The mid-Fifties was before Chevrolet offered a range of subcompact, compact, mid-size, and full-size cars. If you walked into a Chevy dealership in 1957, there were two basic cars: The 2-seat Corvette sports car, and the full-size Chevrolet.
The latter, however, was available in a bewildering variety of configurations. There were three basic trim levels: the 150, the 210, and the top-of-the-line Bel Air. Further, each of the three trim levels could be had in a number of coupe, sedan, and wagon configurations; see this '55 Sedan Delivery as an example.
In the photo above is a 1957 Bel Air 4-door sedan (there was also a pillarless hardtop Sport Sedan as well as the pillared 2-door sedan), in Tropical Turquoise and India Ivory, classically hot-rodded on mag wheels and fat raised white letter tires.
Under the hood, buyers could opt for the 235 cubic inch Blue Flame inline six rated at 140 horsepower, the 265 cubic inch Turbo-Fire V-8 making 160 horsepower with a two-barrel carburetor, and no less than six varieties of the 283 cube Turbo-Fire small block V-8 ranging from mild (185hp two barrel) to wild (283hp Corvette V-8 with Rochester mechanical fuel injection).
Transmissions on the menu were the single-speed Turboglide and two-speed Powerglide transmissions (the latter available with an optional manually-engaged overdrive) as well as standard and close-ratio three-speed all-Synchromesh manuals.
Motor Trend tested a '57 Bel Air sedan with the 270 horsepower dual-quad 283 Corvette V-8 and 3-speed manual and reported a 9.9 second zero-to-sixty time and a 17.5 quarter at 78 mph.
It was snapped with a Nikon D800 and a 24-120mm f/4 VR zoom lens in May of 2024.
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