The adage “like father, like son” may hold true for certain classic car owners.
The first car Jim Greges owned was a 1957 Chevy that had belonged to his father. The first car he bought, in 1983, at age 19, was also a 1957 Chevy. “I always liked the look of the ’57,” he says.
Greges paid $500, or about $1,600 today, although the car was far from roadworthy. “It had no motor and no transmission, the floors were full of holes and it needed rockers and trunk work,” he recalls.
He did nearly all the restoration, including a fresh coat of original Code No. 76 Daytona yellow paint. He left the fabric and vinyl seats to others.
“I just wanted to leave the car as is,” he says. “There are things I could have added, but that takes away from its history.”
Over the past 40 years, Greges has acquired parts from all over the country, although most were easy to find. He replaced the chrome bumper ends and the rear taillights. He has the original, stainless steel (not chrome) side trim ready to reinstall.
The replacement engine is a Chevy 283 cubic inch V8, the same power the car rolled off the assembly line with. Chevrolet introduced the engine in 1957 and boasted it was the first to generate one horsepower per cubic inch when fuel-injected.
The transmission is a two-speed Powerglide automatic with a floor shifter, also true to the car’s origins.
The Specs
Assembly: Atlanta, Flint and other plants
Model: 210
Body: 2-door sedan or hardtop, 4-door hardtop, sedan, convertible or station wagon
Production: 1.5 million (2-door sedan, 162,851)
Engine: 283 cubic inch V8, 265 cubic inch V8, 235 cubic inch straight 6
Carburetor: One four-barrel
Horsepower: 220
Transmission: Powerglide 2-speed automatic, 3-speed manual, Turboglide automatic
Weight: 3,272 pounds.
Fuel economy: 17 to 18 mpg
Cost: $2,222 ($24,932 today)
Greges replaced the interior door panels and installed an after-market AM-FM radio replicating the original. He also installed a removable Grant steering wheel for security. “Their motto is ‘No wheel, no steal!’” he notes. A removable steering wheel also makes it easier to clean the dash.
The car is not deluxe; it lacks options available in 1957 such as power steering, brakes, windows and seats that could have been added for $270 ($3,000 today), air conditioning ($565, or $6,300) or fuel injection ($480, or $5,400). “Mine has no power anything,” Greges says. “Everything is old-fashioned manual.”
Parking can be a challenge without power steering, but otherwise Greges feels the car “is a dream,” including the comfortable seats. “It’s nice to drive, good on the highway,” he said, even on longer trips to Kentucky with his wife, Patty, for the annual Hot Rod Power Tour.
He doesn’t recall the odometer reading when he bought the car; he reset it to zero and has driven it 21,000 miles. He estimates the Chevy gets about 17 miles to the gallon on the highway.
“It has to run on high-test, but I make my concoction with additives to boost the octane, plus lead, which the heads and valves need as a lubricant,” he says.
He and Patty enjoy taking the car to local cruise shows in Fishkill and Hopewell Junction, where the yellow exterior always attracts attention. Motor Trend once described the ’57 Chevy as “arguably the best looking and most well-known Chevy ever built.”
Greges has been asked if he would sell, “but once I tell them I’ve had it since I was 19, they say, ‘Forget it, it’s a family member,’ ” he says. On average, a 1957 Chevy 210 sells for $45,000 but has gone for as much as $120,000. The 150, 210 and Bel Air models are popular with collectors, restorers and hotrodders.
Chevrolet sold the 210 from 1953 to 1957. It was considered a notch above the less stylish 150 but not as glitzy as the Bel Air. In 1958 the 210 was replaced by the Biscayne.