See the picture above? She's a beauty, no?? Well, imagine sitting in one of these beautifully restored 1957 Chevy's on a major expressway in Chicago... with no gas! That's what happened to me about 2 hours after I bought her... but I'm getting ahead of myself here. Let's start at the beginning...
I used to read Hemmings Automotive magazine, which is the "bible" for car collectors. I saw that there was to be an auction near Chicago of antique and mid-1950's - 1960's cars that weekend. We packed up a picnic lunch, and Saturday morning got into my Jeep Cherokee and headed north to Lake Bluff, Illinois. When we got to the auction site, I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
There must have been 200 cars lined up on display for a pre-auction inspection. One of them caught my eye immediately. Like the photo above, it was a cherry red and white 1957 Chevrolet 2 dr hardtop, with red and silver vinyl seats, power brakes, power windows (both of which were VERY rare in a 1957 model - supposedly they only made a few hundred of them). My childhood dream! (Well, not really... she got away, but that's a secret!)
The car looked really hot. I got behind the huge steering wheel, and them memories of my childhood came flowing back. I dreamed of driving along the highway, stopping at an A&W Root beer drive-in restaurant, grabbing a big frosty mug of root beer and a burger, teasing the waitresses, then roaring off in a cloud of dust!
Remember the old advertising jingle... "See the USA, in your Chevrolet..."??? YEAH!!!
The auction started... the cars flew by, the auctioneer droned on with his almost rapid fire, unintelligible babble of auctioneering semantics... when the Chevy came up...
The bidding was fast and furious in $100 then $500 clips... going once, going twice... silence...I don't know what got into me, but... I raised my hand... SOLD to the young man (I liked that auctioneer!!! HA HA) on the left! $13,5000 GONE!
Whew... my hands were shaking as I went to the sale booth and took out my checkbook.. a word to the wise here... NEVER GO TO AN AUCTION WITH YOUR CREDIT CARDS OR CHECKBOOK! BIG TROUBLE!!
I wrote out the check, and signed a few transfer papers, got a temporary license plate and the HOT CHERRY RED 1957 CHEVY was mine!
I should have asked if the gauges, and everything else was working, but I was too excited. I handed the Jeep keys to one of my friends, and the rest of us piled into the Chevy for the ride back to Chicago.
The gas gauge showed half a tank of gas... I should have known better! Anyway, after turning the key and the engine coming to life with a few huffs and then just a nice purrrrr, we drove off. It was quite an experience driving such a primitive car. First, the steering wheel was HUGE.. probably 15 inches or so across, maybe more. Then the steering was not power assisted.. so you really had to work to turn the wheels when you weren't moving. Also, it was very HOT inside, as the sun was baking on the rooftop of the car.
I remember opening the vents... yes, there were these little triangular "vents" or side windows you could open inwards to direct air into and onto the passengers and passenger compartment. I also remember that the gas gauge stayed on half... I was too excited to think about that until....brumpppPPPppp...putt putt putt... SILENCE! No freekin' gas!
OK... not so bad... we were on a major expressway, and just had to wait for a passing motorist to stop... fortunately one did, and one of my friends jumped into their car for a quick ride to a gas station. Shortly, he was back with a "jerry can" and 5 gallons of gas.
Things were looking up, right?? WRONG... do you remember where the gas filler cap is in a '57 Chevy?? Well, I didn't!! Neither did any of my friends. We looked everywhere... behind the license plate... every where! Couldn't find it... S!!#$%%T..
Luckily, an Illinois State Trooper pulled over, who was a car buff. Son, it's right behind the fin's chrome edge he said, and sure enough... that's where it was! (See photo).
Getting back underway, we naturally had to stop at every drive-in burger joint along the highway!! And, naturally, we had a lot of root beers and burgers!
When we got home, I parked her proudly in front of my driveway, stepped back... what a gorgeous car she was!
I drove her a lot actually... I used to love parking it in a lot, and waiting about 5 minutes.. there would be a huge crowd around her, admiring, pointing, gawking!
I used to care for her myself. I used a good grade of carnuba wax every few months, a good car wash detergent, and in between all of that, I would wipe her down before and after a drive with my KozaK Auto DryWash cloth. Waterlessly, the KozaK would take off all the road dirt and dust. It would polish the Chevy without water, and without scratching! The KozaK cloth was also great on the chrome... and this baby had a lot of it!
For the interior, I would spray it with a Lexol product called Vinylex, which would penetrate into the vinyl seats and dashboard and side panels (which were also Red and Silver) and remove the dirt, keep the vinyl protected with the built in UV Sunscreen, but never leave a greasy film or unnatural shine.
I can still see her now... gleaming in the sun, just waiting for someone to turn the key and bring her to life. I sold her a few years later... I wonder what ever happened to her???
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