1957 Buick Special Riviera

Back in 1957 there were still really only two Buicks, the longer 127" wheelbase Roadmaster and Super built on the General Motors C-body chassis, and the shorter 122" wheelbase Century and Special, on the B-body platform.

They all had the traditional Buick "Sweepspear" styling line on the side, and the top two models had four chrome "Ventiports" on the fenders while the two more plebeian models made do with three. Not that any Buick was really downmarket; the brand was positioned only slightly below Cadillac in the GM brand hierarchy. It was the car of the upper middle class, and buying even a Buick Series 40 Special announced that you were on the way up in the world.

Enough people wanted to make that announcement in 1957 to move Buick into third place in sales in the US, passing Mopar's budget Plymouth for the slot.

The Special was powered by the new-for-'57 Buick Fireball V-8, an OHV pushrod motor that displaced 364 cubic inches (6.0L). While the Roadmaster, Super, and Century got a version of the Fireball with a four-barrel carburetor and 10.0:1 compression, rated at 300 gross horsepower, the Special made do with a 250hp version of the same engine, using a two-barrel carb and 9.5:1 compression. There was an even weaker optional 8.0:1 version for people who didn't want to pay for premium fuel. It could only be had with a manual transmission and is rather scarce, since most Buick customers wanted that smooth Dynaflow ride.

A lot of things were optional on the Special, like power brakes, which would be a thing you'd want because those four drums had their work cut out for them hauling two-plus tons of Buick down from speed.

In the center of the dash on this lovely Dresden Blue and Dover White example is a Sonomatic radio, which was the cheaper alternative to the famous "Wonder Bar" unit, which had automatic channel seeking; pretty space age stuff for the Fifties.

The Special could be had as a hardtop coupe like this one, called the "Riviera", or as a pillared two- or four-door sedan.

This one was photographed using a Nikon Coolpix S6500 in Concord, Tennessee back in August of 2014.

1957 Chevrolet Bel Air

When the "shoebox" style Chevrolets debuted for the 1955 model year, the only four-door sedan available was a conventional pillared one.

With the 1956 models, however, a sleeker sedan lacking a B-pillar was assed to the lineup. The new hardtop four-door was sold as the Sport Sedan and was only available in the top-of-the-line Bel Air and midrange 210. The spartan 150 still made do with the B-pillar.

We've had a 1957 Bel Air sedan on these pages before, but it was the regular pillared kind. This Adobe Beige and Sierra Gold 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Sport Sedan in the photos was snapped in October of 2020 using a Nikon D7000 and a 16-80mm f/2.8-4E zoom lens.

1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner

The "hardtop" body style debuted in 1949, when Buick added a graceful, B-pillarless roof to their convertible body. It was welded in place and didn't fold, but it gave the car sleek lines and the style was rapidly copied by other makers, including Ford.

For the 1957 model year, Ford went the rest of the industry one better by introducing the Skyliner convertible. On the new Skyliner, the metal one-piece roof would retract into the trunk under its own power for that open air motoring experience. 

If foul weather threatened, just pull over, push a button, and the trunk lid would hinge upward and the roof would reverse its ballet. Once it was in place and the power-operated screws at each corner had snugged it down, a red light on the dash would go out, indicating that you were ready to motor on, snug and dry.

Base engine was the 292 cubic inch Thunderbird V-8, rated at 212 gross horsepower. Optionally, a buyer could order the Thunderbird Special 312 cubic inch V-8, which made 245 horsepower, or go for the top-of-the-line 300hp Thunderbird Supercharged 312 V-8. All three engines could be had with a three-speed manual, with or without a manually operated overdrive, or the Fordomatic three-speed slushbox.

Motor Life tested a 1957 Fairlane 500 sedan with the 245hp Thunderbird Special 312 V-8 and recorded a 10.1 second zero-to-sixty time.

The Flame Red and Inca Gold one in the photos is local to the neighborhood. The top two photos were snapped in September of 2022 using a Nikon D800 and a 24-120mm f/4 VR zoom lens, while the lower one was taken with a Canon EOS 7D and an EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS zoom lens in November of 2022.

1957 Chevrolet Bel Air

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.

1957 Ford Thunderbird

When Chevrolet launched its two-seater Corvette in 1953, it caught Ford slightly flat-footed. Dearborn was rocked back on its heels briefly before counterpunching with the Thunderbird for 1955.

At the time, neither car was a blood-in-the-eye sportster. The original 'Vette was powered by a moderately sportified version of Chevy's Stovebolt inline six, and Ford's riposte was a body-on-frame grand tourer riding on a chopped 102" wheelbase platform that owed much to the regular FoMoCo sedans of the era.

Of the original first generation T-birds, the '57 was the most numerous. The launch of the second generation 1958 models was delayed and so the 1957 models remained in production for an extra three months, until December '57, with a total of 21,380 units sold.

The base motor for the '57 model remained the 292 cubic inch Ford Y-block pushrod V-8. With a two-barrel carburetor and a 9.1:1 compression ratio, it was rated at 212 SAE gross horsepower. Optional were two different versions of the 312 cubic inch Y-block.

First was the Thunderbird 312 Special V-8, with a four-barrel carb and a 9.7:1 compression ratio, making 245 horsepower, and at the top of the pyramid was the Thunderbird 312 Super V-8, which added a second four-barrel and bumped the output to 270 ponies.

Weight distribution was aided by the engine being largely set back abaft the front axle.

The 292 cube motor could only be had with the 3-speed manual, while the bigger V-8s could also be equipped with the Fordmatic slushbox.

The Torch Red car in the photos has the 3-speed manual with optional overdrive.

Motor Trend tested a '57 with the 245-horse Thunderbird Special V-8 and the Fordmatic gearbox and recorded a zero-to-sixty time of 11.1 seconds. The quarter mile took 18.2 seconds with a trap speed of 77 miles per hour. Braking from sixty took 160 feet with the 11" drum brakes at each corner.

The top photo in this post was taken in August of 2021 using a Nikon D2X and 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 VR zoom lens. The second one was snapped with an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and an M. Zuiko Digital 12-200mm f/3.5-6.3 zoom lens in October of 2024, while the bottom two were taken in May of 2023 using a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV and an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS zoom lens.