Jalopnik: 1957

Proof used car dealerships were a lot more interesting in 1962

Tom Joslin — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 16:00:00 EST

They may have just been used cars back in 1962, but the lineup in front of Lancaster Lincoln Mercury has certainly aged well. Given the opportunity, the chances of us leaving Lancaster Lincoln Mercury without at least the red '58 Desoto and the '57 Plymouth wagon shown here would have been slim to none. More »

1954 Chevrolet Nomad Concept replica is as close as you'll get to the real thing

Tom Joslin — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 12:30:00 EDT

It's well known the original Corvette based Chevrolet Nomad was destroyed sometime after it was featured in the 1954 GM Motorama. Since you can't own the original this masterfully crafted replica is about as close as you can get to owning the real thing. This replica took the car's owner and creator over 7 years and almost $400,000 to build and now the amazing result is listed for sale on Ebay. More »

The Chevrolet El Camino turns 53

Tom Joslin — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 09:00:00 EDT

53 years ago today, Chevrolet introduced the1959 El Camino to the automotive world and it hasn't been the same since. In direct response to the popularity of the Ford Ranchero, Chevrolet had decided it needed to stake a claim in the world of the automotive based utility vehicle. More »

'57 Chevrolet 150 featured on History Channel bursts into flames

Tom Joslin — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 14:00:00 EDT

According to the infallible news source that is TMZ, the 1957 Chevrolet 150 that was the focus of a night of predictable cross over shows on the History channel was damaged when it burst into flames yesterday. More »

Survivor 1957 Oldsmobile Super 88 Fiesta Wagon is rare and beautiful

Tom Joslin — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 11:00:00 EDT

It is a rare occasion when you stumble across any 1957 Oldsmobile Super 88 Fiesta Wagons, restored or otherwise. When you take into account the fact the beautiful wagon seen here is still wearing the paint it left the factory with 54 years ago, you begin to understand how rare it truly is. This Fiesta Wagon is currently on Ebay and I want to own it—badly. More »

1976 Subaru commercial highlights adventures in good cars and bad pickup lines

Tom Joslin — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 09:00:00 EDT

As the times change, so too do the vehicles in which you are unsuccessfully trying to attract female attention—at least according to this Subaru commercial. What better way to follow up two decades of hitting home runs with your interesting automotive choices while striking out with the opposite sex than purchasing a new Subaru? More »

Obsolete Oldsmobile

Tom Joslin — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 12:30:00 EDT

Oldsmobile lost market share in 1957 because it's design was considered to be dated in comparison with the new "Forwardlook" Chryslers, specifically Desoto (the company's direct competition). 54 years later, one look at this weathered Olds is enough for most car lovers to understand why GM's "dated" styling from 1957 is still so popular. More »

What is the barn find of your dreams?

Tom Joslin — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 17:00:00 EDT

Opening the doors on a forgotten barn or garage to reveal a dusty vehicle that needs little more than some elbow grease and a weekend spent in the garage to reverse the effects of sitting is the stuff of gearhead dreams. After reading about the trio of Italian barn finds this week, we started wondering what vehicle we dream of finding covered in dust more than any other. What is the barn find of your dreams? More »

What is your favorite Hot Wheels car?

Tom Joslin — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 17:00:00 EDT

Eliot Handler, the creator of Hot Wheels, died at his home on Thursday at the age of 95. In honor of the man who created the first vehicle most young car lovers ever owned, we present a special QOTW. What is your favorite Hot Wheels car? More »

The 1958 El Nomado is the car-truck hybrid Chevrolet never made

Tom Joslin — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 11:00:00 EDT

Although Chevrolet didn't introduce the El Camino until 1959, what if they had decided to unleash their unique utility vehicle on the world one year earlier? Behold the El Nomado, a well executed custom vehicle currently listed on Ebay that answers that exact question. Even with a lot of modern custom touches, this one of a kind vehicle does a pretty good job illustrating what a 1958 El Camino might have looked like. More »

Eye of a 'Vette

Tom Joslin — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 12:30:00 EDT

It's not hard to understand why 1956-1957 C1 Corvettes are the favorites of the first generation for many 'Vette lovers. New for 1956 was the signature side trim and the beautiful single headlight design seen here. More »

Watch a '57 Chevy drag car crash and burn, literally

Tom Joslin — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 14:00:00 EDT

You would think crashing your blown high horsepower '57 Chevy drag car on a pass down the strip would be bad enough, but in this case it was only the beginning. More »

