1957 Chevrolet Trivia
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The 1957 model year would be the last for the Bel Air series Nomad 2-door station wagon; with sales dropping to 6,264 units, its life was short lived.
Styling changes for 1957 arguably started the "fin" trend
in GM. New body trim design along with much sharper rear 'fins' than
before.
Two-tone paint schemes were continued in 1957 with 15 different combinations possible.
The V8 powered 1957 could be distinguished by a "V" emblem
centered on the trunk lid, the L6 engines did not get this "V"
emblem.
The "jet age" had arrived with twin finned bullet emblems
on the 1957 Chevrolet hood.
Since the V8 engine was shorter than the L6 engine, the V8 radiator
was located behind the core support where the L6 radiator was located
in front of the core support.
Chevrolet continued to play "hide-the-fuel-filler" for 1957.
Still located on the driver side of the car but now behind a swing-away
panel on the driver side fin trim. The passenger side looked very much
the same, confusing a lot of service station attendants back in the
day. Place your mouse pointer over the photo to see the fuel filler.
While the cubic inch displacement increased to 283cid for 1957, the
265 was still being produced. To distinguish between the two
engines, the 265cid version was painted chartreuse until mid-year
(exact date not known) when both V8s were painted in Chevy Red.
1957 Chevrolets were used by all branchs of the military.
The "Black Widow" Chevrolet never officially built.
Stories range from six (6) to as many as 18 "Black Widow" 1957 Chevrolets were built by SEDCO for NASCAR but never officiall sanctioned by Chevrolet. They were powered by the 283 cid/283 hp fuel injection engines. Fenton racing equipment supplied these unique 'split' exhaust manifolds for these cars. These were no-frills Chevrolets. No back seat, no armrests, no visors, no cigarette lighters, no heaters, not even a dome light. The back seat was removed and even the rear windows were 'locked' in place with no mechanism to roll the down or up.
There's a lot of background and historical information on the infamous 1957
"Black Widow" Chevrolet - here are a few links to interesting articles:
>>
https://www.rodauthority.com/features/car-features/the-1957-chevrolet-black-widow/
>>
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2015/07/24/one-of-only-a-few-left-black-widow-1957-chevrolet-narrowly-escaped-the-crusher
>>
https://www.autoblog.com/2010/09/23/1957-chevrolet-nascar-black-widow-to-be-auctioned-at-barrett-jac/
>>
https://autos.yahoo.com/meet-the-57-chevy-black-widow-nascar-saved-124937334232.html
>>
https://www.volocars.com/auto-sales/vehicles/17756/1957-chevrolet-150-black-widow
