This 1957 Plymouth Belvedere sat in a closed-down Iowa dealership for 50 years
- A 1957 Plymouth Belvedere was rescued from an abandoned dealer
- The car had been parked up decades
- It was in a bad state and in need of a lot of work
Published on Aug 30, 2024 at 9:00 AM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid
Last updated on Aug 30, 2024 at 4:26 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
This 1957 Plymouth Belvedere convertible was rescued from an abandoned dealership in Iowa, where it had been parked up for decades.
The dealership closed its doors for good back in 1972, leaving the Belvedere out on the shop floor.
Sadly, the car wasn’t in great shape.
For starters, it was missing its entire front end as well as a few other components, it was also badly weathered and in need of a good scrub inside and out.
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The Plymouth Belvedere was basically a giant jigsaw puzzle
All too often, we see cars that have been left to rot, such as this classic Chevy sedan that had become home to a family of mice or this fellow Plymouth that will need a lot of TLC to get it back on the road.
It was a similar story for the Belvedere that was rescued by Tom Hergert – the owner of Rocket Restoration.
Although the car dealership had shut up shop in the early 1970s, Hegert said it was quite likely the car hadn’t moved for a good few years before that.
Herget compared the abandoned motor to a jigsaw puzzle, but fortunately for the car, it was one he was keen to solve.
The restoration expert sifted through various other Plymouths to find the parts he required, including nabbing some fenders from a 1958 Savoy and a badge and grille from a Fury.
Nicely done.
It is still in need of a lot of work
After some heavy-duty restoration work, the car soon took shape – albeit it a slightly different shape than its original design thanks to the plethora of parts taken from a variety of Plymouth models.
Of course, this is just the start of the process and the Belvedere is going to require a lot more time and effort to return it to its former glory.
Hegert admitted that he would have liked to have kept hold of the car but decided to put it up for sale – partly done to the costs involved with getting the vehicle back up and running.
But it would make a sweet restoration project for someone who had an interest in getting such a classic vehicle back on the road.
Here’s hoping this isn’t the last we see of this car.
Claire Reid is a journalist who hails from the UK but is now living in New Zealand. She began her career after graduating with a degree in Journalism from Liverpool John Moore’s University and has more than a decade of experience, writing for both local newspapers and national news sites. Across her career she's covered a wide variety of topics, including celebrity, cryptocurrency, politics, true crime and just about everything in between.