'57 Chevy in a cornfield

Tom Joslin — Sun, 22 May 2011 12:30:00 EDT

It certainly looks like this 1957 Chevrolet 210 has been sitting in the Wisconsin cornfield where it was photographed for quite a while. Because of the popularity of the '57 Chevy and the fact this one has the right amount of doors we imagine it is only a matter of time before someone takes it upon themselves to save this 210. More »

I found that Fordor rare

Tom Joslin — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 13:30:00 EDT

This 1957 Ford Custom 300 "Fordor Sedan" is one of 194,877 built that year. The amount of '57 Custom 300s that remain intact today is likely a very small fraction of that number. Spotted in Goldfield, NV, this old Ford would need some front sheet metal straightened and parts replaced, but in our perhaps overly optimistic opinion isn't too far gone. These pictures prove that there are still rust free 50s cars to be discovered somewhere in the country, or at least there were in 2006 when these pictures were taken. More »

1957 GMC Panel Truck

Tom Joslin — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 10:00:00 EDT

Welcome to Found Off The Street, our look at cars found on the cape that rust liked so much it decided to summer there; Cape Cod, MA. Today we have a 1957 GMC Panel Truck. More »

Ford buys Lincoln

Tom Joslin — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 12:30:00 EST

It was 89 years ago Friday when the Ford Motor Company agreed on a deal with Henry Leland to purchase Lincoln. Leland, who was also a founder of the Cadillac auto brand, established Lincoln Motor Company in 1917. More »

What Are Your Automotive Goals This Year?

Tom Joslin — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 16:00:00 EST

On New Year's Day, In the midst of reminding ourselves what we didn't accomplish last year, we often vow that this will be the year we <fill in the blank> . What are your automotive goals for this coming year? More »

Classic Chromed '57 Chevys in California

Tom Joslin — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 10:00:00 EST

1957 was the first year since 1935 Ford outsold Chevrolet. It is hard to believe looking at this pair of west coast ‘57 Chevys that their design was initially thought to be a disappointment. (Photo Credit: Robert Couse-Baker) More »

Ride Shotgun In A 200 MPH Twin-Turbo '57 Chevy

Tom Joslin — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 15:00:00 EST

Ever wonder what it is like to ride shotgun in a twin-turbo 1957 Chevy on the way to 200 MPH in a tick over seven seconds? This video shot at Hot Rod Magazine's Drag Week provides the answer: It's awesome. More »

Schnell! Trabant 601 Coming Through, Comrades!

Murilee Martin — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 13:00:00 EDT

Given that East German Trabant shoppers probably had to sit on a 10-year waiting list to buy one of the plastic two-strokers, it doesn't seem sensible to advertise the thing. More »

1957 Plymouth Leads 1957 Dodge On Crazed San Francisco Car Chase

Murilee Martin — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:30:00 EST

Did the 1958 film The Lineup influence the makers of that better-known San Francisco car-chase movie a decade later? More »

British Postwar Car Ads

Murilee Martin — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 16:00:00 EDT

Not long ago, one of the 24 Hours Of LeMons perpetrators gave me a big box of Autocar magazines from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Talk about your great British print car ads! More »

Big Fins, Dual-Quad Carbs, Seats Nine: The 1957 Plymouth Suburban

Murilee Martin — Sun, 17 May 2009 14:30:00 EDT

Could the '57 Suburban be the greatest family hauler ever made? It got better gas mileage than present-day monster SUVs, while seating more passengers and looking orders of magnitude more attractive. More »

1957 Plymouth Savoy, Reefer-Smuggling Family Legend!

Murilee Martin — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:00:00 EST

Every family has its Legendary Car tales, whether it be the Amby that your parents drove from Uttar Pradesh to Bangalore or the ol' reliable Model T in which Great-Grampaw fled the Dust Bowl. More »

Nice Price Or Crack Pipe: 30,000-Mile 1957 Triumph TR3 For 45 Grand?

Murilee Martin — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 08:00:00 EST

How much is too much for a car? When is the price nice, and when is it time to take your sorry self to Booth Numbah Two for the crack pipe? More »

PCH, Joad Family Redux Edition: 1957 Cadillac Camper or 6-Door Rabbit Limo?

