Here is a model of my all time favorite collectible car that I have owned. This is an exact scale model of my first '57 Chevrolet Bel Air 4 door hardtop that I got by trading even up with a buddy I worked with in 1980 for a 1965 Corvair Monza convertible that I was restoring at the time, but I wanted a '57 Chevy more than I wanted a Corvair. When my dad found out that I did this, he was not too happy, and eventually he forced me to sell the car because he said "That big ugly yellow canary will never be worth anything, get rid of it or move out!!" I could not afford to live on my own yet, so I sold the car, after I spent about $700.00 more in 1980 dollars in the start of it's restoration in parts and services. I even got new floor braces, and replacement floor pans for the thing, a rebuilt 1965 Chevelle 283, a rechromed rear bumper assembly, new stock wheels, and hubcaps, and new glass for the driver's side front door. That did not matter, my dad still made me sell it, and I took a beating financially on that car, as I only got $500.00 for the thing, in March of 1983!! Needless to say I was very upset at my dad for forcing me to sell the thing. I still get upset at him for making me do this, as a restored '57 Bel Air 4 door hardtop can now fetch as much as $30,000!! I tried to tell my dad this, but he really does not even want to here it. So be it. When I came home with a 1965 Cadillac Calais coupe later that summer, he liked that car, so everything was at peace on the surface, for the time being.
That is another story for later.
After the '57 was gone, I set out to build a scale model of the thing in around 1984. I used two AMT 1957 Chevy Bel Air 2 door hardtop kits, and one Jo-Han/Ex-el products promotional model re-issue of a 1956 Pontiac Star Chief 4 door hardtop, which uses the exact 4 door HT roof that the 1956, and 1957 Chevys used in the actual cars. So I cut the roof off the Pontiac model. Then After I removed the 2 door HT roof off the Chevy body, I cut the interior hole longer on the cross panel in front of the trunk lid, by making that panel narrower, so it would accomidate the longer modified interior box. I removed the back seat coupe arm rests, and made the rear seat itself, longer, made back door interior panels, and removed the notch that the front seat had, to make a solid front bench seat back, like a fixed sedan front seat would be like. On the body, I shaved off the coupe door handles, filled in the 2 door coupe door lines, and sanded it smooth. Then I scribed the 4 door HT door lines, and sculpted 4 new plastic door handles for the car, and glued them to the doors. After that was done, I glued the Pontiac 4 door roof on, tweaking it quite a bit to get it to fit. Next, I dry fitted the "glass". After that,I dry fitted the new interior box. After I got everything to fit satisfactory, I did all the paint work, and was able to assemble the rest of the model, as per the stock AMT kit's instructions. Oh, yeah, on the front grille, I cut out the grille top bar, and attached it to the hood, like the real car is done.
Even though, I did this model 26 years ago, now, I think it still came out really nice, considering all the work I had to do to the thing to get the results I wanted . And that is a scale model of a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air "Sports Sedan" 4 door hardtop!
Please check out this new update post I did about this model, as you the viewer have made this my most popular post, so I decided to do new photos of the model, and more info on how and why I built it.
Here is the link.
http://jayveejayaresjunk.blogspot.com/2012/08/1957-chevy-bel-air-4-door-sports-sedan.html
Addendum; February 3, 2013.
To the people of the '55-'56-'57 Classic Chevy Club France, I sincerely thank you for your kind remarks on your forum. I wish I knew French so I could join your forum and talk more about this model, which I built 29 years ago in 1984. I am thinking about building a second 4 door hardtop in India Ivory and Canyon Coral (pink) as I now own a real one in this color scheme. Your remarks, again are much appreciated!--Jim.
Jim.
Hey Jim
ReplyDeleteThe time and effort spent show in every detail. The model came out perfect!
From a big fan of Trichevys.
Hello Jim,
ReplyDeleteI'm Philippe, a member of the "Classic Chevy Club France"
On behalf of the club, we thank you for your little comment.
And with patience we await the completion of the second kit (india and coral)
Keep us updated as soon as you have finished, as we have many members owner of 4 doorsHDTP, large majorité of these cars are full options. (export model)
Soon be
Philippe
hey Jim, my friend and I don't share the exact passion you have for the 4 door model but we are both a not-to-distant Second.
ReplyDeleteYou did an excellent job with this model. Congratulations!!!!
Is this car still available and how much I appreciate of you contact me back thank you
ReplyDeleteModel is not for sale.
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of fact, not to rude, but I have never implied that any of my models are for sale. I just want to share my modeling experiences with the general public, in explaining and showing how I created these models. That is all.
ReplyDeleteHi. As you seem to know a lot of the chevys, can you tell all the differences of a 57 210 and a bel air? It would be too a lot of help.
ReplyDeleteThe Bel Airs have the ribbed brushed aluminum inserts on the rear quarter panels of the car with a "Bel Air" script in the triangular area, whereas on the 210 series that area is just painted and has a "Chevrolet" script there.
DeleteOutstanding! That is what my 57 sport sedan looked like when it left the factory.
ReplyDeleteHello Jim, I came across your site when I was looking for a '57 Chevy 4 door Sport Sedan model.
ReplyDeleteAs you wrote, it is still true at the moment that there are simply no model cars with this body style available to buy.
Your self-built car model is simply a dream, but of course it can only partially replace your former real car.
Now we come to my story that I can contribute:
For more than 30 years now, at some point in the early 1990s (since I got my driving license), but basically since I was a little boy around the age of 10, I have always liked classic cars, especially American road cruisers, much better many new cars of the time.
When I saw the first '57 Chevy at some point, I realized that it was my absolute dream car. Sure Caddy and co, and our European classic cars are nice too, but for me there's only the Chevy.
But when I was 19, my father and mother talked me out of buying a classic car. Well, without a garage and equipped with two left hands, and not entirely illogical without a lot of money.
It happened in 2015 when I visited a classic car fair again after many years. I saw a car in the distance, I thought: Look there's a nice '57 Chevy, and went closer, but wrong, it was just the "small" European copy, the Opel Rekord P1.
From that point on I started looking for this car because I thought a '57 Chevy was way too expensive and I couldn't afford it anyway, the Opel is smaller, much cheaper to buy and also cheaper to maintain than the Chevrolet.
So a few years of searching passed. I looked at a few cars. There were a few that I almost bought.
Just almost, every time I thought I was going to buy it, something came up.
To the first doubt whether I really should or not. I waited too long to make the promise and the car was already sold to someone else.
Then there was a death in the family, as well as a nursing case that I have had to take care of since then (2018).
Of course, my wife wasn't exactly happy to hear that I wanted to buy a classic car. So NO car...
In the last week of October 2022 I was browsing on a sales platform again after a long time and I saw it...
A red-orange '57 One-Fifty. The first AFFORDABLE 57 I've ever seen on a sales platform in our country.
Other vintages and car models, yes, could be found, but many were never a '57. The ad said beautiful but not perfect condition, just fall in love and take it with you. So I was already in love, so look at it for real. 1 week later it was time to look at the car for the first time in the evening in a lighted garage. What can I say, I had a deposit with me so that the car could be reserved once, as I was able to look at the car again that day with someone I knew. Good 2nd visit again a week later, this time in daylight. And yes, it's not perfect, paint damage, etc. BUT I know, if not right now, then probably not in this lifetime. SO he's been mine since November 2022. He has been registered since May 2023.
Here is the link where I bought the car, with pictures.
https://www.willhaben.at/iad/bedarftwagen/d/auto/chevrolet-sonstige-1957-chevy-150-609333846/
Greetings from Austria,
Carl