1957 Chevrolet
Bel Air Hardtop (Customized)
The "Salvage Special"

One afternoon I was driving through the country enjoying the sights, when right around a bend in the road I cam across a derelect '57 Chevy hardtop. It was pretty beat up, but I decided if I could locate the owner, it would be worth buying. The owner turned out to be an old farmer, and I managed to talk him into swapping the old Chevy for two cows and a hog. It took some work to haul it back to the shop, and the tow truck driver probably thought I was nuts...

Okay. Back to reality...
Actually, a friend of mine dug this along with a bunch of other old kits out of his attic. He had built them as a kid back in the 60s, and most were in a similar condition as the old Chevy. But I thought it would be a fun project to see just how far gone a model could be and still be salvagable. Hence the name...


It came apart fairly easily. To say the least, I had my work cut out for me. A lot of parts were missing or damaged.


The first thing I did was strip the paint using oven cleaner. It was thick, but most of it came off relatively easily. I've since started using Castrol Super Clean® for paint stripping, and I think it's a better choice.


I decided to use this project as a test of several techniques I had been wanting to try out. While the body was being reworked, I tackled the interior. I applied flocking in the floor area to simulate carpeting.


I also painted the seats and side panels as a base for what was coming next.


I wanted to simulate tuck 'n' roll uphoulstery in some areas. I found some plastic lacing material (the kind kids used to weave together to make keychains). I thought it would be perfect for the job.



Here's the finished interior. In the same craft section of the local discount store, I also found some gold thread I used as trim. Since this time, I've discovered a better way to simulate the tuck 'n' roll. Check out the method on the '49 Merc custom pages.

   

Return to the General Motors Index
Return to the '57 Chevy Page