Vehicle Description
1957 Chevrolet 210 Station Wagon
1957 would be the last year for the tri-five era, but in most
people's minds the best as far as design and styling. It has the
lineup of the models ranging in price and options from the 150
which was the basic car, to the 210 which gave us some upgrades, to
the top of the line Bel Air, which was the "loaded version".
For consignment, a 210 version of a tri five wagon. This 1957 model
came from the factory with 2 doors, a rear gate, and a back bench
for extra passengers. The car was mainly built for the suburban
family to get around or the sole proprietor to carry out their
trades with the use of this car to haul, store, and shuttle to
various job sites. That is where it ends for the utilitarian 210
and our consignment takes over with a frame off restoration
performed on a rust free Texas body, numerous mods, upgrades, and
customizations literally to the nines, making it even better than
the top of line Nomad in several more modern ways. READ ON!
Exterior
All beautiful straight steel panels, with well minded gaps cover
the now Sunburst Orange painted deep end of the pool exterior of
this car. The visored headlights, gold grille side mounted rubber
tipped "Dagmars", wrap around chrome, and lower grounding bumper
are the essential for the 57 year. Also the hood embedded rockets
with their dip down in the hood are another nice 50's futuristic
touch. All this chrome, brite-work, trim and badging is excellent,
having been removed and polished to a sparkling shine. The front
wrap around windshield is trimmed with shiny chrome, as are the
windows, and rear wrap around the corner side glass has a very
beautiful rake rearward from the side view. This in conjunction
with the slowly descending spear on the rear quarter are making up
the "look" for the iconic 57 models. Large fins protrude way past
the rear roofline and house the vertical tail edge trimmings,
crescent moon shaped tail lights and open ovals firmly implanted
within the rear bumper below. Speaking of the roofline, it's
completely smooth and finished in a stunning and contrasting white.
A large gold Vee adorns the rear tailgate and above is the lift up
rear glass hovering above an up and down tailgate. Fins were a big
thing in this era and these take the cake with a protrusion of at
least another foot of bodywork past the tailgate. Don't pierce
yourself when loading that 4x8 sheet of plywood or 5 gallon buckets
of paint inside! 15-inch Cragar S/S wheels are on all 4 corners and
all wrapped with 215/70R15's in front, and larger 275/60R15's on
back all fun blackwall form. Overall the finish on this car is well
applied, but does have a roughness of orange peel along with
various inclusion and chip offs.
Interior
Custom is the word bird for this car as the confines of the doors
which sport black vertical ribbed fuzzy broadcloth panels and
chromed actuator and cranks lead the way to a brand new interior.
These emutale the factory panels, including the integral armrest
and welcome us to the freshly recovered black fuzzy broadcloth
front split bench seat with deeply stitched tuck and roll inserts
and bright red piping. The dash retains its original bump up from
the factory 57 look, however is now all Sunburst Orange and sports
more modern Classic Instruments white face gauges. Plenty of extra
gauges are peppering the remainder of the dash now set up to
monitor the healthy mill upfront, (more on the in a few, stay
tuned...), and on the dash lower is a custom ribbed aluminum trim
panel that runs the length of the dash and hold some knobs and
pulls as well as the ignition. For the back, a simple bench
arrangement is in and is finished in charcoal vinyl. For the
remainder of the storage bed area, all is nice, clean, with black
short pile carpeting and an opening to access the fuel cell. This
carpeting continues forward floating the chairs and is equally as
nice. The headliner above is slightly sagged black vinyl and
stretches from front to back of this wagon.
Drivetrain
Residing within a completely restored engine compartment, we see a
clean well done consignor state 383ci V-8 monster mill. The heads
are of the aluminum variety and on top is a single 4-barrel
carburetor on top of a polished aluminum intake. On the back is a
3-speed Turbo Hydramatic automatic transmission. Way in the rear is
a Ford 9" axle and Hedman headers lead to a Pypes muffler equipped
custom exhaust. All good for the engine bay with a semi-smoothed
firewall and polished aluminum and chrome providing the bling
factory to the heavens.
Undercarriage
All normal underneath with no rust present, although if you call
"normal" a 4 link rear suspension with adjustable coil overs on the
back, and independent coil sprung front suspension. Add in 4 wheel
power disc brakes, a black painted frame, and miles of rust free
Sunburst Orange steel for the floors, body hangers and rockers and
we are in show winner territory. Performance enhancing on steroids
is the key down below!
Drive-Ability
Our resident Mot�rhead drove this car and stated it was like high
octane sex. The recovered bench keeps you secure whilst the
throttle snaps your neck and the sound produced from all these
cubes is just melodious. Great stable braking and power steering
and braking making driving this 210 wagon a breeze. He liked it
more than Mikey liked his Life cereal. Although no soggy cereal was
found to create a frown, he did report that the wipers do not wipe,
the horn didn't honk, the turn signals didn't flash and the brake
lights are in need of a new actuator switch.
I have a sneaky suspicion after reading this description I've just
conjured up that the only "trade" this vehicle is now involved in
is that of pink slips when the competition saw the back end of this
car from the rag drop. A super duper 210 in full on competition
form with all the comforts of home save for the fireplace! Only
that's under the hood one could say during this holiday
season?!
B57S272740
B-2100 Series
57-1957
S-St. Louis, MO Assy Plant
272740-Sequential Unit Number
Classic Auto Mall is a 336,000-square foot classic and special
interest automobile showroom, featuring over 850 vehicles for sale
with showroom space for up to 1,000 vehicles. Also, a 400 vehicle
barn find collection is on display. This vehicle is located in our
showroom in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, conveniently located just
1-hour west of Philadelphia on the I-76 Pennsylvania Turnpike. The
website is www.classicautomall.com and our phone number is (888)
227-0914. Please contact us anytime for more information or to come
see the vehicle in person.
