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Editor's note: This is part of a series at KSL.com featuring some of Utah's coolest cars. If you own a customized vehicle — from sports cars to semi trucks — email fjolley@ksl.com with a photo of the vehicle and a brief description for consideration.SMITHFIELD, Cache County — In 1959, Rick Barton had just gotten out of high school and he needed a car to get to work.
His friend had a 1956 Chevy, so naturally, he wanted something faster. He saw a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air he really liked and bought it for $1,850 (which would have equaled roughly $16,000 today.)
He drove the black four-door everywhere, including racing it in the streets. His Bel Air was the top-of-the-line. It had a 283-inch V-8 with a Carter four-barrel carburetor on top and a three-speed column-shifter with overdrive behind it.
Rick Barton went to college with the car, owned it when he got married and had his first son while he owned it. In the fall of 1962, he bought a new Chevrolet and sold the Bel Air to his parents. They drove it until 1968 and then gave it to Rick Barton's older brother.
His brother painted it maroon, drove it himself, and then let his kids drive it to high school. When the last child finished high school in 1973, Rick Barton’s brother parked it in a field, where it sat for years. It was later moved to a shed and sat some more, becoming a home to various critters.
The brothers later inherited a 1931 Ford Model A after their father’s passing. Rick bought out his brother’s half and then traded the car for his old Bel Air, pulled from a shed after 36 years of sitting.
Rick Barton and his son Steven got to work on the restoration of the old Chevy. No two pieces were left together in the frame-off restoration, Rick Barton said. Restoration, not replacement, was the theme: Steven Barton spent hours repairing a dented fender that could’ve easily been replaced from a parts' catalog. Even the badly-oxidized Carter carburetor got restored, not replaced.
Rick Barton said the hardest part of the job was getting the dings out of the stainless steel and sanding it. It took seven years of father-son work to fully restore the car, but he said it was worth it.
He also said he's not concerned about the monetary value of the coveted ’57. The investment is totally sentimental, as Barton said it takes him back in time every time he gets in the vehicle. He remembers his marriage and first child. He remembers when his parents owned it and his mother would tell him it wasn’t running well so he would take it out, mash the gas pedal and let the car blow out what ailed it, and then his mother’s complaints would disappear.
Not many of us get a second chance at a car that got away; Rick Barton got his because it stayed in the family, and in the family it will stay — his son Steven will take it when he passes on.
Brian Champagne has reported on cars for more than nine years. He holds a master's degree in communications from the University of the Pacific and teaches at Utah State University.
