Why do you think people prefer Chevrolet

[Ford Blue blood]

One of my kids has gone to the "dark side", she married a GM guy, the other two are staying faithful!  They all three have claims on my Ford stuff. 

The collector car difference is in my humble opinion is due to cost and availability of parts.  Many folks are like sheep, see a fellow win a nice trophy and he wants one....so out he goes looking for a car to "fix" up.  With an over whelming abundance of GM after market suppliers (past and present) it is only natural to go the easy route.  Fads are what drives many mind sets.  Look at Hot Rods, in the 50s if you didn't have a 32 or a 40 you didn't have a hot rod.  Twenty years (or more) ago if you didn't have (insert car name here) you were not cool, no chance of seeing your car in a magazine so into the flock you went.  Ten years ago getting Ford sheet metal was getting better, twenty years ago it was nearly impossible to get the stuff.  Mustangs opened the door for Ford products.  Look at EMS and the stuff they have brought on line in the last ten years. 

Ford sheet metal is still hard to come by.  Try building a full sized 1960 Ford!  Just about everything has to be scrounged up!  Need a Camero part, hit the net, it is there new, same for many other GM makes and models.  I don't expect it will change much.  I just do what I like and the heck with the rest, awards don't mean a thing, attention isn't my thing, just like to work on Fords and put up with the head aches that come along with that.

[JimNolan]

Blue Blood,
    Good points. The part about sheep is how I feel. I look at the Ford restorer as a guy that had some relationship to the car he choose or at least a favoritizism to a brand he liked growing up, not a guy that wanted to be like everyone else either for convienance or less effort and money in restoration. I hold in esteem the guy that shows up at a car show with a 57 Studabaker Hawk. I can enjoy looking at his car. I understand his commitment and challanges concerned with the restoration of a car like that. My Grandmother taught me how to drive on a 57 Fairlane 500. I always dreamed about restoring a 57 Fairlane 500, not a custom, not a 4 door Fairlane 500, not a convertable or flip-top, but the Club Victoria I learned to drive on. And, if it hadn't been for my wife it'd be a two tone blue one. Many a time I wished it had been the tri-five Fords instead of the Chevy's that were more popular. Restoration would have been easier. Jim
   

[JPotter57]

Jerry, I'm not a Chevy or GM fan by any means, and certainly not a fan of those responsible for bailing them out.  I always thought it was a bad marketing decision by Ford to not support the people who were buying their performance cars.  In the end though, it's the bean counters who win: if it costs too much, it's not gonna happen.

[Frankenstein57]

I'll bet most of your parents drove fords, I sort of caught that influence at a young age. I always liked something a little different, my high school car was a 68 cougar. I raced fords as long as I could before joining the dark side. The 406, 427 stuff got pretty scarce in the late 70's early 80's, I always geared the ford a little conservative which hurt me in qualifying. Chevy guys could look in the Sunday paper, and find a dozen race engines for sale.This fall at two different cruise nights, I had a guy regale me on how I should have a chevy. I said I couldn't afford a tri-5 chevy in comparable condition, and why don't you go offer your knowledge to someone with a Japanese or Korean car? I think the big three lost generations of car buyers by building so much junk in the 80's All the kids want to drive what there parents drove.   Mark

[Zapato]

Chevy has always marketed better, I remember reading an article years ago talking withe the original team that designed the SBC and how even the oil pan design was to take business away from Ford. Having a rear sump pan made the chev into a ford swap easy into any ford flathead v8 equipped car. And chevy was giving away that market to the other GM divisions specially oldsmobile. And they were smart enough to make that a priority from day one.

One thing I've observed over the years reading the car mags is how cheap and easy to get horsepower from any chev motor.  For years lots of magazines would do the big 3 engine build shootouts. If a dollar limit was set Chevy always won. The SBC is the darling of the aftermarket industry and has been from day one. Look in the catalogs the guys that build performance parts always make it first for chev then for ford then chrysler, and the price scale follows the order.  When the shootouts limited the mods to specifics not dollars Chrysler SBs often came out ahead

Even today look at the LS series SBCs and how cheap all the mags are adding horsepower on junkyard motors. Then pick up a Mustang magazine and see how costly it is to build power from a MOD motor.

