57 chevrolet power pack question

[Joe Werner]

when i rebuild my drive train in my 57 bel air i was thinking of changing the 2 barrel setup to a power pack i have orginal power pack heads i also would buy a orginal power pack carb intake manifold and distributer by putting this on the car would it hurt the value of it?

[West Peterson]

Moderately modified 1955-57 Chevrolets seem to hold their value quite well with original cars. However, the way you describe your intentions, it sounds like a factory-stock application done with original parts. In my opinion, this increases its value. Even if this was a "modern modification," it could easily be reversed and would not disturb the car's value. Keep the original parts; don't throw them away, don't sell them, the next owner may want them.

You might get docked a few points at seriously judged car shows, but only if there's a way to tell that the car originally came with the 2-bbl. carb. If you're intending to show it seriously, I'd check into what's accepted in judging situations and find out if there's any tell-tale clues as to the car's original equipment. I'm not an expert, but I don't think there's anything that would tip anyone off. There were more than 400,000 Chevrolets built with the 4-bbl carb in 1957.

[Guest De Soto Frank]

Very good pointers from West...

In some of my "light reading" about the early days of "performance engineering" at the owner-level (1940's- '50s), heavily modified cars had little to no re-sale value, so guys who were tweaking their old flatty-Fords and Stovebolt Chevies tried to keep all their mods "bolt-on", so that they could put the car back to stock when they needed to sell...also, they usually kept their speed goodies for their next project. (These were often young guys with little "mad money", so getting the most re-sale dollar out of a given jalopy was important!)

In terms of "responsible" old car stewardship, following the "bolt-on" or "reversible" rule of thumb seems like a good plan...and ALWAYS hang on to your old "stock" parts for as long as you have the car...