightech wheels /raised white letter tires and some old high roller with velcro sneakers driving it) .Nothing wrong with it i guess but there are other cars out there that are better looking in my opinion and i like to take the road less traveled .I dont think any tri5 holds a candle to a 57-58 Plymouth in stlying or say a 59-60 Chevy or a 49-56 Mercury .I always figured the reason that tri5 chevys caught on was because it was the first chevys with V8 's and open driveline ...

 

How can you hate an American Icon? Probably from too much over exposure in advertising and so forth. My wife said "find me a 4 door hardtop so I can have my own car at cruise night" and this is what I found, right here in the Hamb classifieds. We plan to change the wheels. Not sure which way we will go yet. I like chrome steelies and we both like spinner hubcaps and wide whites. Car has been lowered 2 inches or so.

 

Didnt say i hated Tri5's, just dont drewl over them any more.I like to be the guy at the show with something totally different.Not just a tri5 with a different paint scheme .I will always have a soft spot for a Tri5 gasser ,but a gasser anything will do that to me...

 

Whoa now, wait a minute..........KIRK! don't like ice cream?? WTF?

 

I've got a black 57 2drht, 4speed, lowered all around, steel wheels with beat up dog dish caps, interior is worn but comfortable. Last week I"m at a little mom and pop lunchenette here in the hood, with the 57 parked outside. A guy comes in and sez what do you plan to do with that car? I replie"drive it'. He goes "Do you ever plan on fixing it up? I then ask him "why do you think the car needs fixing? He then says If that car were mine, it would be perfect, new chrome, paint, interior, blah blah blah. Rather than get in an argument with the guy I just kept eating my sandwich. As I'm leaving his friend tells me the guy has about sixty grand tied up in a 55 chevy. That's all well and good, but what's the point? To have a car so nice you can't drive it except to take it weekend car shows where people ask you "what year is that? Where's the fun in that?

 

my first car was 56 post ... love em

dave

 

I ALWAYS thought they were neat cars. I never knew how neat they really were until I actually owned one ('56 Sedan Delivery - 427 4 speed) Now I like them EVEN MORE!

 

Me? Im not prejudice against them!!!

In fact, a 55 Chevy is one of my best friends!

 

If you wanna make a 57 owner mad, tell him the 57 was the only year to have aluminum siding on it.........

 

Time out. Stop and think about how the '55 Chevy literally turn the automotive world on its ear. The end of Ford dominance on the racing world, street/ oval track/ drag strip. It took a pretty good flat head V8 to hang with a stock 265 and it steadily got worse. In the '60s you could go buy 327 fuelie short blocks or new 4 speeds or 2.02-1 5/8 heads from Chevrolet your choice for around $270.00. AFB carbs were 32.50 each new or dual quad set ups for around $130.00 and the list goes on & on. Buy a quarter magazine and become a knowledgeable engine builder. All these goodies that would just bolt onto cars that could be had for chump change then. They caused a lot of resentment because they had so much to offer, kinda like the '32 Ford did! Us old farts that had the pre-55 memories are being replaced by the tri-5's and them by the Camaro/ Chevelle/ Nova camp. The 5.0/4.6 boys are forming lines next.
Next observation, those sacred old cars that got destroyed on the race tracks are part of what has endeared the survivors to us.
Next observation, the sacred '57 Chevy doesn't seem to be as popular as the '56 (my observation).
Next observation, the bashing of tri-55's because of money spent repop availability, lack of fresh ideas, etc, sure resemble '28-48 Ford slams.
I saw the light the other day. I spent some time "magazine racking" culture rod rags and realized that variety is the real attraction to "hot rods", not how well you are keeping up with everyone elses purchases or fads.
All this rambling from an old guy that still loves '32s and probably won't spend much time looking at your Chevy unless it has somthing that really seperates it from the rest of them.

 

I remember when there were tri 5's sitting in back yards all over town and camaro's, chevelles, firebirds, mustangs, gto's, 442's, chargers, and cudas were in the drive way. Im just pissed that I didnt buy up some of them then cause I can't afford a decent one now days. Personally I preffer the 55 and 56 more than the 57.

 

I've always had a soft spot for a select few tri-5s. Falfa's 55 comes to mind. I purchased my high school football coach's mild custom robins egg blue 57 after I graduated. It had all the chrome doodads stripped off, a Buick grille, all shaved, even the hood gun-sights were covered up, chrome smoothies with baby moon's a wicked stance and the ability to chirp the tires in all three speeds.
I loved that car, and it's responsible for teaching me so much: like how to spot bondo, what body cancer looks like, a Maaco paintjob don't mean shit, what a "rod knock" sounds like, etc.
Even with all those problems, I was still able to unload it for what I paid for it to an old man who HAD to have a 57. That's the mystique of the tri-5s.
Like has been said, so many people do it wrong. Just because you can chrome it, doesn't mean you should.