I'm a car guy but 57 fords are what I drove in highschool, have loved them from an early age. Not real fond of the large line. Proportions and the fins are off for my taste. I will always walk away from a Fairlane if there is a custom to look at anywhere. Have owned a few 57-8 fairlanes and they were ok but a custom business coupe that gives me wood, simple as that.

I've owned all kinds of cars even a couple of tri 5 chevs,  they were just transportation but 57fords were much more to me. Almost like that first kiss.

But someone remind me why we are wasting time talking about chevy on this site ?

[JimNolan]

But someone remind me why we are wasting time talking about chevy on this site ?

You're right. I know one guy on here that's probably went out in the barn and hung himself already. I was sort of hoping he'd chime in and let me know he was OK. LOL Jim

[RICH MUISE]

I've never really had a preference for any of the big three...I've owned them all. Most of the new cars  purchased years ago were Fords only because the local Ford dealers were easier to make a good deal with than the GM dealers.
When it came time to build the classic restoration however, the choice was easy. First, the '57 custom kinda fell into my lap at the time, and honestly,I had been away from the classics/customs for many years so I wasn't even aware of how good a "choice" it ended up being. To me, a person has a classic because of the nostalgia, and because you want something different. When I started getting back into the classics and going to car shows I realized how common the tri-five chevs have become....something for me that kicks them out of the 'wanting something different' category.
I suspect alot of the chev popularity started with a small group of Calif.people publishing the national  hotrodding magazines.
Rich

[lowrider]

Alot of good replys here. JPotter57's statement that Ford builds cars for "old people" is something I've heard  for awhile. As far as Barret-Jackson goes, those bidders aren't "car guys". Especially the ones that buy multiple cars. I bet they are all for resale. How many of us here have the $$$ to buy some of those cars. I think they did a little better job this year not showing every Chevelle & Corvette that came across the block. Its like some car shows out there, how many of  those cars can you look at. Lemmings. They all took the easy way out. Anything worth having doesnt come easy.

[tarheel57]

I live in a small city compared to some of you,but there are a lot of car shows and cruise ins around here.At any given one there are as many if not more Fords than c evys.Now as far as 57 fords go, I only know of 6 counting mine in this area.At the shop I work at any c evy streetrod we build (thats not going original) seems to always get a mustang II frontend and a ford 9" rearend.I have a 48 ford f1 pickup with a 302 all streetroded out that I have shown for years,last summer there was a newly built 49 ford f1 (not from around here) that came to one of the local cruise ins and ended up parking beside of me. Was a very nice truck until he opned the hood and there sat a 350 c evy motor in it.All I heard from him all evening was about his c evy motor and how come I didnt run a c evy motor.I got the inpression he was kind of trying to get under my skin.I finnaly ask him why he used a c evy motor and he replyed, " well Im really a c evy man".I told him he wasnt a true c evy man or he would have built a c evy truck instead or a ford.He didnt have much to say the rest of the evening.We build all brands at work an each one of us at some point thru the build end up driving them.I havent been in a c evy yet that I would trade one of my Fords for,and I have 5 of them.I gess you could say I was raised with it in my blood! Tarheel57

[wv 57s forever]

   


   I think it was Doris Days fault.

[lowrider]

Yeah, I never did buy that "see the USA in your C evrolet" stuff! 

[JimNolan]

That was Diana Shore that sang "See the USA". We had " Hazel" for Gods sake.

[wv 57s forever]

 


oops just shows i dont know.

[Limey57]

Okay, got to confess to having a liking of both.......  Never really liked or understood the hype for the tri-Chevs, but liked the 58, 59 & 60 models, before my 57 Ranchero I spent a good few years restoring & modifying a 60 Impala sport sedan (see below).  Car was originally a 348 engined car but ended up with a tuned small block & TH350, suspension was lowered by around 2" & wheels were 17" TT2's (8" wide rear & 7" fronts).

[JimNolan]

James,
   Under the heading "Started By" in the list of Threads would you please remove my name and type in "unknown". I've already gotten three death threats and I think someone poisoned my cat. LOL Jim