Thread: Future purchase need urgent help!

I currently have a 1957 Chevy Bel Air in need of heavy restoration, approximately 25,000$. I have now found this car, 1 hour away from my house and I'm wondering if it would be a good deal to buy this, put these parts in my car, or vise-versa, and sell the extra chassis. In english, it reads "project started and not finished. 350 motor running and 4 speed manual transmission. Missing time and space, must sell 7500$ closed.

It's quite a bit of money for me to spend immediately and I wanted to know if I would be saving with the amount of work already put on it compared to mine. The video from youtube if my Bel Air at this exact moment.

This first link is the Ad from kijiji Canada. The video is my Chevy.

1957 Chevrolet Bel Air/150/210 R TOP Coupé

It's hard to tell what condition the project car is in from the pictures. Given that it has a flip-up front clip there could be a lot of work to do to change it or it could be a plus if that is what you want on the finished car. If the actually runs and drives under it's own power and you need or want a traditional small-block/ 4-speed drivetrain then it's most likely a good value for you to make one car out of the two. And an even better value if it has rust free sheetmetal that you need for the car you already have.

There are a couple of members who have done restorations on tri-five chevy's or who own them. Hopefully they will reply and be a resource for you. FYI, I'm a 1970-1972 GM A-body guy; more specifically Buick Skylark/GS fanatic.

i vote no

Originally Posted by pip

i vote no

Originally Posted by N360LL

It's hard to tell what condition the project car is in from the pictures. Given that it has a flip-up front clip there could be a lot of work to do to change it or it could be a plus if that is what you want on the finished car. If the actually runs and drives under it's own power and you need or want a traditional small-block/ 4-speed drivetrain then it's most likely a good value for you to make one car out of the two. And an even better value if it has rust free sheetmetal that you need for the car you already have.

There are a couple of members who have done restorations on tri-five chevy's or who own them. Hopefully they will reply and be a resource for you. FYI, I'm a 1970-1972 GM A-body guy; more specifically Buick Skylark/GS fanatic.

Well I finally decided to pick it up as the chrome around the windows were new, he had new front and back chrome bumpers and the interior floor was completely redone with all new wiper kit (surprisingly expensive). I was able to pick it up for half that price as as he kept the front flip up hood. I will take the front from mine and will install it on that car as he even had the clips stored in the garage so it will fit perfectly.

I have sold both engine and tranny for 800$ as I already have a fully remanufactured 350 with 2 different transmissions (411, 373), so I think that it was not too much a bad buy as I can still sell my previous frame for a few thousand hopefully.

I want to put up pictures of my "dismantling" of the front and reinstallation on the second car but it's not working atm. I'll probably make a video within 10-20 and post it here to recap.

Overall, from what I understand it's a good buy and hopefully I can find some tri-five members on here to discuss and share with!