FAQs

Well, car guys alway have a ton of questions for you about your car and I thought the best way was to build a website and display the entire process here rather than carry around a book filled with pictures. Plus I can just give them the URL and they can see it anytime.

I bought the car in 2021 from and guy in East Texas. I actually found the car on Craiglist. I had sold my 1947 Dodge pickup and told my wife that I wanted to get something from the era I was move familar. I said a TRI-FIVE would be great. I was having trouble finding one that I liked and was about to settle for a 1931 Coup Hot Rod. My wife said "I thought you wanted a Tri-Five" and I said yes but they are hard to find in reasonable condition and a reasonable price. So I pulled up Craigelist to show her and up poped this 1957 BelAir and she said "What's wrong with that one". I said nothing but it wasn't here yesterday. I called the guy and we setup and meeting and I bougt it on the spot.

As many from my generation, I saw the 1957 BelAir 2 door hardtop as an "Iconic" car. It was so much more stylisic that other cars of the era and it just looked like it need to be moving. I loved the 283 V8 and the manual shift was what every kid wanted. Inside the dash looked almost like a cockpit. Chrome was everywhere. Almost as much chrome as the Caddys. It has always been my dream car.

One of my friends helped me. He is a great mechanic and well known in my area. Although I have worked on cars in this era all my life I wanted someone that was more current with options and trends today.

A local body shop that hasn't been around very long. Pro Deluxe Collision Center. He also installed my glass.

Again it was the Iconic style of the 50's. The red wheels with wide white wall tires just set off the black body of the '57 BelAir.

Everything on the dash is oiginal equipment except the radio. Back in 1957 they had a couple of options for radios. One was just a straight AM radio with no enhancements. The other was a new radio that featured seek option called WonderBar. It had a chrome bar across the face of the radio and if you pressed it the radio would seek to the next channel. Of course it also was just AM. The radio I installed is an upgrade to that with the WonderBar but is has AM, FM and Bluetooth.The clock is of the original style and the Steering Wheel is new but of the same size.

Yes, some of the cars could be purchased with factory AC. This car did have factroy AC as you can see the ports built into the dash. Ths system I installed is from Vintage Air and uses the same contorls as the original, although slightly diffent.

It does have a differen engine. I took the engine apart to check it out and it is an original 327 cu.ci. that has never been bored out. The engine came from a 1962 Chevrolet. From the engine back everything is original. It has a 3 speed, close ratio, transmission which is column shift. The rear end is stock for this year and model.

I decide that I wanted disc brakes on the front and I change the brake master cylinder to a dual system for safety. I also added a front stablizer bar to improve the steering. I change mufflers to the old school Cherry Bombs because I like the sound. Also when I upgrade the brakes I was able to keep the 14 inch wheels that came on the car originally. That was important so that I could use the original hub caps.