nitromainia

Hazzard a guess how many are left? Just guessing a better suvival rate than other late 50's cars....

65 fi

I have no idea but if you know of one for sale, let me know (especially a resto-rod). I would also be interested in a 57 NOM or even no drive-train.

VetteRed1965

Heres an original 283 2x4 all papers ...

revupL78

Not sure how many are left but I have been chasing a two owner 57 both tops dual quad for 5 years now.The car has not seen the light of day in over 30 years. It's only about two miles from my house,,maybe one day

aafadca

Don't know but would like to know what happened to a "shed find" 57 a few years ago in western NC. It was silver/red and needed complete resto but all of the parts were there incuding the top, intake etc. The deceased owner was a neighbor. Anybody knows?

Nitrodamus

Don't know either... but 1/2 of all old Corvettes were stolen at least once, some twice.

My high school teacher had his 1957 stolen in the early 60's... they found it stripped of its engine/transmission and then someone poured some type of chemical all over it that dissolved the fiberglass.

YesA59

My two cents:

I think the survival rate might be 50% or so.

Mike Hunt and others formed a 56/57 research project - registry about 30 years or so. I think that group located over 1000 1957 Corvettes over a period of maybe 10+ years. And that was pre-internet. The group relied on word of mouth, trade rags, and the NCRS to find cars.

The survival rate for 53 to 55 cars runs 50% or more, and unregistered/unknown 53 to 55 cars pop up all the time (especially on ebay and craigslist). The first gen cars were pretty lousy, however, and owners apparently had the tendency to park the cars. Given the hot setup of the 57 cars, I suspect that a lot more 57s were abused than 53 - 55s on a percentage basis. But given the rust-free nature of the Corvette bodies and the high market value of 57s, I bet a fair number of 57s have come back from the grave (as FI cars of course). With ebay and all the reproduction parts floating around, it is not that hard to put together a 57 if you have some basic parts to start with.

Russ

narlee

From what I can tell after watching different threads, there are probably about 130% of the 1957 Corvettes left.

Frankie the Fink

2nd or 3rd time I've seen this posting...where do the numbers come from if I may ask ? I was very young back then but this is just a phenomenal rate of theft of a specific car and I find it hard to believe...

My Dad had a car lot in the '60s for 5 years with loads of muscle cars and we only had two stolen. (The third theft was aborted as my Dad was banging away with his .45 over the thieves' heads and they couldn't leave the area fast enough.)

Frank

BOB WINSKI

Those were the good old days.When we had wrights to protect our property.Try that now and the thief winds up sueing you.And it will only get worse.Bob W

ps374

If people in the late 60s knew what we know now they all would of survived.

DZAUTO

It would be interesting to know how many early Vettes (especially 57s) are still out there. I LOVE the 57, but over the years I've become VERY attached to the 56s, primarily because the 56 is where Corvette's race history began. Without question, Corvette's entry into competition was in it's infancy, particularly with the entry in the 56 Sebring race, but that's where the Corvette let the world know that it had something serious to offer to the racing world. Next came the FI 57s and the rest is history.
Once in a while an old Vette pops up out of nowhere. A fellow NCRS member in Tulsa had been looking for a 57 for MANY years with no luck. Suddenly our of nowhere, an FI 57 popped up in Norman, OK. I was shocked that I had no knowledge of the car (I've been in OKC all my life). Almost 40yrs ago I ran across a guy about 60 mi east of OKC that had both a 56 and 57 which he kept in the back corner of his shop. Wouldn't sell them then, hasn't sold them yet------------------he's gonna restore them someday (all of you know THAT story )! I told my NCRS friend about these cars around 8yrs ago and he immediately sought out the guy with ZERO luck buying either one. Both cars are matching numbers and the 56 is 2x4, 3sp, pw, pt!!!!!!
So, how many are out there? I wouldn't even attempt to make a guess.

And the ones that come back, come back as FI 57s-----------------no, not really. Why? Well, it has been quite well documented how many FI units were made, including service FI units, and no more cars can be restored as FI than the number of FI units built. Keep in mind that MORE 57 Chevy pass cars were built with FI than Vettes. The Vettes began to get FI around the Oct-Nov 56 time frame, whereas the pass cars DID NOT get FI until early 57 (about Mar). Ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, I know, there may have been a FEW 57 pass cars that got FI units before Mar 57, but those cars were either prototype, engineering, or "special" race type cars (ie Daytona), NOT regular production cars.
Additionally, it is true that 58-65 FI units have found their way on 57 Vettes, but those are very small numbers. Also, cars such as my 56 have FI units, as well as street rods, 55 Nomads, etc, etc. Many years ago at an NCCC meet, I saw a 55 Vette with FI and it even had 57 FI emblems on the front fender. By the way, does anyone here know where that car is today?

Tom Parsons

Jackfit

When I was in 11 th grade in High School, (1964)a classmate, Mike Trezza, (where are you Mike?) came to school with a 57 FI black corvette. I fell in love with vetts the moment I saw it and went for a ride. He had removed the FI , which was common then, lots of trouble making it work right. He had the unit home. Don't know what happen to it. But in 1969 my first job, I went out a got a 61 for $900. Melted 6 months later (fire). Got the 66 and still have it. But the 57 got me started.

Jack

Frankie the Fink

These clowns were lucky...my Dad was former combat Marine and if I hadn't been there watching (12-13 years old) he'd have laid these three guys out for sure.
No warning shots...

DZAUTO

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, no, not the way I do it. I make it abundantly clear that they don't want anymore to do with me, and that if they won a law suit, they would be unable to spend it.

Tom Parsons

shemp

Here's a friend of mines 57 FI w/ power windows,it hasn't seen the road in 20+ years Shemp

silver67

I think once the 8 cyl and a stick was in them the survival rate probably plummeted for the 56 due to track abuse and marginal braking abilities with that much horsepower. I'm sure some 56's were canabilized to repair 57's early on too. They made a lot more 57's, 50% is probably a good estimate especially with all the aftermarket parts. You could build one from scratch now.

Nitrodamus

Sorry you find that hard to believe. State Farm Insurance looked at their records and told me that back in 1968 when I insured my 64'... also told me my 64' had been stolen before. You will also hear that same information from others on here.

Highway Loss Data Institute says that before 1986 the Chevrolet Corvette sports car was 15 times as likely to be stolen as the average vehicle.

Also during a period between 1979 to 1981 the Corvette was 17 times as likely to be stolen than the average vehicle.

YesA59

Yep. Unlike Humpty Dumpty, 1957 Corvettes can be put back together again even after some very hard use.

My 57 (#806) retired from real racing used up and wore out in 1973, and looked like this:






After a couple of rebuilds in the 1970s and eaqrly 1980s, the car is once again road worthy (but not quite street legal).



Russ

DZAUTO

GO RUSS!!!!!!

Tom Parsons