First let me thank everyone who commented on my supercharger post a few weeks back. It is wonderful to have such a wealth of Y-block info so easily accessible.

I'm currently looking to buy a 1957 2-door custom 300, but i am wondering what the differences are between the 1957 custom and custom 300. I know the codes are 70a (custom) and 70b (custom 300). I also know that the original paint and trim were different. Were there other body or mechanical differences? I have been told the heaters were different and that the custom 300 had a clock. However, i can't find any info on such things.

Hoping you guys can help.

Steve

Steve, The 70A and the 70B have the same body,but the 70B has the gold inserts and side trim like a Fairlane 500, but the trim will not fit a 500. As far as heaters and clocks you could order any body style with out a heater or clock. The reason you see more 70a's with the small heater and no clock, is that this was the cheap base car. For more information go to 57 Fords forever or 1957 Ford .com. Hope this helps Tom

  JUST A MIDNIGHT CRUISE DOWN THUNDER ROAD!!! TOM DRUMMOND MIDWEST DIRECTOR 57 FORD INTERNATIONAL

The Custom had rubber floor mats, the 300 had carpet. I believe the seat covers on the 300 were a bit fancier than the Custom. My Dad bought a new Custom during a promo. 1957 Ford for $1957. Only had two tone paint and a heater for options. 6 cylinder, 3 speed. I hated that car. Wish I had it now.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

As John said there were some interior differences. That would only matter if you were going to do a an original restoration. I think John Gambell's 57 Ford site has all of the available interior colors shown. Actually it might even have pics of the different exterior trim. There seems to be a 50/50 split on who likes the cars. Half the folks love the Custom 300, the other half prefer the standard 300. I have a custom, but I really like the looks of the base car.

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

I had a '57 custom stick 6 for about 6 months. It did have a back seat but was a very very plain salesman's car. It was a rusted out upstate NY car and driving it back to school one night the left headlight nearly fell out. It was tied back in place with a shoe lace through one of the rust holes. It ran really well and was remarkably quick from a standing start with a low 1st gear and 3.89 rear axle. I bought it for $175 and sold it when the shoe lace rotted out for $37.50. For the money it was a pretty good car!

Doug T

The Highlands, Louisville, Ky.

As I recall my 300 had rubber mats. Side trim was different as described. Not sure if there were any differences in the interior. Would love to have either one again. Preferably a Custom. Uncle had one that was a 2 door with a 6 stick. Another uncle had one that was an ex Illinois State police car. Custom 300 4 door as I recall. 312 stick. I drove that one when I was 15 or 16. Ran really good. Both were solid black. Love them in black.

Greetings everyone. New to y-blocks forever,excellent forum. When I saw this thread about 57 customs, I recalled the one my brother bought in the late 60's and still owns today. It has a stainless piece running forward from the rear towards the door, where it curved up and forward again. No rear seat, the windows did not role down. It had a 6cyl,3sp/od, radio, heater. Two of my uncles ran a wrecking yard and an engine rebuilding company in eastern Oklahoma. We wanted the 6cyl gone and replaced with a 390/406 to better compete with our friends scrubs. They offered to build a better engine if we drove it back in the early summer. In exchange, we were to work in the yard pulling parts. We arrived in the middle of June. Our first job was pulling the engine/trans from a 57 Merc. 312/3sp/od. THATS OUR NEW ENGINE? No 406? No 390? This will never do,(they don't know what their doing, a 312}? We knew they had built racing engines in the past, but a 312? If improved upon, what Ford started with was enough to run with the 327/348's. Just trust us!
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The engine was torn down, cleaned/hot tanked (remember that process?) They measured/checked everything. "Build it right, it'll run" (Trust us) Well really didn't have much of a choice, soooo,OK. I remember Jahns pistons, Engle cam, Michigan bearings, rings (?),balancing, checking clearances, head work, but i don't know what exactly,intake manifold work, a Ford 4100, later a Holly, (don't know CFM's, all this is by memory) They did it all. Next came a BW T-10. (Hey this is getting expensive, we could be here a long time).Then fenderwell headers, distributor work, back in the car. Broken in,tuned and retuned. They were right! That little 312 ran hard!
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We worked till the end of summer to pay for it all,and had a ball doing it. We probably still owe some, but both have passed away. I think they had even more fun than we did.Go home, race and beat some chevy's. On cool, cloudy evening at the old Irwindale drag strip in Irwindale, Ca, George (brother) ran mid 14's at 95mph,almost exactly what our friends 327/olds hydro 57 Bel Air ran. JUST TRUST US,IT'LL RUN. IT DID.
My car at the time was 55 Ranchwagon, 272,3sp/od. Now I had some plans for it, however the army's plans differed somewhat. I sold my 55 (what a mistake), he kept his 57.
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After being discharged I bought 56 f100,(Dec 1974).It is going to get a total rebuild (it needs it), I'm going to keep the 312 that came in it when I bought it. Thanks in advanced for some questions I'll have.

GREAT STORY jlb51! I really enjoy these.......Here's another;
I grew up in a neighborhood in NE Ohio where it seemed that every boy close to my age was a "gear head"!
In '63 or 4 one of them bought a completely stock '54 Ford business coupe (a Customline) from a local used car lot. It was a 239 V8, 3 speed O.D. with a 4.11 gear. I don't think it was a local car because really solid with no rust. He replaced the 239 with a used '57 312. He had the G heads milled slightly and put larger exh. valves (actually '56 intake valves) in them. He bought a new factory "C" cam for it but never installed it. ( I know because I bought the cam and heads when he sold the car and they are now in my '48 Tudor.) He ran the stock 256 deg. cam, exh. manifolds, "B" intake and '57 Holley carb. with a screw in the secondary slot. The short block was never apart being in good shape and nice and loose.
He replaced the O.D. with a T-10. He completely gutted the interior except for the front seat, it had no rear seat to begin with, and removed all the excess weight he could without cutting. He was a good tuner and driver. The car was FAST. He never had it at the strip....there was no need. Street racing was THE thing back then. There were several roads in the area where we knew the quarter mile landmarks and really had a ball. It's funny but the cops never were a problem.
That little '54 coupe would beat most of the muscle cars of the day i.e. Goats, 442s etc. Granted, some of those guys were probably bad drivers. But no matter, the '54 would haul the mail and was a local legend!
He next car was a '55 Mainline two door sedan with a low rise 427 410 Hp......but that's another story!

"FREE SAMPLE"

Great stories. Have some myself, that's why these are special.

       A  L  A  N   F  R  A  K  E  S   ~  Tulsa, OK    

I've owned two custom 300s, one 2dr. and one 4dr. and both had radios heaters and gold trim down the sides and both had rubber mats, and one custom 2dr. that was a salesman car. They all had 272s and the custom 300 2dr. was automatic and the others were stick shifts ( 3 on the tree). ALL were great cars and the 4dr. 300 three on the tree 272 would bust a 327 without hardly trying and beat 390 ford as well, have no answers as to why it ran like a BAT outta HELL!!! just one of those that came out on a lot steroids.

-Gary Burnette-