If you know my automotive tastes, you know I go for the "uncommon," to say the least. But one hobby favorite that remains at the top of my list is a 1957 Chevrolet two-door hardtop.
When I was a kid, I was always great at scouting cars behind fences, garages, etc. While working a Boy Scout food drive in the 1980s, I was in a neighborhood I hadn’t been in before when I spotted a pair of 1957 Chevrolets behind a fence: a red Bel Air two-door hardtop and a primered One-Fifty or Two-Ten two-door sedan. The cars disappeared from behind that fence about 15 years ago, but I sometimes still dream about that red Bel Air (although, I sometimes dream the Bel Air is in a salvage yard). The recent "Weathered Wheels" photo from Old Cars Weekly reader Roger M. Van Patten reminded me of the recurring dream and the Bel Air I was too shy to ever inquire about. Hopefully, I'll wake up from one of these '57 dreams to find the full-size car in my garage.

Here's the text we included in Old Cars Weekly with Van Patten's photo:
Every hobbyist probably dreams of stumbling into their dream car, parked and long-forgotten behind a barn, obscured and overgrown behind a fence or tired and dirty on a back lot.
OCW reader Roger M. Van Patten stumbled into a vehicle many hobbyists dream about in a Philadelphia field. His dream find, a ca.-1973 Chevrolet truck in rust-free condition, was found as a cab and chassis this fall. According to Van Patten, the stock cab lamps indicate the truck is a heavy-duty model, such as a C-2500 or C-3500.
Van Patten apologized for the obscured view of the truck, as it was blocked by two look-alike cars in the foreground. He notes these two cars are not for sale.
(Yes, we know those are a pair of 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Sport Coupes in the foreground. But didn’t you enjoy Van Patten’s story?)


Do you have any neat cars hiding around your hometown? Drop a photo in my inbox (angelo.vanbogart@fwmedia.com) and I'll run it here or possibly in Old Cars Weekly's "Reader Wheels" section.