1965 Corvette - Readers Ride

We can all dream, right?  Junkyardlife readers are well aware that they could hit the lottery and be forced to park their beater car and start driving an investment car — a vehicle they could and would drive anywhere just because they can.  This Readers Rides 1965 Corvette probably held its value better than your 401K too.

Karen Dorsett owns her dream car. Dorsett first laid eyes on Chevrolet’s second generation 2-seat sports car when she was a teen.  Captivated by Corvettes, her youthful exuberance would take over.  When she spotted one driving down the street she would point and shout, ‘Sting Ray!’  The appeal of mid-sixties Vettes remained in 2001 when Dorsett went to see this blue coupe.  Dorsett was in love the minute the former owner rolled the Vette out of its storage space. It had to be hers.  A deal was made and now Dorsett owns this attention-grabbing ’65 Corvette.  Who says dreams don’t come true. 

Specs
The original 300-horsepower, 327-cubic-inch engine and 4-speed transmission give Dorsett’s fiberglass beauty plenty of motivation.  Throaty side exhaust pipes sing small block music when Dorsett takes her Corvette out for a spin.  Chevrolet built 23,562 Corvettes for the 1965 model year — 8,186 coupes, 15,376 convertibles.  Of those, 6,022 were painted Nassau Blue like Dorsett’s.  It’s easy to see why it was the most popular Corvette color that year with more than 25% of total production painted Nassau Blue. 

Pride and joy

Dorsett acts as curator, maintaining the spotless Corvette.  Her car is parked smack dab in the center of a large garage, creating the perfect showplace for Dorsett’s dream car.  When we parted with the Corvette and shut the garage door, Dorsett was smiling.  Her smile was tinged with the giddy excitement of a teen who just spotted her first Sting Ray in 1965.

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More 4-door fun: 1956 Chevrolet

1956 Chevrolets get the least amount of love from would-be Tri-Five owners. Tri-Fives being 1955, 1956 and 1957 Chevys. I’ve always had an affinity for the middle child of Chevrolet’s Tri-Five trinity. My dream car was a ’56 Bel Air 2-door post that my dad owned during my high school years. It was black with a Muncie 4-speed and a 396-cubic inch Chevy big block. A Dana 60 rear end with 3.73 gears transfered the power to the blacktop. The trunk was butchered and filled with shabby home-made wheel well tubs. I didn’t care about craftsmanship. There was plenty of room for giant rear tires that I never got to vaporize at the drag strip. I can still feel the velour diamond tuck and roll seats and Grant steering wheel in my once 16-year old hands. Anytime I see a ’56 Chevy, I remind my dad that he should have kept that car for me. Life happens and things always change. The ’56 was sold for around $2,600 in the late 1980’s. My dad also ended up selling the red ’55 Chevy 210 he owned at the time. He was one 1957 Chevy away from owning a complete set of Tri-Five Chevrolets. It’s been twenty-one years since those memories were burned into my consciousness. Seeing this old 1956 Chevy 4-door was just what I needed for a walk down memory lane. I hope you enjoy it as well.
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Are 1957 Chevy 4-doors cool yet?

Four-door is an ugly word in many car circles. For decades, teenagers have been taunted for driving their 'mama's car' should they be burdened with two extra doors. It was as if a ‘more’ door branded you as only qualified for life in the slow lane. The 1957 Chevrolet has been ballyhooed as the most recognizable car in the world by folks in many automotive circles. Do four doors, a functional convenience feature, still make 1957 Chevrolets second-class citizens?

MORE MONEY FOR LESS DOORS
A co-worker of mine traded his 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air 4-door for a new pick-up truck in 1994. The dealership gave him $1,500 towards his new truck in return for one of Chevrolet's iconic classics, albeit the four-door variety. A short time before he parted with the four door '57, he sold his 2-door 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air. The red 2-door was drivable, but in need of restoration, it brought $10,000. Those two bonus doors made a big difference in value 15 years ago. What about now?

