What makes the '57 Chevy so desirable?

Here is an interesting article with an opinion on that.
https://www.antiquecar.com/articles/the-1957-chevy.php#:~:text=1957%20Chevy%20Nomad&text=A%20new%20%22W%22%20series%20big,was%20produced%20for%20everywhere%20else.&text=That%20is%20what%20made%20the%201957%20Chevy%20so%20popular.

Plus, if you add 5 plus 7 you get 12.

You can argue that 12 is the last age you experienced where there was no zits, no puberty, no peer pressure, no high pressure sports, no unwanted pregnancies, no basic military training, no IEDs, no tuition, no rent, no car payment, no marital strife, in fact few if any worries at all!

That could be part of the appeal as well.

@josie -They had a lot of options. I did not know there were three models of that car.
12 probably is the reason for their popularity.

I have no clue, this though…gimme dat now!

The fins. As cool as the fins on the 1960 Cadillac. And the hood ornaments that looked like machine guns.

@ucme What’s your second favorite?
@kritiper Cadillac had some outrageous fins and an odd bump right before the fin. My hub & I have “discussions” about that. XD

@lucillelucillelucille Oh, just this

@ucme I like that too.
What about this?

@lucillelucillelucille You could ski jump off the back of that.

@ucme -But you wouldn’t for it would be hard to leave that car for even a second.

@ucme: What a great pickup line that would be. “Would you like to take a ride in my Super Snake?”

I don’t really know. It was before my time, I was born in ‘68, but I have seen the old commercials for it. Maybe the advertising was really good compared to others, and there is a feeling of nostalgia and pride that goes with owning that car? Also, I think the fins were a big deal, someone else said that above. There were raffle contests that were advertised for this car also.

I’d be curious to know how much advertising was don’t for other cars at the time and also this might have been when more and more families were starting to own cars. The move to the suburbs was in full swing at this point, and cars were necessary, and even teenagers were buying them. Maybe it is a coming of age baby boom car? It is when the first boomers would have been turning 16. I’m just guessing on everything here, I really don’t know the answer, just offering ideas. I could ask my parents, but they didn’t drive until their 20’s so I don’t know if they would know.

@JLeslie I don’t remember them from when I was a kid (‘64) but I am wondering why so many people have liked them in the decades since.
I personally don’t love or hate them.

My husband has nostalgia for the Mustang he owned as a kid. I don’t know what year it was. It was his first car, and so that’s why I thought maybe it had to do with coming of age.

Kids today are much less enthralled with cars.

Back in the 50’s-80’s I think cars represented freedom. Maybe part of identity also. I don’t know how it is now.

@JLeslie -‘64 Mustangs are my favorite.:)
I can see the nostalgia thing but not for me. No Dodge Dart eveeerrrrrr!
said in Joan Crawford’s voice XD
You’re right about the freedom thing, at least it was true for me.
My neighbor’s son has no desire to drive.I was surprised by that one.

I vastly prefer the 1957–1960 Thunderbirds.

@Zaku Those are nice.
I had a ‘69 T-Bird with suicide doors. That car was fun.
I like the body style of the ‘65 the most.

@JLeslie: I think what kids used to find fun about cars decades ago was that they could fix the cars themselves. When I was a teen, friends would be under the hood, tinkering, whatever. Now, new cars can’t be fixed by amateurs, for the most part. They’re all computerized and there’s no tinkering.

@lucillelucillelucille YES! I’d tend to skip the 1961–1963, but the 1964–1966 I like as much as the 1957–1960 models.

When you bought them new, you’d generally get plastic models of your car, which I have a couple of.

@Zaku Cool! There is one I see at the local car shows that is a beautiful salmon color with a white interior. I can’t remember the year but it was an early model as it had the porthole window.

@jca2 That wasn’t my personal experience, no one I knew was very mechanical, but I do agree that cars have become computers and need different skills than before to fix them up and repair them.

One of the reasons my husband wanted to get out of golf cart repair business when we did was golf carts were going more towards this same trend and if we had stayed in that business it would have taken a new set of skills and new equipment. That wasn’t the main reason we sold the business, but it helped us make the decision.

I think maybe cars are more expensive to buy now. I don’t know how it compares accounting for inflation. Do teenagers still get cars when they are 16?

@JLeslie: In affluent neighborhoods, yes. Maybe in others, the kid has to work for it and save up. I live in an affluent neighborhood and the kids seem to have them as juniors and seniors here.