Tri Five Community
Stories and photos of friends who own Tri Five Chevys.
1955 Chevy - Paul
In The Build - Paul imported his 1955 Chevy Sports coupe from Georgia, USA and has owned it for three years. The Chevy is still left hand drive and has a power steering rack and pinion. Turbo 400 auto, with a Lucas shifter and four disc brakes. Powered by a 305 Small Block Chevy engine with 350 Chevy internals. It has factory electric windows, with a whole new floor and door skins.
Paul is going for a black on black look, meaning no shiny chrome, but an eye popping red interior. He hopes to have a 1965 thunderbird interior and is using Chevy nomad moulds.
The car sits on a 60 inch diff, with 16x295 Mickey Thompson tires.
A special feature of Paul's car is going to be the fuel cap delete so he can have a remote taillight opening.
1956 Chevy - Mark
Mark bought his 1956 Chevy as a rolling body with the intention to do a full off chassis restoration. He pulled the car completely apart and started with bare metal body panels. All of the rust sections were cut out and replaced with new metal. With the fresh metal body, Mark decided to convert the car from left-hand drive to right-hand. Complete with an auto column shift and a full engineers report, that was required. The 427 cubic inch V8 makes 675 horsepower, on a Little M dart engine block. AFR aluminium cylinder heads and a solid roller camshaft. The Chevy rides with a Turbo 350 transmission that can handle up to 800+ hp. The Chevy's beautiful blue colour is what Mark likes to call ‘Gooch Blue’, a name he came up with.
1957 Chevy - Maurice
Maurice has a 1957 Chevy named Lorna , which he bought in 2011. It was built at the Oakland plant in California. In the late 80s the car had a full body restoration to factory spec by the previous owner. When Maurice got the car it was still very original but had a few minor blemishes. The car had its original 283 engine with a 2-sp power glide transmission, which was ok, but not enough for Maurice. In late 2019 Maurice started the car’s second full restoration. It was completely stripped down again, with nothing left on the car untouched. It got a new running gear, 4 wheel disc brakes and new suspension. Everything got replaced, repainted, repolished and rechromed. Lorna now has a 383 stroker engine. With Edelbrock fuel injection the engine makes 500 horsepower. A turbo 700 4-speed auto and a 9 inch diff. The interior is factory original, still left hand drive and original column auto. Lorna’s beautiful paint colour is factory original called Highland Green.
Honarble Mention - 1957 Two Ten Chevy Wagon - Daniela
Daniela's 1957 Chevy Two Ten Wagon was an all in one gift from her husband. When she first saw the wagon, she immediately fell in love with the colour. Even though the paint was faded it didn't bother her. The car was brought in from America, only to fill up a spare space in the container by a car collector.
One of the modifications to the wagon include lowering the height and then tackling the rust. Eventually this led to the car being repainted a fresh coat of that pretty Dusk Pearl colour. Wheel spats to the rear, spotlights and some pinstripes by our friend TJ. A matching coloured Esky, Toolbox and Picnic Set, all have some pinstriping too. The wagon is powered by a 283 Small Block Chevy and is still left hand drive, using a 3-speed column manual. In the future Daniela would love to have a black & white mural of Mary of Guadalupe on the roof. Air bagged suspension, a radio and air conditioning will be the finishing touches.
Author's note: I really enjoy my mother's wagon. It's comfy and quite reliable. Perfect for road trips and holidays with lots of space for luggage and friends. With the Tri Five Chevys being some of the first cars I could recognise as a kid, I'm so happy to have a 1957 Chevy. My favourite year of the three.
