General Motors was the undisputed U.S. market leader as the 1957 model year got underway. In spite of a dominant 52% market share, GM wasn’t content to rest on its laurels and rolled-out a dizzying array of models on redesigned platforms (new B- and C-bodies), extensive facelifts for the A-bodies and even promising new technology like fuel injection on select models. So GM entered the new model year with guns blazing–let’s take a look at all the highlights as detailed in Motor Trend’s 1957 New Car Show issue.
1957 would turn out to be a rough year for Buick, as sales dipped 29% compared to 1956 (and were off a whopping 45% from 1955 when Buick ranked 3rd in the industry). Not that there was anything particularly wrong with the new products–they were longer, lower and wider in keeping with the tastes of the times. But for image-conscious buyers seeking the latest and greatest, other brands were quite tempting: Chrysler Corporation was fielding a range of cars that screamed “Suddenly it’s 1960!” while the all-new Buicks looked more like “the Second Half of 1956.”
Ah, the infamous GM X-frame! The U.S. car makers really were fixated on style for 1957, and General Motor’s new chassis layout allowed lower floors and a commensurately lower roofline to deliver sleeker new looks. The fact that there were no longer any side frame rails to help protect passengers in a side impact collision didn’t seem to matter, though even Motor Trend pointed out the safety weakness of the new design.
In most other ways, however, the new Cadillacs continued the brand’s tradition of tip-top luxury. Plus Cadillac introduced the all-new ultra-luxury Eldorado Brougham. This was the most expensive American car on the market, selling for $13,074 ($111,965 in today’s dollars), which was an incredibly large price tag at the time (for comparison, the exotic Mercedes-Benz gull-wing 300SL retailed for $7,463–$63,913 adjusted). However, as a halo car for the brand that most Americans would have considered to be the best in the world, the price tag made sense, and the car itself made for an interesting flagship. Loaded with every conceivable comfort and luxury feature, like a pioneering version of “memory” seat adjusters and an air suspension system, the Eldorado Brougham was the dream car champion for 1957.
Popular culture praises the 1957 Chevrolets as an icon of Fifties style. All the clichés are present and accounted for: pointy fins, gaping grill, sweeping chrome trim. For me, however, the looks are lacking compared to the more cleanly styled 1955 and 1956 models. The market conceivably agreed with my assessment, as Ford overtook Chevrolet for the #1 position in the U.S. market for the first time since the 1930s. Not that Chevrolet sales weren’t strong–they declined the least of all GM divisions, dropping just 4% compared to 1956. The division still sold an impressive 1,507,904 cars and commanded a 24% share of all U.S. car sales.
America’s only sports car continued its momentum for 1957. Power upgrades, including optional fuel injection, burnished the Corvette’s performance credentials, while paint and trim were further enhanced to offer more 1950’s glamour. Sales climbed 80% compared to 1956, and ensured that GM’s fiberglass 2-seater would remain in the line-up.
Oldsmobile once again offered a balanced blend of fresh but conservative styling, crisp handling (by the domestic standards of the time) and copious power. No question the ’57’s were nice middle-of-road cars for the center of GM’s brand line-up, but unfortunately Oldsmobile took a 20% nosedive in sales compared to the year prior.
1957 was the year that Pontiac’s new General Manager, Bunkie Knudsen, was able to start making his mark as he worked to revamp the dowdy division. Gone were the dated “Silver Streaks”–chrome strips that had adorned the hoods of Pontiacs since the 1930s–which Knudsen likened to “old man’s suspenders.” Newly available under the de-chromed hoods were impressive high performance engines: Tri-Power (three 2-barrel carburetors) and Fuel Injection. It was the dawn of the Pontiac performance era, which would soon position the brand as the “hot” car to have for “with it” buyers.
Despite all GM’s investment in design and engineering for 1957, the company lost market share, dropping 8 percentage points to 44% of the U.S. market. It wasn’t that The General’s efforts weren’t impressive. Rather, it was the ferocious competition that successfully stole share with their own exciting new offerings, as we will see in the next few days.
