It actually kind of happened the way it does in Joni Mitchell’s song by the same title. I was drinking for diversion with two friends on a Sunday afternoon at the Holiday Club, a favorite hangout in my old neighborhood when, seemingly out of nowhere, this ’57 Chevy Bel Air came to a stop at the intersection outside the bar. At first, I thought it was the champagne-and-tequila concoction we had just invented beginning to work its magic (it’s gross, don’t try it) but no, this car was real.
You would have thought I wasn’t an active participant in Sunday Funday the way I jumped off that bar stool (again, not recommended) and darted to the door with my Canon. Could the stoplight actually be working with me this time, instead of against me? Certainly, my CTA bus ride home from the bar wouldn’t have enabled such a great photo opportunity.
I don’t know my Tri-Fives like some people, but I know there was no “Fifty-Seven Biscayne” that Joni Mitchell sings of, with that model arriving the next year. Doesn’t matter. I still love a clean ’57 Chevy, and “Court and Spark” is always a good listen. When the light changed, and as this car moved slowly eastward on Irving Park Rd., it had me wishing for just a few more frames.
Wrigleyville, Chicago, Illinois.
Sunday, January 9, 2011.
Simply beautiful!
Very classy in yellow, even with the fender skirts. Like a scene
from “American Graffitti”. It would be very nice to hear Joni sing “Harry`s House / Centerpiece” while driving in this classic cruiser.
Agreed! And I am definitely ready for “the hissing of summer lawns”. 🙂
Fortuitous to get the passing train in the first shot. Love Chicago!
Not the ’57 though, prefer the ’56. And the ’57 Ford…
Never really a huge fan of these ’57s, but I do appreciate their iconic status. This one is particularly lovely with the fender skirts. My Grandfather had a black and yellow ’57 when I was about 5-6 years old, this was in the late 60s. At that time it was just a beat-up old car from the 50s and hopelessly outdated. He traded it for a ’68 Chev. Always wondered what happened to that car, probably went to the wrecking yard and was crushed.
In my view, there has been no finer car ever produced, than the 57 Chevy . My Dad had 2 of them . My brother owned at least 5. Never been a big fan of fender skirts, but that doesn’t take anything away from that beauty.
BTW Joni is not doing so well these days. She is a Canadian icon. All of us up here are wishing her the best
Joni is definitely in my prayers. Such a shame she can’t sing anymore. Such a talented singer / songwriter.
Mmmm… Come to papa, baby!
I knew there was a talented man behind the camera but until noticing the Jan. 2011 time stamp thought you must also be a saint. Without divine intervention how could someone capture so many gems and all at the perfect camera angle?
Good to know you are human like the rest of us which means it must take a lot of time, patience and hard work.
Thanks for sharing Dennis.
Sorry meant to say thanks for sharing Joseph! I must be slightly dyslexic (or dumb) because if someone has a last name that’s like a first name it always messes me up 🙂
No worries, Calibrick, and thanks regarding the photo! I’m called “Dennis” all the time at work. I try to feature some of my more unusual finds over the course of since I’ve been shooting, and finding this one in the wild and not at a show was a treat.
Great photos. Love how the lights at dusk play off the yellow paint of the car. Then the lights change and off to the moon. Wow.
Nice car but they were never designed to have fender skirts and look silly with them.
It’s hard for me to make a judgment about the fender skirts, because going back to my earliest memories of cars, I have seen ’57 Chevrolets with added-on fender skirts. There were many cars of that time to which people added fender skirts; they were a common add-on to late ’50s Fords and Mercuries, for example, covering the whole lower section of the rear fender. Odd, but period-authentic.
Since I saw so many different added-on fender skirts when I was a kid, my critical faculties are a bit blunted by nostalgia. At any rate, I like the ’57 Chevrolets, with or without fender skirts. And they must have had some inherent durability because I still see some on the road regularly, unlike any other ’57 car.
As another instance of added-on fender skirts, here’s a 1958 Ford Skyliner with aftermarket fender skirts:
Gorgeous car and gorgeous shots, minus the fender skirts.
Nice, I’m a 57 model myself.
There has never been, nor will there ever be, a more beautiful full-size mainstream car.
That is all.
Thanks, everyone, regarding the photo! Fender skirts usually aren’t my favorite look, but I like them here. I think they flow well with this car’s lines. Still such a beautiful, iconic, all-American look these ’57s have.
I generally see skirts as offputting at worst and benign at best, them on 57s kind of lies towards the former due to the clear outline and bulge of the non skirted wheel opening being so clear, if it were totally flat I think they’d work better.
Having said that I did save these pics for my laptop’s background rotation:)
There are many more beautiful “full-size mainstream” cars. This was an ordinary car that was outsold by the more discreet, balanced, lower and longer Ford of the same year. And are not cars like the ’61 Continental, ‘64.5/’65 Mustang, ’63 Riviera, ’53 Studebaker or ’66 Toronado really more beautiful?
The photography of this car is excellent – as have been all contributions from this poster. What an eye and what a steady hand to capture this and many other moving cars!