 

tri-fives are for old men in Hawaian shirts.

 

Sam F., I guess we all don't live in your cookie cutter world. Personally,I hate all things GM because being a Mopar racer since the early sixties, all I've done is watched rule books be re-written and changed so that GM products could win races. I've not seen a rule book modified so a Ford or Mopar can have parity. Doesn't matter if you are talking about NHRA, NASCAR, whatever, all rule books are skewed, or 'equalized' so GM can win races. The sanctioning bodies do this because of the perception that since more folks buy GM, it would be unpopular for them not to win. Check racing history, its there for all to see.
About tri five Chevies specificaly, how many of them can you look at and not be sick of seeing them? Back in the '60's, I saw countless hundreds of them spitting and sputtering down the dragstrips on the east coast, all primered up and rotted out, rarely seeing one faster than the 15's; and am just sick of them. It doesn't mean I can't appreciate a good job on restoration or modification; I was admiring one at the Street Rod Nat's a couple of months ago. But not likeing a tri year has nothing to do with being a hot rodder. I think all GM is junk, and I don't think anyone who knows me would dispute that I'm a hot rodder to the core.
I see, after writting this; that a lot of foks have made qualifying statements, "I don't HATE them", I guess because being a hater today has all this political correctness attached to it. I love hot rodding, and most hot rodders. It's a unique culture. I hate liver and onions, and tri year chevies. But I don't lose any sleep over it, and just as it doesn't make me less of a carnivour for not liking liver, it doesn't make me less of a hot rodder for hating tri year chevies. Yes, I do think tri year Mopars are waaay prettier.

 

Couldn't have said it better........

 

That same guy must get around cuz i have heard that same speach a thousand times from people at gas stations ,grocery store parking lots ,everywhere i go.I have aleays drove my hotrods as a daily.Not cuz im tring to prove anything but cuz why not enjoy them all the time and not just on pretty weekends , and i hear that same speach atleast once a day.Some people just cant fathom the idea of an old car being left in a form where it is actually drivable and not a trailer queen.

 

Dont forget the velcro sneakers...

 

They are cliche.

I hate Cliche

I hate tri Fives

But even more

I hate SBC motor in vintage tin!!!!

 

I have a real soft spot for perfectly restored 57 convertibles, I love them, Ive owned a 57 they are cool cars if they are restored. What I hate is nova's chevelles and 69 cameros.

 

I bet there are some who dont like baseball and apple pie either.

 

Ford dominance? Oval track? you better think again...

1949 Ford wins 0 in Nascar
1950 Ford wins 1 in Nascar
1951 Ford wins 0 in Nascar
1952 again 0
1953 again 0
1954 ohhh 0
and Chevy only 2 in '55 and 3 in '56

Look at Oldsmobile, Hudson, and Chrysler....
Of course in '57 Ford beat out Chevy with 27 wins as Chevy had 18

As for drag racing I think you need to also look at Olds and Cadillac motors and what they did to the Fords in the early 50's...

History is not your forte...

 

I have owned 55's ... a 56 Nomad and a few 57's ... never paid more than a grand for any of them .. ( So you know it has been since the 60's since I bought one )

Favorite was a 55 150 2 door post businessman coupe ... no backseat from the factory. 365 HP 327, 4 spped and a 4.11 posi ( factory set up case with the P cast in the center section ).

Like most here ... like them but do not want to own one again. Tired of the cruise nights and events being overrun with them. A large majority of the owners are want-to-be rodders. Most are just wash and wax types. Very narrow minded and set in their stupidity.

I like them plain looking and nasty sounding

 

Funny stuff.

A good chance for a few to jump on the hate bandwagon.

No thinking required, just hate a particular thing and you'll be part of the best clique ever.


Since I live in Sunny Arizona with it's rust-free - for the most part - cars I ought to get one of the Tri-5's and build my dream car.

Black 57 two door.
514" Ford Lima engine etc.
That would allow everyone to hate me or my car or both.
Whatta deal . . . two for one.

Then again, dropping a Ford engine into one of hot roddings most revered icons is sorta like spitting in church.


Geez . . . you guys.
I think I'll go drive my plastic car.
Easy to hate for some, but it's a lot of fun.

 

Thanks Z, you put it so eloquently! I was just going to call him an ignorant dumbass that is still carrying around baggage from teh 60s because his cars ran like shit no matter what he did.........but what do I know?

 

Dude! I wear speed shop t shirts and snake skin cowboy boots......

 

I promise you there was a lot more racing going on at local jalopy tracks, stop light to stop light and on airports back in the 50's than the fledgling France family business was putting on. Lot's more people watching too. Indy may have been the biggest but it wasn't even on TV even though many of it's stars were a Gardena Stadium come Sunday afternoon. Sure the overheads were coming into the picture but that was really the prelude to the end of the dominance. I'll stick my neck out and say Flathead Fords won more races overall in the US than any other motor until the Chevy V8.