A very interesting read. To me though, in spite of the 57 Chevy having achieved icon status, this was a very uninspired lineup in the styling department. In fact, the 1957-58 B and C body cars have sort of fallen into a memory hole. Compared to the all new lineups at Mopar and the new Ford and Mercury cars, these seemed to look more like 1956s instead of 1957s.
I will acknowledge that every one of GM’s 5 Divisions eventually got the last laugh as the Fords and Mopars rusted to death or fell to a variety of quality problems.
I had forgotten that the 265 V8 was still available in the 57 Chevy, as well as that the Turboglide was offered that year. I doubt that anyone ever did a 57 Chevy resto leaving either of these in place.
I’m not a Corvette guy, but the 1957 model is just stunning. They should have kept that body style until 1963. The 4-headlight front end introduced for ’58 wasn’t nearly as pretty.
As a 30+ year member of Classic Chevy International (now Eckler’s Classic Chevy Club), I can attest that there have indeed been 265 restorations as well as Turboglide ones. Easy to imagine the Turboglide ones were mostly trailer queens. Especially as that’s the only way to get any longevity out of a Turboglide.
Having only been a baby in 1957, I was surprised to learn as an adult that the ’57 wasn’t that well received when new, because its three-year-old design looked dated beside the all-new, lower, longer, wider Fords and MoPars.
It was on the used market that it joined the ’55s and ’56s as icons.
A 57 with a 265/OD setup would have some appeal to me nowadays. It can’t have been all that common.
And also a revelation that the stylists didn’t really like the car when they designed it, considering it both old fashioned and junked up with too much trim. Funny how it has become THE picture of what a 1957 car should look like now, and is really the only memorable 57 out of GM (excepting the Vette).
That “old fashioned junked up with too much trim” look is why I prefer the 57 Fords over the 57 GM ANY MAKE.
Oddly, it would seem that most of the 57 GMs were “vindicated” by their mechanicals. This, in a market where the average buyer probably didn’t care all that much about the engine and transmission under the hood.
The 265 was the base V8 in ’57, so I suspect that there were actually quite a few of them produced. The truth is, most 283s came with PG, so if kids were wanting a used cheap ’57 back in the 60s, they most commonly ended up with a 265/three speed, a common combination. If they could afford it, they’d drop in a 283. If not, the 265 was also equally amenable to being hopped up. There was only 18 cubic inch difference. And either the single or dual four barrel intakes from the Power Pak 1955-1956 265s fit right on, or aftermaket parts.
The two hillbilly brothers that worked at the gas station with me in Towson in 1968-1969 were a classic example: they drove a primered ’57 210 2 door, with extended spring shackles in the rear, a 265 with a 4 barrel, and dual exhausts. It wasn’t truly fast, but it would get up and go. Until one day when they wanted to impress me with a burnout pulling out into York Road, and broke a rear spring in the process. Ouch!
I’m quite certain the text is wrong when it says that PG is standard with the 283; PG was never “standard”. But one did have to get the 283 if one wanted the PG (or TG).
“…But one did have to get the 283 if one wanted the PG (or TG).”
To be absolutely correct, one could have inverted the advertising slogan for V-8 vegetable juice:
“Gee, I could have had a Six!”
I knew a guy years ago that had a 150 wagon with 265/3 speed. And you could get the PG with the Blue Flame six. Saw one (a 150 2dr post) cross the block at the B-J auction a couple of years ago.
Actually the powerglide was also available with the 6, but not the 265. The Turboglide required the 283.
The early (1957, 58, 59) turboglides had some design problems (see Ateupwithmotor). I don’t know if the refinements made to the 1961 production model is retrofittable the the earlier Turboglides or not, but the final production model is better.
What a fun read. But I think you meant 3 2 barrel carbs, not 3 4 barrel carbs in the last part. Looking forward to the next one!
Thanks, fixed!
I’ll have a Buick sedan, please. Neat.
