Chevrolet Camaro

 

Unveiled in 2006, the Chevrolet Camaro Concept sports car embodies the best in performance and styling that has made the Camaros, the most sought after cars. The sophisticated design of the Chevrolet Camaro concept car is sure to take it places. This concept car captures the true spirit of Camaro, one which has made it the most popular coupe of all time.

One thing that is bound to catch your attention immediately with the Chevrolet Camaro concept car is its long hood. Apart from making a style statement it also shows you the kind of attention that has been paid to the design. The short deck, wide stance and long hood make for greater aerodynamic performance. This is not all; there is a powerful 400 horsepower (298 kW), six-speed manual transmission engine that is inside this futuristic concept car that can achieve exciting speed.

The sports car is a fifth generation Camaro which will offer both V 6 and V 8 engines. This American sports car will also be available in a choice of automatic as well as manual transmission. The small-bock engine offers serious performance, bound to leave the competition behind. The sports car is pretty long at 186.2 inches. The wheel base is quite large at 110.5 inches. You can find real monstrous 275/30 front and 305/30 rear tires which are designed to take on the power generated from the LS2, V-8 engine. The power-packed engine is capable of reaching speeds up to 300 km/h with ease. When not hurtling along in highways, the sports car is also capable of performing equally well inside cities. Even though designed for achieving high speeds, some of the features in this concept sports car have been carefully thought out for every day use. A good example would be the ´Active Fuel Management´ feature. This latest feature allows for optimum saving of fuel. This is enabled due to the incorporation the latest in cylinder deactivation technology. This in turn means higher fuel economy on long drives.

The lean and mean design is great for highway drives as well as parking in places where space is at a premium. From suburban parking lots to garages in homes, the overall size of the sports car is just about right. The cockpit design has been by those of fighter planes. The instrumental panel is purposeful at the same time being perfectly in sync with the overall aesthetics of the concept car. The luxurious interiors also reflect the same fetish for perfection for which Camaro is famed for. You can still find a hint of the first generation Camaros in the overall execution of the interior. Along with luxury, functionality also has been taken care off in a never before way.

The sports car features progressive rate springs as part of its rear suspension which means no more jarring drives. Ultra-smooth rides are a possibility with these suspensions along with the gas-pressurized dampers which are part of the features of this concept car. Adequate care has also been taken to offer a superior braking system. The four-wheel vented disc brake which comes with 14-inch rotors means that this sports car comes to a full halt even while cruising at high speeds and importantly, under all conditions.

1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS X 55 - The Perfect Pose - 34

With its 406ci engine churning out more than 750hp, Chris Robertson’s Camaro has easily enough grunt to back up its tough-as-nails stance

With its 406ci engine churning out more than 750hp, Chris Robertson’s Camaro has easily enough grunt to back up its tough-as-nails stance
Is it just one of life’s mysteries how sometimes a car can become more than the mere total of its parts, or is there some form of science to it? Likewise, how can two cars be built with the exact same components, yet be considerably different in attitude? Maybe sometimes an owner’s love and passion really does show through when compared to a car that has been trucked from workshop to workshop to be built.

It’s a Freak!

Whatever the reason behind it, Chris Robertson’s 1969 Chevrolet Camaro is one of those vehicles which has that special ‘X factor’. The obvious reason would be that it’s a very rare X55-badged car, although I’m sure there is far more to it than that. Perhaps it’s the fact that it was originally imported into New Zealand in 1970 to be turned into a race car that gives it a tougher-than-nails attitude. More likely, though, is the selection of the right components under the hood and the right stance without any unnecessary bling that ties the package together perfectly.
It was a lucky find when Chris managed to purchase the vehicle complete, but in bits and needing a fair amount of attention. Luckily for him, though, the expensive parts had been purchased by the previous owner, and the car was bought for a very reasonable price. Upon closer post-purchase inspection, his buy was found to have factory subframe connectors in it, making it an even rarer vehicle than was first thought.
There were a few setbacks during the rebuild, the main one being a workshop that tried to take Chris for a ride by charging exorbitant prices for the wrong parts. But thanks to some good mates and Chris’s own mechanical ability the car was completed around four years ago. However, with a young family, and a supercharged Chevelle also sitting in the garage, the Camaro hasn’t seen the light of day for the last three years.

