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Dick's 1957 Chevrolet MY ’57 CHEV A mate of mine moved into a flat at Ingleburn, in Sydney in 1985. As I walked up the driveway I happened to look over the side fence and there to my disbelief I saw the back of a ‘57 Chev, hidden from the road by a line of pine trees. I was over the fence and knocking on the front door in a flash. He hadn’t thought about selling the car but seeing as though I was asking he’d consider it. I ended up buying the car or should I say stealing it for $1750. Neither of us knew what it was worth but we were both happy with the price. I knew I was on a good thing when I was offered $4000 for it on the way home. It came complete with roof racks, HQ steering wheel and underdash gauges all being removed in that order. The complete rebuild was done under a carport in Sydney. Times were tough. Stripping the car back to the chassis was a must, and the cab and all panels were sandblasted. A complete assessment was done and it didn’t seem to be in too bad a shape, so “Ace” at Leppington welded up a few vital parts like the back and front window sills and some work was done on the floor. I picked the body up with a 6x4 box trailer, which opened a few eyes up on the way home I can tell you. The rest of the panel work was done at home, sometimes with some special help. Thanks Beck xx. The chassis was re-furbished then fitted with new re-set springs and shocks. I also put new uppers, lowers, inners, outers, backers, fronters, you name it, and it was replaced. A double diaphragm booster and master cylinder was fitted to HQ discs and full power steering was a definite to replace the old “Armstrong” model. The 283 was replaced with a 350 and a few extras were added to pick up the pace a bit. The Saginaw four speed, with twin gear sticks mind you, was substituted with a turbo 350 and a four gear slip 3.23 diff. It can still lose traction with a couple of 265’s on the back but as they say, the more performance the less reliability, so a more conservative line had to be taken. After all it was to be an everyday driver. The shell was re-positioned on new rubbers and once it was back in place the wiring harness, steering column, fuel system etc were connected. Next the door jams and panel edges were painted and re-fitted in position and the rest of the 2 gallons of paint was applied. A final sand with 1200 wet and dry and buffed with cut and polish brought the paint to life. I added the chrome and stainless and all the hard work looked like it was starting to pay off. New door rubbers and rear windscreen was installed. The interior was the next challenge. An all black cloth interior was done and although it wasn’t overly attractive it was clean and tidy and made the car ready for rego. A trip on the trailer for a front windscreen made it final. A few years on and still using the car daily, a short in the headlight switch incinerated the wiring loom. It could have been worse but still a total re-wire and interior was needed. What a job! First thing to do was to remove the old interior back to bare floor, dash and doors. The car was then totally rewired to today’s standard plus more. A dozen or more fuses, multiple relays and re-settable circuit breakers were to ensure the problem didn’t happen again. A Dakota digital dash was installed with stamped stainless dash fascia. The homemade full length centre console includes a matching stamped stainless top with new CD Player, an Illuminous set of toggle switches, drink holders and a TV. The seats and doors were re-trimmed, new carpet laid, and a new parcel panel made. The stereo has an Alpine head unit with two 6” x 9” speakers in the front doors and two 8” speakers with tweeters in the parcel panel with amplifiers and sub-woofers for sound enhancement. The boot has been completely boxed out and trimmed, with compartments for amps, tools, battery etc. The engine bay has been improving over time with cold air intake, custom extractors, HEI ignition and more chrome and stainless to brighten it up a bit. I finally saved enough pennies to replace the 14’ dress rims and hub caps with a set of 15’ dragways. It’s surprising what a freshen up a set of wheels can do. I suppose except for the original welding, wiring and seat re-trim, I can take credit for all the alterations, modifications and re-furbishments done. 20years down the track I still use the car every day and love it. A repaint and re-chrome is the next step but while it is still neat enough to turn heads……it can wait. By Dick Didier
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