Not born until ’67, the fifties cars were always viewed as relics by me, their histories and legends just the stuff of retrospective accounts. It’s interesting to read “In The Moment” accounts. I agree with what’s been said above though, the whole lineup really was rather uninspired. It’s not so hard to see why the Forward Look Chryslers sold so well, or why the whole GM lineup was vastly changed for ’58. As has also bee said, the ’57 Chevy really isn’t the star of this group, as historical retellings would almost lead one to believe. It’s a rather dowdy design in comparison, really. If anything the Buick was really the standout, IMO.
RE Pontiac: From today’s perspective it’s utterly amazing that it took as long as it did for someone to wise up to the fact that slathering the hood of a car with wide swaths of bright shiny chrome might be a questionable idea. Ironically, as per the article the change was motivated by fashion rather than good sense, as Knudsen thought the silver streaks were passe’. It must have been a real challenge to drive those brand new interstates on a sunny day in a car with a big strip of chrome lined up directly in front of the driver. (although it didn’t seem to bother Lucy, Ricky, Fred & Ethel much) Sheesh.
Early Cadillac Eldorado Brougham photo without rocker panel chrome trim (pre production). And the wheels?
This car is my all time favourite!
The 57 Chevy looks very much like a 56-57 Studebaker, IMHO, yet one is an “icon”. I guess it’s all in the details.
I think all of GM’s offerings for 57 look far better than what followed in 58.
Buick’s sales decline was a result of poor quality control in the mid 50’s when their production capacity was 400,000 and they were building 700,000 plus in the peak year (1955). Production for both 1955 and 1956 were way beyond making quality cars. By 1958 this caught up with them.
The “Inside Your Oldsmobile” paragraph above discusses the gap behind the 1957 Olds instrument panel and says that items left on the panel can fall behind it and get tangled up in the works under it.
I discovered this in my 1957 Olds 88 4 door sedan and even noted it in my COAL. Tangled up is one thing I never encountered personally, but dirt, dust, and debris often came flying out into my face when I turned on the defroster full blast after a long summer of open window driving.
That used to be true of a lot of other 50’s & 60’s cars. And the first time it rained after a hot summer was a bodyman’s dream and an insurance adjusters nightmare.
Brand new, the ’57 Chevy was “old news”, but to teens/young adults in the 60’s, was a cool first car and cheap to hot rod, 😉 That’s when it’s status came about.
The theme for the ’57 GM introduction should have been: “They may look sleek, but this is gonna mess up interior ergonomics for the next 20 years.”
Of course, I doubt that many people used the word ergonomics in late 1956. But, these cars may be among the reasons people did learn to use the word!
The magazine, “Popular Mechanics,” had an interesting cover for the new 1957 cars that was reprinted as a jigsaw puzzle.
http://www.simplepastimes.com/pd-popular-mechanics-classic-cars-jigsaw-puzzle.cfm
The whole magazine; https://books.google.com/books?id=cuEDAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
The misprint (in the M/T magazine) in the top of the line Pontiac engine of 3 4 barrel carbs must have sent a lot of people rushing to the dealerships to see how that was accomplished!
It was fun to read the specs of the 57 Olds, that car came with a stout combination of X and perimeter frame. Around 1968 we had an ’57 Super 88 2 door hardtop, 4 Barrel Hydra-Matic. It seemed really quick to 12 year old me, 9.5 0-60 is a slow 4 cylinder today, but pretty quick for the times back then.
Brother had a ’57 Chevy convertible, white with red interior. It had the common 265 3 on tree without overdrive. Armstrong steering and manual brakes. Just another old car in 1966 he bought for $600. He still misses that car today.
I think I find myself surprised to learn that the split between 6s and 8s was 40:60 on the Chevrolet. I seem to remember that going to the 265 was only about $50 more.
Make mine a 150 Sedan Delivery with the 265 and three-on-the-tree plus overdrive.
Pretty much all we got here was the Chevy out of Canada and a few pontiacs from the same source most appear to have been 283 manuals with the odd six for good measure no automatics locally assembled until 61, anything else came in as private no remittance imports via local Chev dealers my Dad reckons they sold a couple of Oldsmobiles around this time but they were very hard to get in RHD. 57 Vauxhalls the last of the EIP series sold in huge numbers though.