Chevy #4

It feels great when you finally get the ’57 Chevy of your dreams!

By Owners Don & Patti Ward #21254240, Clearwater, FL

photography by Jim Knight

My first car was a 1957 Chevy 210 2-door Sedan. My twin brother and I shared the purchase of the car: $300. We bought it from Ray Downing in Pittsburgh, KS. We were 18 years old at the time and had just graduated from high school. That was in 1965, and we kept the car until 1967. Then I bought my second ’57 Chevy– a black Bel Air 2-door hardtop for, again, $300.

In 1968 I went into the air force and was stationed in Cheyenne, WY. While I was there, a fellow airman was getting discharged and had a black ’57 Bel Air convertible. He couldn’t take the car with him. It had a lot of rust in the body, but it had a 3-speed overdrive tranny that I wanted. So, I bought #3 ’57 Chevy for $40. After removing the tranny and installing it in my hardtop, I hauled the convertible to the local salvage yard.