1955 Chevrolet 55,56,57 Tri-Five Chassis

If you’re looking for the ultimate foundation for your ’57 Chevy Pro-Touring foundation you’ve found it. A product of our own imagination and dedication to craftsmanship, this bright red wonder sports Corvette C4 front and rear running gear, huge Wilwood brakes and enough custom fabrication and workmanship to deserve a trophy at a Goodguys show all on its own.

Starting with an original, rust free ’57 chassis, our crew cleaned it to bare metal before taking a ton of measurements. Having done other “Spec” chassis for Tri-fives certainly helped in this department. We cut off the original frame just north of the firewall and built our own from scratch. The 1996 Corvette K frame went in, and we surrounded it by over 100 individual pieces of metal, cutting and fitting as he went. Before installing the top caps to the frame rails he buttressed them internally:  You could drive a tank over this thing and not hurt it. Adjustable Aldan coil over shocks support the weight while a Corvette rack and pinion and front sway bar hold the car in the turns. Huge Wilwood six piston brake calipers clamp down on two-piece rotors with anodized aluminum hats and cross drilled and chamfered friction surfaces. We have the master cylinder that was specified by Wilwood and intended for a Hydroboost setup, and there are brackets bolted to the frame to hold the caliper hoses. Enough can’t be said about the smoothing and detail of the frame, but it’s time to move back towards the rear. The motor mount crossmember holds brand new C5 Corvette LS series, silicone filled mounts. The transmission crossmember is a fabricated piece, built for a TREMEC T56 six speed transmission, which is included. The bellhousing is polished to a mirror finish while the transmission was smoothed and painted the same Torch Red as the frame with polished aluminum highlights. A new driveshaft is included, and once again is polished aluminum. You’ll see brackets welded to the frame for mounting stock C4 parking brake cables and the hydraulic brake hoses. Out back, custom brackets were made to hold the Dana 44 center section and rear Corvette suspension. The “moustache” crossmember is done up in the same polished-and-red-paint scheme as the transmission, and looks fantastic. The trailing and lateral links are all tubular steel with Heim joints for control and pinpoint accuracy. As at the front, Aldan coil overs support the weight. Where bushings remain (both at the front and rear) they’re all urethane. Another pair of Wilwood calipers is out back, this time in four piston specification, clamping down on more two-piece rotors. Not yet mounted but included is a brand new Rock Valley Stainless fuel tank with an in-tank high pressure fuel pump.

Like we said earlier this wasn’t our first attempt, but it may be his finest from a show perspective. The concept and engineering are proven, as another of his chassis sits under our ’57 Nomad, and president John drives the heck out of that car! The geometry is spot on, the finish is so good you’d swear the frame was cast as-is rather than fabricated and the parts are from the best of the best. If you have any questions about the chassis please don’t hesitate to call, and if you’d like us to finish a ’57 around it we’re up to that challenge, too!