216 is a grand slam, but...

[W Humble]

More than a home-run; for this old rodder it scored four! 

However -- and I enter this topic with real trepidation -- I couldn't believe what I read in the Atlantis '57 Chevy kit review: "... for once, the tips of the tailpipes don't have to be drilled out, as the '57s exhaust pipes exited through the bumper, under the taillights, painting those flat black will surely suffice."  Friend Greenberg, while the '57 Chevy was designed to have that feature, it never did.  That port came blocked from the factory, and the only cars that actually ran it open (with the chrome getting dark and eventually rusty) were those who took it to a muffler shop and had the duals modified.  I only recall seeing one or two cars thus modified, and I was an eighth-grade car-guy wannabe in that year-- and also have owned 3-4 '57s.  Chevy designers had only to look at the Ford Thunderbird with it's open bumper ports, and see where that not-better idea lead.  DeSoto, other MoPars too, perhaps?  Well, if there is going to be an authenticity mistake (re: 1:1 cars) you might as well call attention to it by advising as above.  Now, if I'm wrong, you can call me on it; but please, no hate for merely stating a fact-check on authenticity. This is print, folks, and print has staying power.

Besides, why not drill out the bumper port, if it did indeed have a pipe outlet?   Deep breath, and push 'submit topic.'  Wick

[Dave Darby]

On 11/5/2022 at 11:31 PM, W Humble said:

Chevy designers had only to look at the Ford Thunderbird with it's open bumper ports

Actually, Chevy would have had only to look at their Corvettes, by that logic. Corvettes had body exiting exhaust from 1953-55 (with the tips extended in 54 to keep the soot off the paint) and exhaust through the bumpers from 1956-60. So I doubt that was ever a consideration.

[Muncie]

The exhaust on a 1957 Chevrolet exits under the rear bumper (or out the side behind the rear tire on a wagon/Nomad).  The opening in the bumper end under the tail lamps is filled either with a back up lamp or a  trim plate.  The black trim under that opening is simply a recess in the bumper end that can be painted or blacked  out with reproduction stickers.  Somebody could reroute the exhaust thru the bumper end, but it is not a common modification.

 

[W Humble]

Dave,

I recalled the Corvette after I posted.  I drove a '55 in 1961, and could barely afford* that; Corvettes and Thunderbirds were not much in my frame of reference!  The cars that did have through-the-bumper exhaust, and there were many more (but not standard Chevies!) had plating problems and blackened bumpers in a very short time, as I recall.  I only recall one '57 Chev on which the owner routed the exhaust through the oval opening, and he regretted it!  Wick

*By the time I was college bound in '63, I'd degenerated to a '51 Ford rust-bucket, but had a lot of fun (which I couldn't have with a more valuable car) driving it, and two successors.  I guess you haven't really been a hot rodder if you haven't had a flathead interlude!  Peppy, sound great, and easy to tune!  Wish I had one now!