Murilee Martin — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:20:00 EST

Welcome to Project Car Hell, where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! Hard times is a-comin', and it's time to prepare for life on the move! More »

PCH, Carpocalypse Past Edition: '56 Hudson Hornet or '57 Packard Clipper?

Murilee Martin — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:30:00 EST

It's Project Car Hell, where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! Since the ongoing Carpocalypse is on everyone's minds, let's go with the late-50s Carpocalypse today! More »

You Can Tell A Man From Texas: 1957 Dodge Texan

Murilee Martin — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Since I'm heading out to Houston this weekend to bust cheaters at the 24 Hours Of LeMons, this ad for the '57 Dodge Texan seems like just the thing today. Imagine having both a Texan and a La Femme in your garage; you could even combine the two and have a totally bewildering automotive mashup. Why don't the car companies have state-specific models these days? The Toyota North Dakotan! The Saab Nevadan! More »

Time For A Tough One: The $97,000 1957 Chevrolet 210 Fuelie

Murilee Martin — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:00:00 EDT

Heads up for another episode of Nice Price Or Crack Pipe, where you make the call on car sellers' asking prices! Last time we were here, 89% of you felt that the seller of the $95K '87 Corvette was asking way too much, the second-highest Crack-Pipe-O-Meter™ score we've ever seen (after the 92% attained by the $41K VW Syncro). This time we're going to make the choice more of a dilemma for y'all; it's a genuine automotive icon, recognizable the world over, et freakin' cetera, and it's in great shape. Your heart would have to be a lump of liquid-nitrogen-cooled steel to remain indifferent to a genuine '57 210 with the 283-horse fuelie 283 engine… but is 97,000 bucks a Crack Pipe price today, as the global economic system collapses around us? That's 97 grand you won't have available to buy a fleet of Toyota pickups, a crate of Chinese SKS rifles, and sufficient MREs for a couple years in the hills! More »

PCH, 57 Varieties Of Hell Edition: Two 1957 Cadillacs or 1957 Nash/Hudson Combo?

Murilee Martin — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:20:00 EDT

Welcome to Project Car Hell, where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! Last time around, the '69 AMC SC/Rambler grabbed a photo-finish 51-49 win over the '70 Chrysler 300 Hurst in the Choose Your Eternity poll. We're going to stick with good ol' American machinery today, but instead of picking one of two vintage musclecars, your choices will be 2-for-1 1957 package deals. These cars have been waiting for you for 51 years... waiting for a chance to ~~ruin your life~~ make you happier than you've ever been!
More »

Super-Rare Dodge Sweptside Bides Its Time In Arizona Junkyard

Murilee Martin — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:00:00 EDT

A pickup truck with fins? The aptly-named 57Sweptside sent these in quite a while back, and now we can all bask in the junkyardy goodness that is Arizona. Make the jump to read 57Sweptside's description; once you're done looking at the gallery, head here to see all the photos. More »

Studebaker President? No, Packard Clipper!

Murilee Martin — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:30:00 EDT

Not to be outdone by her crosstown rival ejacobs, Kitt is responding to the 60-year-old International Harvester with the response from Denver's South Side: this 1957 Packard Clipper. It's big, it's pink, and it's a badge-engineered Studebaker President, a relic of Packard's abrupt decline and fall after its purchase of Studebaker. Sadly, 1958 was to be Packard's last year. More »

Project Car Hell, Limo Edition: 1957 Chrysler or 1981 Ferrari?

Murilee Martin — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:15:00 EDT

Can an American car- even a 60-year-old American car made by a long-defunct manufacturer- compete with an entry PCH Superpower Italy? Not according to our most recent Choose Your Eternity poll, in which the '38 Studebaker Dictator lost out to the '68 OTAS 820. That might have something to do with the fact that most of the OTAS now resides in the belly of the Rust Monster, but it also points out just how tough it is to beat a PCH Superpower. However, Project Car Hell is all about beating your unstoppable head against an immobile brick wall, forever, so we're coming right back with another Italy-versus-America matchup. And not just your quotidian-type X-1/9-versus-Pacer deal, oh no- today we're plunging headfirst into the molten sulfur of Custom Stretch Limo Hell! More »

