1957 Chevy Wagon: Gasser Edition

We’ve seen our fair share of Tri-Five era Chevy wagons, and certainly plenty of wagons, but a gasser wagon is certainly a rare find to come across. The seller of this Tri-Five is also referring to the car as a ‘survivor’ car, but we’ll just chalk that up as another misuse of a hot buzzword to get people like us to look at their ad, and it worked. 

Without it being clear what the seller is trying to communicate by calling it a survivor car, it’s not in bad shape - it’s certainly not all original, and not in show quality condition, but it still has potential. It has the makings of a really cool vintage racer, with plenty of events around the United States targeting 1950s and/or the Tri-Five crowd to take it to once it’s had a little work.

View in gallery

View 5+

View

View

View

View

View

View 5+

The interior is surprisingly all original, if you don’t count the addition of the harness to keep the driver snugly in place during launches. Under the hood is a Small Block Chevy 5.7-liter V8 engine, and backing that is a turbo 400 automatic transmission. The drivetrain feeds into a very stout Ford nine-inch rearend, which is known to handle a serious beating. Other racing treatments include traction bars, an aftermarket tunnel ram intake, and beefy BFG tires that take duty on the rear wheels. 

Performance upgrades include a B&M shifter, Edelbrock carburettors, electric fuel pump, and Hooker headers. The seller says the brakes are good, and it drives straight. 

Could it be a street car too? Maybe. The seller claims that it was built as a street/strip car, but this 210 doesn’t seem like it has a lot in terms of street manners - not that it seems like it has too much power to behave, but the setup seems very far from being practical for the street, even on short drives.