For Chevrolet - 1957 Stood For Fuel Injection And Horsepower

[DonMiller]

By Don Miller

For many, 1957 was a milestone year. The Yankees lost the World Series to the Milwaukee Braves. The Russians launched “Sputnik”, the first of earth’s satellites. And Ford outsold Chevrolet for the first time in decades.

The National Automobile Show opened in New York City at the New York Coliseum with a new slogan: “America is on the move”. Everything was new for 1957, as Chrysler Corp.'s “forward look” made its debut. The entire line of Chrysler -- DeSoto, Dodge and Plymouth -- had sprouted fins. Cadillac sported a new air suspension and Packard had a hawk. The big news in performance was that Chevrolet was introducing a new fuel injected model that produced one horsepower for every cubic inch of engine displacement.

#1 The classy 1957 Corvette.


General Motors' Chevrolet division bombarded the performance conscious consumer through an aggressive media campaign -- newspaper, magazine articles and road tests -- touting the engineering achievement of producing 283 hp from 283 cubic inches. Tom McCahill, a then well-respected automotive journalist, observed, “What’s the big fuss about one horsepower per inch? The 1956 Chrysler 300 had 355 hp with 354 cubic inches”. As usual, McCahill was correct, but the advertising agencies had already instilled the impression and it remains today. Chevy was the first automotive manufacturer to build one horsepower per cubic inch.

#2 The 283 hp Corvette engine.


In February, Chevrolet captured the Class 5 (259-305) cubic inch class with a 131.06-mph run by Paul Goldsmith on the Daytona Beach sands. Chevrolet also won the honors in Class 5 single four-barrel class with a top speed of 118.460 mph in a sedan driven by Al Simonsen. Most of the Chevrolet class winners were black and white sedans prepared by Southern Engineering Development Co. -- SEDCO -- of Atlanta. This operation was formed under the direction of GM engineer Vince Pickens. He referred to the 283 hp, 150 series, two-door sedan as the “Black Widow”. SEDCO also prepared cars for the NASCAR, USAC and convertible series.

#3 The 1957 Chevrolet became one of the best race cars.


Chevrolet also swept the Pure Oil Manufacturers Trophy Series by 574 points to Ford's 309.

The 1957 NASCAR Grand National season got off to a shaky start for Chevrolet. Ford won the first three races in the NASCAR season and Pontiac emerged victorious in the Daytona 500. Chevrolet retaliated with a solid victory by driver Jack Smith in March at Concord Speedway. While Chevrolet was gaining steam on the race track, the Automobile Manufactures Association was drafting a resolution that would eventually result in all American automobile manufacturers withdrawing from sanctioned racing.

In April, NASCAR banned the use of fuel injection and superchargers in the sanctioning body's stock car competition. From then on, only single four-barrel engines were allowed.

Meanwhile, the 283 hp Chevrolets continued to rack up victories in stock classes in NHRA, AHRA and USAC competitions nationwide.

#4 A young Don Miller with his winning Corvette.


Hundreds of articles have been written about Chevrolet performance, but all of them pale in importance to the little 23-page booklet prepared by the Chevrolet Dealers Association for the performance minded Chevrolet owners entitled “The 1957 Chevrolet Stock Car Competition Guide”. The guide, as it was referred to by small block faithful, contained all of the information necessary to turn the small block Chevy V8 into a real stormer. The guide listed part numbers, performance options and special performance modifications for engine, body and chassis, as well as how and where to order the parts. The guide was only available through Chevrolet dealers. This was the one step in the performance process where Ford and Plymouth dropped the ball.

Thousands of young, performance oriented enthusiasts took the information provided and drove their 1957 Chevys and Corvettes to class victories and victory lanes across the country.

Of all the articles written in 1957, none of the road tests or drivers' reports were ever written on the 283 hp Sedan, so no definitive answer can be determined as to actually how fast or how many were actually produced by the factory. Based on tests performed by Motor Trend magazine, the 270 hp Chevy equipped with power glide ran from 0-60 in 9.9 seconds, while a 245 hp, one four-barrel Ford Sedan covered the same distance in 11.1 seconds. On the quarter-mile, a 270 hp Chevrolet, 245 hp Ford and 290 hp Plymouth, all with automatic transmissions, posted 77.5, 77.0 and 77 mph, respectively. The elapsed time was similar at 17.5, 18.2 and 17.7.

#5 Timing slip from Oswego Dragway.


In a sports car magazine at mid-season, Walt Woron reportedly ran 0-60 in a 250 hp fuel injected Corvette in 7.2 seconds. No official test information exists that refers directly to the 283 hp fuel injected Sedan, as far as actual acceleration times are concerned.

I think a single paragraph from Motor Life magazine sums it up the best.

“The car has been extensively restyled to bring it up to date. And it’s still short of the ‘new look.’ On the other side, it has outstanding quality and exceptional performance—and these are long-term values. Maybe the compromise is the happy combination buyers want. If so, Chevrolet will prove it this year.”

It did. And it still does.

In the end, Chevrolet won hundreds of races on and off the track in 1957, which was highlighted by the manufacturer capturing the 1957 NASCAR Grand National championship with driver Buck Baker.

And as one of the GoFastNews.com readers said, “Like them or not, the small block Chevy has been in production for 45 years and is the most common engine used in domestic racing today.”

The '57 Chevrolet has continued to grow as an all American favorite with some fuel injected sedans bringing up to $100,000 plus from admiring collectors. Was the '57 “Fuelie” faster than the supercharged Ford similarly equipped? You tell me.

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