A 1956/57 Crossbred Car ?

[little digger]

Hi All ,

I ran across a strange car . It's a 1957 with a 1956 front clip. I had never seen this before . The owner swears its original , and has been in his family since it was new .

Did Chevy come out with a car like this in 57 ?

Thanks for any and all info on this.

[hrallan]

I've never seen nor heard of anything like this that would be original. I'm fairly sure that there were some trucks that when the new ones weren't out in time were numbered and shipped as the next years version but it would have been the whole vehicle, not parts of the old and parts of the new (such as the 1st series '55 Chevy pickup looking like the '54s). I can't even imagine this being a new '57 that was wrecked upon arrival at the dealer and the dealer replacing the front clip with a '56. Even if that were the case, I would have long ago replaced the clip with the correct one. I personally would have to see all kinds of proof as to this car's originality. If it is original, somebody on the assembly line sure goofed somewhere along the way.

[MikeKy55]

The General would never have let that out to the street. I'm going to say 99.9% no such vehicle ever existed. If one is like that, someone did it later. If the front is 56, bumper and all, then it's more likely the rear clip was replaced. The frame is different from the engine crossmember forward and it would be real difficult to mount a 56 bumper on the 57 frame. I have a photo somewhere of a car that was a 55 and had a rear clip from a 57 convertible grafted on. Then they used all the 56 Belair side trim. It was a good looking car and was done very well.

[little digger]

Thanks for the input . I couldn't fathom this being factory either .

[bud0708]

I've seen the "tri-five" car-I recall it was a 55 front,57 rear with 56 side trim

[MikeKy55]

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL463/2783628/6018279/129019006.jpg

[Oldcar_Mechanic]

This guy sure did an excellent job on that car.

Ron