1957 Chevrolet Corvette Airbox Car

Ben Wojdyla — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:15:00 EDT

Now this is very cool. Three brothers and Corvette enthusiasts scooped up a messy old 1957 Corvette race car and have brought back from the rough. It all starts out like many car stories - at a bar talking cars - where Kevin Hussey was shooting the breeze with a friend and the topic of Vette restoration came up. The friend asked Kevin how much it would cost to fully restore an old Vette he owned. After viewing the car, Hussey answered honestly with a high number, but if the friend ever wanted to get rid of it, Kevin would be interested. Fatal last words. Eventually the exchange took place, but the pedigree of the Vette didn't come to light until after the car had changed hands. More »

Cadillac Eldorado Brougham

Ben Wojdyla — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:40:00 EDT

Well, you've done it again - voted into the Jalopnik Fantasy Garage another glass-and-steel piece of history which some, but not all, agree would make for a great addition: the Lotus Eleven. Last week saw no progress towards filling the garage due to Geneva Motor Show shenanigans, but that just gave us some extra time to think about what to offer up this week. Sometimes it's hard to be objective when selecting nominees, this week's pick is a personal favorite from a bygone era of high rollers, big egos, and uncompromising style - the Cadillac Eldorado Brougham. More »

1957 Cadillac Sedan de Ville

Murilee Martin — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 09:00:00 EST

Since it's been nearly a month since we last saw a 1950s Detroit DOTS car, and even longer since our most recent DOTS Cadillac, today we're going to look at two-and-a-half tons of Cadillac style: a 1957 Sedan de Ville. This car lives on the island's east side, quite close to the '72 Mercedes 280SEL, and it's parked on a busy street every day. No garage for this survivor! More »

Project X Marks The Spot At SEMA For Popular Hot Rodding And GM

Ray Wert — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 09:15:00 EDT

In case anyone missed the line from yesterday's SEMA-stained press release from the boys and girls at the General, it looks like Popular Hot Rodding's famous (or is it infamous, which we hear is like famous only more so) '57 Chevy "Project X" project car is finally ready for business due to a plethora of parts and labor donated by the boys n' girls at GM's Performance Division. Took 'em long enough — PHR's only had the '57 on hand since like — umm — 1965. [Popular Hot Rodding] More »

Moparbulance!

Murilee Martin — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:30:00 EDT

We mentioned our Belvedere-loving friend with the '57 Plymouth ambulance in the Choose Your Eternity Ambulance Edition post, and now he's handed over some photos of his personal Hell Project. It doesn't run, it's rusty, and it's missing all the special ambulance gear... but just imagine this thing with a Cross Ram 413 and a dekotora-class array of flashing colored lights! Even though Adrian has yet to exercise his commenting rights on the site, we're still going to give a Project Car Hell Poster Child Award to him. Any of you who think you deserve the next PCHPCA, send your photos and description to murilee at jalopnik dot com! More »

Project Car Hell, Czech Edition: Tatra or Skoda?

Murilee Martin — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:00:00 EDT

We've received some great tips for Project Car Hell, but tipster Bobash takes it to a whole new level with these finds. After watching the excellent Czech-hoonage Tatra promotional film, Happy Journeys, he found both a Tatra 603 and a cop-style Skoda 1201. Not only that, he did the translation, provided all the historical background, and even saved our lazy asses a bunch of work by providing a bunch of writing in Jalopnik-approved PCH style. Thanks, Bobash- you're first in line for one of the groo-oovy PCH tipster prizes we keep promising to provide! So hop on the first flight to Prague, ye of eternal vehicular torment, and get ready to wake up as a giant cockroach with a wrench in each of your six hands, because we're entering Kafka territory with these cars. More »

PCH, Detroit Wagon Edition: '57 Ford or '65 Dodge?

Murilee Martin — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 17:45:17 EDT

Due to technical difficulties last Friday, we had to postpone our all-wagon PCH; since it seems that the liberal application of ball-peen hammer to the Gawker servers has finally fixed the problem (for now), we're ready to jump back into Hell! As we all know, the acronym-iffic JDM RHD WRX did a big turbocharged burnout right in the grillle of the SE-R Sentra in last week's Choose Your Eternity poll. Today we're going with the voice of the Jalopnik readers for our cars. Actually, the voice of a single Jalopnik reader, Will, who dug up a couple of identically-priced Detroit wagons from deep behind the Orange Curtain. Thanks, Will! Keep those tips a-coming, folks, because I'm getting geared up to start sending out some sort of prize to the best PCH tipsters. For now, let's look at cars! More »