But this car is ordinary, not special and just a tarted up old car. The photographer usually picks much more intriguing subjects; this car model is a dime a dozen at car shows and not anything that interests this car nut.
I’d concede to most of them(I think it’s far prettier than the 64.5-66 Mustang though, which is definitely not full sized and in reality by their production numbers makes them quite ordinary as well) but the fact that the 57 is an ordinary car is all the more impressive. All the other cars you mention are personal luxury specialty cars, it terms of that standard/full sized segment the tri-fives live they certainly do make a good case for being the pinnacle of design.
“And are not cars like the ’61 Continental, ‘64.5/’65 Mustang, ’63 Riviera, ’53 Studebaker or ’66 Toronado really more beautiful?”
A great selection and all would be on my top 10 list of the most beautiful American cars ever. Add the split window Corvette and the 6th generation (1967-1970) Eldorado.
As for the ’57 Chevy? As the most popular of the tri-fives it also makes the grade, although I liked the ’56 better. The tri-fives just hit all the right notes for the time in size, performance and style, with a low car price. As perfect a package as Detroit ever put together. Post war America was booming, with citizens fully employed, making money and moving to nice houses in the suburbs. What better way to express their confidence and optimism that by buying a stylish new car? Chevy aimed for this market and hit the bulls eye.
Thanks, regarding the photo. My thought wasn’t so much that the car itself was a rarity, but the circumstances and environment in which I spotted it. I doubt there was a car show in the Chicagoland area in January from which this car would have been returning – generally the only reason I can think of why this car would have been on the street. I’ve got rarer finds up my sleeve queued up.
This is such a great shot of a really beautiful car. I know it isn’t a Bel Air maybe a 210? Still being two door hardtop assured it’s survival over the years. These cars were popular from Day one. I remember back to the early Sixties and the hardtops were always desirable and cool. Some were hot rodded, some were customized and most were just valued daily drivers. Over the years they have gained their iconic status and many four door and two door sedans gave up their parts to preserve and restore them.
Thanks, Jose. Back in 2012, I saw and photographed a street-parked, ’57 Chevrolet wagon that was a real rustbucket, and I remember thinking to myself how crazy it seemed that it hadn’t been parted out. I think the trend has been for increasing numbers of non-coupe body styles to be preserved, since owning coupes has become increasingly cost-prohibitive. (BTW – I’m pretty sure this is a Bel-Air – at least that’s what the gold badge on the rear quarter panel says.)
I noticed that the car doesn’t have the aluminum trim panel in the quarter panel fin area. I think that a non Bel Air hardtop would be pretty rare. Or maybe the panel was just left off?
I see what you’re saying. Maybe it’s just the lighting in the photo. That aluminum trim panel is there, but in the picture I can see how it might look to some like just a contrasting, white-painted section.
Funny thing about the ’57 Chev. It was outsold by the more modern Ford. The new Plymouth was nipping at it’s heels. People who were of the age to buy a car then say it was somewhat stodgy, but because it was into it’s 3rd year as a design it was well developed. I think there were also some cost cutting moves on the Ford and Plymouth that made them more rust prone. By the 1960’s the Chev was still around in quantity and became desired for hot rodding. By the late 60’s they were not going to the crusher, they were valuable enough. There were scale models still available, i know I built one around ’68. They captured some ’50’s styling cues but were not over wrought. And now they are an icon. I’m sure younger people think they must have been the most desirable car of ’57.
I recall reading an interview with one of the stylists who said that the styling team didn’t care for the 57 Chevy at all when they were working on it, but that they were under orders to give the 2 year old car a facelift, so that’s what they did.
kind of like the plain jane who is outranked by the flashier girls and then ages well while the bloom is off the rose for the other girls.
I still think the 57 is that plain jane, it’s just her after she has the cliche TV take off her glasses and let her hair down moment. The flashier girls who peaked early were the forward look Mopars.
agreed. My grandfather had a ’57 Dodge and around ’62 i used to think that car looked ancient. I really love ’57 Dodges now (also Chryslers and Desotos) and would walk past any ’57 Chev to look at those today.
I’m sure younger people think they must have been the most desirable car of ’57.
Very true. Having grown up in the 90s the 57s were practically the representatives of 1950s Detroit as every picture book exclusively featured one, along with a 59 Cadillac. There were a lot of toys at the time featuring 57 Chevy’s as well – I had one where you press a button and a giant engine lights up and you could see the pistons move up and down, was one of my favorites!
But it’s like Music, there’s more to classic rock than the Beatles and Led Zeppelin but you’d never know it by only listening to the radio now a days.
Another 57 in front a bank
210 two door post sedan, the highest volume produced style that year. I had one in the popular 283 2bbl Powerglide configuration.
Not as interesting as a Mopar or a Ford of the same year, sure. But I somehow find it more satisfying. Maybe it’s just that it’s practically the Official Representation of Everything Fifties, but if that’s the case, then I’ll be part of the dumb majority in this case.
Well captured, love the softly luminous paint in the evening light too!
Shout me down if I’m wrong…but isn’t this the first Chevy that took on the look of a “baby-caddy” with the headlights, grille and tailfins?