FUTURE OF COOL CLASSICS?
Will the cool factor find favor in four-door classics? Will the 2-door varieties become too scarce and expensive? Let me know at junkyardlife. Check out these recent photos of a 1957 Chevy four-door languishing in the weeds. Would you save it? Use it for parts on your two-door project? Let me know. You can leave comments or send me an email here.

Click on photos for much larger images.

This 4-door black and white 1957 Chevy would make a good patrol car.

This ’57 Chevy sports Bel Air trim

This 1957 Chevy was hauled from Texas to Alabama.

Look a 1957 Chevy. Oh no, its a more-door!

Are inline sixes, 2 cylinders less cool?

Red wheel center with Two Ten on it.

’57 Chevy kissing bumpers with a Dodge. 

1955 Chevrolet - Cars in Yards

What a great story it would be... but, it’s the same old car story told from a different yard. I spotted a red 1955 Chevrolet rusting peacefully behind a wood fence. I walked up to the house and knocked on the door. I talked briefly to the owner. He graciously showed me around his yard. Dozens of other ‘project’ cars covered the property. The moment of truth. “Do you want to sell the ’55?”


Answer is...?
“Well, if you change your mind, here’s my number,” I told him. You guessed right if you said the answer was no. I can’t blame the guy. I wouldn’t sell it to me either.


How many built?
Chevrolet built more than 1.7 million passenger cars in 150, 210 and Bel Air series varieties during the 1955 production year. This red Chevy looks like a Bel Air hardtop minus its body moldings. Chevy produced 189,269 Bel Air 2-door hardtops. You can see the stainless steel Bel Air moldings around the side window glass.


Nothing ventured, nothing gained
I had a great time talking to the owner of the ’55, and who knows, he might call me when he’s ready to sell it. I will keep looking for the old cars in yards and keep you posted. Send me your junkyardlife stories and photos here.

Holes remain where body side moldings once shined.

The paint that remains looks like it was once brushed on the car.

Go West for rust-free hot rod relics

Car guys and gals looking to score some vintage pre-war steel know about the legends of the West. Go West, take a walk out into the desert sand and start looking for abandoned cars. Classic cars will be everywhere and all will be rust-free, of course. Alabama hot rodder, Hal Lee, tested the legend and his luck by trying to find a 1927 Model 'T' coupe in the desert.

‘The Mercury Kid’ rat rod

Treasure hunt

Some guys might hop on a airplane, not Hal. He traveled 2,500 miles round trip, pulling a trailer, with the hopes he didn’t return empty-handed. Hal rode the border between New Mexico and Colorado on part of his quest. Along the way he met a hot rodder named Louis. A thirty-something character who had a bead on most of the vintage steel within 500 miles of his home. Louis' garage housed, 'The Mercury Kid', his rat rod project. A friend of a friend told Hal of a ’27 T that could be bought. That friend, once removed, required a finder’s fee. The '27 treasure that Hal sought was almost within reach. Hal had one last obstacle prior to receiving his road-trip reward. He had to dig the Model ‘T’ out of the desert sand before he could load the weathered shell onto his trailer. Hal used the long drive home to develop ideas for his Model 'T'. “It will be a chopped and channeled, low-slung street rod,” said Hal. “With the top of the roof 43-inches from the ground.”

1929 Model ‘A’

Western rod projects

Hal saw hundreds of potential project cars and met some unusual characters on his great adventure West. Hal took all of these great photos and was willing to share them. So, I'm not going to give away all of Hal's secret connections and locations. He found old mine cars and met a sculptor (the ponytailed guy in the photo with a 1929 Model A) while combing the backroads of northern New Mexico.

Junkyards, Western-style
Hal ventured into a junkyard in New Mexico which had a complete 1958 Cadillac Eldorado for sale. The mountains of chrome garnishing Cadillac's finest from 1958 made the $8,500 asking price seem reasonable. Inside a hangar-style garage sat two 1955 Ford Fairlanes, not for sale. The desert climate helped preserved these decades old, steel-bodied vehicles from the ravages of rust.

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1955 Ford Crown Victoria

1955 Ford Fairlane

1953 Chevrolet

1958 Cadillac Eldorado

1958 Cadillac Eldorado

1959 Ford Thunderbird