Field find 1957 Bel Air gasser in Hot Rod

I really enjoyed reading this:

http://www.hotrod.com/cars/featured/1512-field-find-time-capsule-1957-chevy-gasser-is-window-into-drag-racings-past/

I think the coolest part was the author inviting a prior owner over to hear it run. Too bad the guy that built it originally passed away before he could see it live again. I hope the author puts it on track again. What a find, though; I'm so glad he kept it from being crushed or restored to original condition.

Looking at that interior - in particular the seat and harness (heh) makes me respect the old racers even more. Imagine going down the quarter mile in 10 seconds in there. Yikes.

In reply to dculberson:

That front axle is a little frightening as well. Look at how much they lightened it! The engine setback is pretty bonkers too. I like the Pontiac power in a Chevy, nice revenge for all the people who put Chevy engines in a Pontiac.

I love those old Gassers. So cool.

awesome story

I'd give anything to see that make a pass.

When I was a kid there was a '66 GTO roller sitting in the junk yard. Fiberglass front end and F&R bumpers, plexi windows, aluminum interior, tube front axle. I was dirt poor and rebuilding a crashed pickup at the time. Never saw it again, ever. Hope it didn't get cut up or crushed. That was pretty berkeleying sweet.

Rad!

Pretty awesome to see it survive like that.

NickD wrote: In reply to dculberson: That front axle is a little frightening as well. Look at how much they lightened it! The engine setback is pretty bonkers too. I like the Pontiac power in a Chevy, nice revenge for all the people who put Chevy engines in a Pontiac.

in this case, the Pontiac engine wasn't so much "revenge" or any kind of a "dare to be different" statement and more of a "i want my car to go fast, so i need the biggest and cheapest engine that makes the most power that i can fit into it"- which at that time was a Pontiac. the Chevy small block was only available as a 283 from the factory at that point and the 409 Chevy was a rare and expensive beast at that time, so in went the 389 Poncho. then, over the course of it's racing life, it was just easier to keep it Pontiac powered since the mounts were all there and it was a part of the character of the car..

the old timers from that era have some cool stories about making due with what they had.. when i was a kid, my dad had a '30 Model A 5 window hotrod that he built while he was in high school in the 60's. after he died in 1984, my grandpa and i worked on the car a little bit. i didn't know much about cars at the time, but i knew it had a Buick Nailhead and whatever the Buick version of the Powerglide trans was.. i sold that car when i was only 14 because, well, i was 14 and poor and a guy offered me a huge pile of $20 bills for it that added up to $1500, which was an unimaginable amount of money for me.. out of hundreds that have come and gone since then, that's the only one i regret selling..

anyways, fast forward from the day i sold my dad's hotrod in 1988 to the spring of 2014 when i moved back to my hometown. i was getting tires put on my daily driver ('01 GTP, sort of a more modern hotrod in and of itself...) and talking to the old guy that hanged around the shop. i knew he was -the- old school gearhead in this area, but i didn't know that he was best friends with my dad in high school. out of nowhere, he asks me what i did with my dad's "old coupe".. so i told him that i sold it and regretted it every day.. then his eyes lit up and he starts telling me stories about how they would skip school to work on that car at my grandpa's shop, how they made a heater out of a heater core and a 5 gallon bucket with a fan screwed into the one end so they could bomb around in January in MN, and how it had some pretty badass engines in it until they blew up... he said it was the fastest and scariest when it had a tri power 389/4 speed out of a brand new wrecked GTO in it- an engine and trans that they only paid $150 for and only lasted a few weeks before having extra holes in the side of the block...

novaderrik wrote:

NickD wrote: In reply to dculberson: That front axle is a little frightening as well. Look at how much they lightened it! The engine setback is pretty bonkers too. I like the Pontiac power in a Chevy, nice revenge for all the people who put Chevy engines in a Pontiac.

in this case, the Pontiac engine wasn't so much "revenge" or any kind of a "dare to be different" statement and more of a "i want my car to go fast, so i need the biggest and cheapest engine that makes the most power that i can fit into it"- which at that time was a Pontiac. the Chevy small block was only available as a 283 from the factory at that point and the 409 Chevy was a rare and expensive beast at that time, so in went the 389 Poncho. then, over the course of it's racing life, it was just easier to keep it Pontiac powered since the mounts were all there and it was a part of the character of the car..

I get that the Pontiac wasn't revenge back then, I just look at it like that now. And not only was the 409 rare and expensive, but it also had developed a bit of a reputation for breaking rods due to the heavy pistons with their lopsided domes, thanks to the weird design of the W-motor. (People have come to the conclusion that this may have been a bit overblown back in the day though)

That is a great story. The car is perfect as it is.

I saw this car on Instagram quite a bit over the past week. Thanks for posting the story.

Seems like the only "right" thing to do would be to leave it as-is, just updating safety and mechanicals as needed. It looks so cool with that patina.