This makes it official, right?
The thread grand opening... like most fo my stuff, it's a spin off from "What Im doing when Im not doing what I should be doing."
Long story short... I bought this car so that our whole family could do Hot Rod Power Tour in 2025.
I thought that we would ride together... so I bought a big 4 door. The wife thought we were going to take two cars.
So I didn't actually need to buy it.
Oops.
We laughed.
She's cool like that...
....except there is still an expectation that two project cars will be ready for next summer's HRPT.
First off the Pics from the FB Marketplace ad... for a little compare and contrast later as we discuss why people can't take current pictures of what's for sale.
Im uploading all of the pics from the ad to here as an archive. I don't expect that anyone wants to see this much of this car... lol
This was the lead pic. A project in distress? Indeed it was, the 383 had ventilated the block, and she was dead in the water.
Nice enough interior...
A few reasons to get excited under the hood...
Power Rack and Pinion
Power Disc Brakes
THM350 3 speed
Upgraded Motor Mounts
Upgraded Transmission Mount
Electric Wipers
Alluminum Radiator
Hang on Vintage Air AC.
New Dual Exhaust - and yes those are cut outs. They were open. The caps came with the car. They had never been installed lol... that 383 probably never had a chance.
Biggest / worst rust on the car.
Original 1957 Trunk Mat.
Instrument cluster and wheel were painted white... should be silver to match the dash.
With all of the Red / White / Black... it looks like a GRM staff car...
So when I get there to look at the car, I see a car that has sat outside with its hood off for two or three years, rusted center caps, faded paint, a roof with a mild orange tint, no engine or accessory brackets, no torque converter,a transmission that has been inn the elements, and more rust bubbles.
Did I walk away?.... sigh... no... he took my half price offer.
I should be happy right? I am. I think so.
Missing the grille.... anyone have a used one?
So it was a V8 automatic car from new, and it was actually originally painted red and white like you see today.
Built in St Louis, just like the the Driveabeater 69 Vette! Same plant different building.
Nice and, oddly, I was behind a red ’57 four-door Bel Air today.
Next day. Yep it's still out there in the driveway...
Like I mentioned... not quite as advertised... lol
Jacksonville, FL is near the ocean, and on the northside historically, you also had a pulp mill. Chemical plants remain.
This is not a place to leave anything outside.
When I dug into the engine compartment, I pulled about 1/3 of a laundry basket of poor wiring choices.
Wires that were poorly installed, not identifiable, or redundant. Scotch locks, GM plastic looms. Cheap crimpers, wire nuts, and a few twisted and taped conncetions. Im sure it suffered from "wiring problems"
Step 1
Facebook stalk every name I could associate with the car's history.
That got me these two gems:
2022
2016
Still had a grille!
After poking and prodding off and on for a few weeks... I learned a few things.
The car is solid.
It has a fairly expensive retro auto sound head unit and 4 decent speakers.
I have found 1994-1997 date codes on major parts of the upgraded systems.
Ralley Wheels with "highway patrol center caps".
Very little rust for a '57 and only a handful actual holes.
No window rust through, no trunk rust through and minor non structural front floor pan rust.
Replacement gas tank and sending unit... no rust or debris so far.
The car has had plenty of money spent on it, but a few things weren't quite executed properly.
The new engine mounts are crooked and likely need to be redone.
The rack and pinion steering shaft has a bad angle in it and binds slightly.
The column shifter was not converted from powerglide to THM350 specs. Wrong indicator and no shift sector.
The AC was installed with very little creativity.
Wiring was NEVER modified properly.
Many things are just stuck.
I have saved the original headlight switch, the blower motor switch, and the heater blend door cable by just cleaning and lubricating.
The core wiring is good. Even the fuse block.
In reply to a_florida_man :
I enjoy your build threads, and I'm looking forward to another one!
Since the fuel system appears to be ok ish... the brakes sorta work, and I'm going to assume he transmission is mint... I decided to start with making all of the wiring work.
I put a battery in and it did not sizzle. so that was good.
I found the headlight switch was stuck, and that the horn and turn signals did not work.
Wipers worked.
The ignition switch had no keys, but it wasn't locked. I also did not have any keys for the doors.
On a 57 the ignition lock cylinder can be left unlocked and the key removed, leaving the switch functional. Or, you can lock it with a key, and remove the key, leaving it locked.
This is where I got lucky.
I bought an ignition lock cylinder. The keys worked the rest of the car!
Nice.
Since the instrument cluster needed to be painted... I dug in.
The steering wheel is white, but im not going to paint it. The paint is sticking, and that's above average for me and old steering wheels, so Im leaving that alone.
I did shine the horn ring.
The instruments looked horrible. I thought I took a before pic... but i didn't.
The chrome and the plastic lenses really cleaned up nice. I am going to install new seals and the 4 indicator light lenses at the top. I am also going to paint the cluster, the dash and the column 1957 Aztec silver. But for the time being I reassembled the cleaned parts so that none would get lost. Notice the PRNDL2L1 indicator. that is an aftermarket one for THM350. the original 57 powerglide was PNDLR.
Oh yeah.
it needs an engine, and all of the engine things.
I found a great deal on a MINT L03 TBI "vortec".
Kinda vortec ish, without being a vortec.
Takes a weird intake manifold with only 4 vertical bolts like a vortec, the rest are angled like regular sbc
Roller cam.
And it so factory fresh... so I don't mind the swirl port ramped intake heads. Fuel mileage and low end grunt are on the menu.
This one has flat top pistons, so supposedly it was for a 9c1 caprice replacement. I called GM and they said that the numbers on the 880 casting block meant it was built in either 2001 or 2010.
Its clean,,,, but i can't imagine why anyone would buy a TBI cop car engine in 2010 so probably 2001. honestly it looks like 2021.
I did get one engine accessory. The mount for the AC compressor. (sanden style).
Ive been mocking it up on another spare engine with pulleys and other brackets to check alignment.
Im using the old short water pump configuration.
Woody (Forum Supportum) said:
In reply to a_florida_man :
I enjoy your build threads, and I'm looking forward to another one!
Thanks, thats kind of you to say.
I'm looking forward to finishing one. :)
I'm so in for this! I've been dreaming of HRPT too, Godspeed!
2 old chevy projects at the same time? I'm here for it.
Thanks guys... it's great to have enablers as a support group.
:)
You got some really cool projects. Excited to follow along!
Nice grab there. Plus half price offer got to love that. Looks like a nice leisurely repair to get it going and back on the road. Might be able to sell it on the cruise and recoup your spending money?
In reply to brad131a4 (Forum Supporter) :
Yeah, it was close to half.. I just went back and checked..
Half price wasn't the plan, I usually try to look at cars that are worth the asking price... Im not usually a "offer half" guy.
But there was enough about this car that was different from the ad that I lost all emotion and desire to actually WANT it, leaving only the goal to get a 4 door car for the HRPT plan.
Genuine indifference is a strong negotiating position. :)
Wow, that red and white two tone interior just pops back at you. Maybe too much.....LOL
In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :
Yeah, it isn't subtle...
What is the route for HRPT '25? The only place that claims to have it is some shady site that is like tour2026 and they don't seem to actually have it. I know it usually comes out in January but didn't know if there was preliminary info out there. I went in 03,08,and 19, my kids would like to go, I hope it makes it back to the North East at some point.
In reply to NY Nick :
No offical release from HotRod as far as I know, but it does look like one track released the 1st day ahead of schedule.... June 9th.
In reply to a_florida_man :
Cool, thanks!
