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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Junkyard find: 1957 Chevrolet station wagons

1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Townsman station wagon.
1957 Chevrolet wagons are hidden in the backwoods of Pennsylvania junkyard. A mid-summer trip to the GM Nationals in Carlisle, PA., by Ron Kidd and fellow gearhead road-tripper Anthony Powell, took a slight detour to a long-forgotten junkyard. The duo followed a tip that an old junkyard with acres of 1950s-era Chevys was ripe for picking. The defunct junkyard reportedly closed in the mid-1970s and sat untouched until the summer of 2010. That's when the property was involved in a land dispute with the nearby township of Dover, PA. The final result: the property deed was changing hands and the land would be cleared of all old cars and parts. Everything would be sold off before December 2010. Ron and Anthony found a junkyard jackpot!
A graveyard of '50s and '60s Chevrolets includes this 1957 Bel Air Townsman station wagon in Dover, PA.
GMs long roof 57s
 Ron and Anthony sacrificed a day of Carlisle's GM Nationals swap meet/car corral utopia for a chance to haul home some Pennsylvania junkyard artifacts. They found examples from GMs finest automotive decades – the 1950s and 1960s. A handful of 1957 Chevy wagons littered the property. Prized Bel Air Nomads, 2 door sport wagons, were nowhere to be found. 
 A four door Bel Air Townsman (above) featured a hot rodded hood. Umm, make that butchered and destroyed to make room for a high rise intake and air cleaner. Other wagons fared a bit better. A pair of windowed Two-Ten Handyman wagons were mostly in tact. These 2 door wagons are relatively rare as GM built only 17,528 examples in 1957. Many of these lower priced Handyman 2 door wagons were used as business delivery vehicles.
1957 Chevrolet Two-Ten Handyman 2-door station wagon.
Mangled front view of the 1957 Chevrolet Two-Ten Handyman 2-door station wagon also pictured above.

Parts bought, Chevys disappear?
  The junkyard duo ended their Pennsylvania junkyard adventure without hauling a rusting Chevy wagon 800-plus miles home. The original destination of Carlisle, PA. was pressing them for time but the guys didn't want to leave empty handed. Anthony negotiated a deal for some trim pieces from a '65 Buick Riviera. Not much of a treasure trove to bring back to Alabama but the memories and photos will endure. Stay tuned for more photos.
 No word from Dover, PA. on the status of this junkyard. If you know more details about this place send us the news at junkyardbull@gmail.com 

A windowed 1957 Chevrolet Two-Ten Handyman 2-door station wagon.
Is that a 283-V8 under the hood of a 1957 Chevrolet Two-Ten Handyman 2-door station wagon?


1957 Chevrolet production

1957 Bel-Air Series Body Styles
  • Bel Air Convertible (production - 47,562)
  • Bel Air Sport Sedan 4 Door Hard Top (137,672)
  • Bel Air Sport Coupe 2 Door Hard Top (166,426)
  • Bel Air 4 Door Sedan (254,331)
  • Bel Air 2 Door Sedan (62,751)
  • Bel Air Townsman 4 Door Station Wagon (27,375)
  • Bel Air Nomad 2 Door Station Wagon (6,103)
1957 Two-Ten Series Body Styles
  • Two-Ten Sport Sedan 4 Door Hard Top (Production - 16,178)
  • Two-Ten Sport Coupe 2 Door Hard Top (22,631)
  • Two-Ten 4 Door Sedan (260, 401)
  • Two-Ten 2 Door Sedan (162,090)
  • Two-Ten 2 Door Delray Club Coupe (25,644)
  • Two-Ten Beauville 4 Door Station Wagon (21,083)
  • Two-Ten Townsman 4 Door Station Wagon (127,803)
  • Two-Ten Handyman 2 Door Station Wagon (17,528)
1957 One-Fifty Series Body Styles
  • One-Fifty 4 Door Sedan (52,266)
  • One-Fifty 2 Door Sedan (70,774)
  • One-Fifty 2 Door Utility Sedan (8,300)
  • One-Fifty Handyman 2 Door Station Wagon (14,740)
Source: 57classicchevy.com



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3 comments:

Adam said...

I just have to say, I enjoy this blog, even though you decided not to use my Bug in it, haha.

papa said...

A '57 longroof! Sigh!

Love your blog and have read it all the way to the first post!

Keep up the great stories!

Anonymous said...

Need an update.