There are a few reasons why so many non-car people think any old car is a
Chevy.
1. They sold a lot of Chevys. Why? Because they were cheap!
2. They were popular with young drivers because they were plentiful used,
and therefore cheap to buy.
3. They were popular with young drivers because they were lightweight,
because they were cheap. This was good for hot rods. Everybody thinks they
were fast when new, but that is because most of their original 265/283 two
barrel engines have been replaced by cheap hopped up 350s.
4. They were popular with young drivers because they were cheap to operate,
because they were plentiful, and therefore parts were cheap.
5. They are popular today with collectors because Chevys are easy and cheap
to restore, are plentiful, and have a value (due to their "mystic") today
that is way out of proportion to the quality of their original construction.
6. The "mystic" that has arisen around the 55 - 57 Chevy is mostly for the
above reasons: they were cheap.
7. Hollywood and the model toy industry have capitalized on this unnatural
phenomenon and made it snowball even more. There are thousands of different
cheap 57 Chevy models everywhere, but not one 56 Dodge model since the
original factory promos, and few other Mopars either.
8. The uneducated masses of non-car people have been brainwashed into
thinking that every old car is a Chevy, particularly 57s.
Is there a recurring theme here? Sounds like a little birdie going "cheap,
cheap, cheap".
Why would anyone with any sense of aesthetics and culture, like us
ForwardLook people, want to own something as common, ordinary, and
unchallenging as a 57 Chevy. We call them "belly button" cars for a reason,
because everybody's got one. =)
A little known fact: 57 Chevys were not that popular when they were new.
1957 was one of the few years that Ford outsold Chevy.
Dave Homstad
56 Dodge D500
P.S.: IMHO the dash of a 57 Chevy is one of THE UGLIEST ever conceived by
Detroit. It looks cheap.
-----Original Message-----
From: Forward Look Mopar Discussion List
[mailto:L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of brian
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2001 11:49 PM
To: L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [FWDLK] gahhhhh!!
> I wonder how many 57 Chevy owners have had a guy pull up next to them,
roll
> down the window and shout "Hey, nice 57 Plymouth!" - Hmmm
Brian
D500s in windy snowy MI
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: David Charles Gedraitis <dcg@xxxxxxx>
> > To: <L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2001 2:48 PM
> > Subject: [FWDLK] gahhhhh!!
> >
> >
> > > The UPS man just delivered the new gas tank for my recently inherited
> > > toyota, and as he was looking at my '61 newport sitting in the garage,
> he
> > > told me "nice thunderbird" *sigh* I always thought the "Chrysler"
> > > spelt out across the grill was fairly obvious, especially since
sometime
> > > ago I painted those letters black for the purpose of making them stand
> > > out. ah well-at least that doesn't happen with my kaiser-no one even
> > > ventures a guess....
> > >
> > > ~dave
> > > '61 Newport (ford t-bird clone :-P )
> > > '67 Kaiser M-715
> > > '91 Toyota pickup
> > >
> >
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