GANGSTER CHOPPERS: August 2016

Gangster Choppers drug another nice piece home. Always hunting, always looking for the classics. This 1957 Chevy Sedan Delivery is beyond a remarkable find. It is a mind blower!

Originally hot rodded in 1968 with the drivetrain from a 1967 Corvette, the owner had a vision and was really up on "what was cool". Already a factory optioned V8 car with power steering, the L79 327 was slid in, a 1962 bellhousing was used, and the Muncie M20 from the 'Vette was reused too. The car is geared 3.70:1 using the original differential and axle housing.

Every casting date code has been checked and documented, the brake drums and even the wheel cylinders were all original. Items like the water pump, intake manifold, distributor, thermostat housing all correct for the period! The gauges are all Stewart Warner date coded 1968, the Ansen Top Eliminator wheels were still wearing the tires date coded 1967. Rare items don't stop there, the 327 cid wears a set of original Dougs Headers long tube headers with collectors! The mufflers are original Smittys!

The car was last driven and parked in the owners garage in September 1974, when discovered the battery was still connected and had the date code bubbles removed indicating June 1972. The owner had passed away and his Son and his Widow had decided to proceed with selling the '57. Talking with the Son and his Mom, stories of dozens of bed sheets and blankets dry rotting and literally falling off the car was told, stories of the tires being inflated with the pressure checked once a year, the water being drained from the radiator and engine. Stories of the early offers on the car and then obviously people just forgetting it still sat in the garage. Not to mention the 3/4" inch of dust on the car covering the 1967 Corvette blue the car was painted in 1968.

More may be written and documented on the "very slight" restoration of the '57 on this blog, all I can recommend is stay tuned. For now, unbelievably just a couple weeks after acquiring this awesome time capsule it is fully on the road and cruising. We were very careful to preserve the car as being a real 1968 hot rod, nothing on this car says Taiwan or Korea and we didn't change the vision of the original hot rodder in 1968.