Packing a Punch

The 6653cc (406ci) Chev small block purchased with the car is now running to its potential, and with a parts list that reads like a petrolhead’s dream, that potential equals huge power. With a Lunati 4340 steel forged crank spinning away on heavy-duty bearings in an oversized baffled sump, bottom end reliability will never be a problem.
Attached to the crank via SPS fasteners are Lents 152mm rods and Lunati forged pistons with laser-cut rings. The Lunati full roller two-stage race cam gives the game away a bit, as the noise emitted through the three-inch exhaust is exquisite. At the front of the system are Hooker Super Comp headers that have been match ported to the Brodix 10/1 aluminium race heads.
The heads were CNC ported before being hand finished for maximum flow. Not only are they ported on the exhaust side but also the intake. Thanks to Chris’s handiwork the ports on the Brodix single plane tall intake manifold now match those of the head perfectly.
To make the most of the aggressive cam, Chris has fitted Lunati heavy-duty valve springs and roller rockers, along with large stainless steel valves and titanium keepers.
With a tough Cometic head gasket and the high silicone-content pistons, the car is set to handle nitrous oxide if the need ever arises. With approximately 750hp at the wheels on tap, however, that need is quite unlikely to eventuate.
The high compression ratio (13.1:1) has encouraged the car to consume a strict diet of race fuel. With a 760cfm Demon race carb complete with custom venturis, the Barry Grant fuel pump has its work cut out. Luckily, oversized braided lines are there to assist in the tank’s drainage.
The ignition system is strictly comprised of MSD components. Hiding inside the Chev dizzy are MSD internals, and an MSD Blaster 2 coil helps get the fire started.

1958 Chevrolet Bel Air - Dare to be Different - 60

John Courtney’s beautiful low-slung ’58 Bel Air makes you ¨wonder why Chev needed all that head space in the first place
As custom car culture started to gain momentum in the mid 1950s, people were hacking, slashing and spraying all sorts of cars in an effort to make them unique. Some ideas failed miserably, but others, like the concept of lowering a roof via a chop, were very well received. By the late ’50s manufacturers started to take notice, so much so that in 1958 General Motors unveiled its brand new Chevrolet Bel Air with a far lower roofline than was usual at the time.
Compared to previous models, this new machine looked almost custom straight off the dealership floor. Half a century on, what was considered low then is now nothing of the sort, and enthusiasts like retired Aucklander John Courtney are re-chopping that first ‘factory chopped’ car. And dear God does it look fantastic.
Lucky Find
John didn’t actually do the roof chop himself, but rather purchased the Chev from the States as an unfinished project on eBay. Whoever started the car had done a great job of the chop, a task that is not for the faint-hearted. After getting that far though, it seems the fun went from the project, and the American owner left the rest of it in a poor state.
Once landed, the car spent 18 months going through a serious transformation, from ratty old bubble-top to low, sleek and sparkling. “My son Brad conned me into buying it,” John says, laughing. “Eighteen months later and the car is finished with not a whole lot of help from Brad. He still drives it all the time though.”
Starting with tidying up the body, John took the car to Darren at Glen Eden Panel Beaters, who began to painstakingly tidy the American workmanship and install the rear split window. John decided to add to the custom look by creating side exit exhausts, and knocked up the stainless surrounds himself.
From there, it was over to Phil Stokes Panel and Paint, where the car sat for the next few months being prepped and then painted in a beautiful two-tone copper and silver. Although both of Japanese vehicle origin. the colours work well, and the two-tone scheme really makes the Bel Air stand out from the crowd ” as if it didn’t already.
To finish off the look there has been plenty of rechroming, an expensive task, but on a car such as this it’s a necessary evil. With the chrome work re-fitted the car looks awesome, glistening in the sunshine and turning heads wherever it goes.
Healthy Rumble
The beautiful rumble emitted by those side exit exhausts comes from a tidy 383ci small block crate motor. The motor is no huge-power race donk, but sports around 425 horse at the crank ” plenty enough to get the Chev moving. Besides, John has a race car already, so he didn’t need to ruin a good cruiser with an enormous motor.
The 383 runs alloy heads and roller rockers sitting under a 650cfm carb. Custom headers dump waste gases into the twin exhaust system and out to the side of the car, while a Turbo 400 transmission transfers power back to a limited slip diff spinning 17-inch chrome rims wrapped in Toyo rubber. Lance from Arrow Wheels helped out with getting the rollers to suit the look and stud pattern of the old Chev. He didn’t do a half-bad job, either.
Lower Here, Lower there
With the roofline cut 3.5 inches, a newly lowered stance was also required. John kept it simple, dropping the Chev to the ground with new shocks and springs all around, which also improved the handling greatly when combined with the after- market sway bar up front. Next up: the brakes. Although acceptable at the time the car was built, the 50-year-old drums originally fitted to the car were not up to scratch, and were replaced with a set of discs up the front and rebuilt items out back.
With the car nearly finished, John went to see Peter at Waikumete Car Upholsterers in Auckland.
“Peter and the team were very patient with me and did a really good job on the interior,” John tells us. Now resplendent in a custom embroidered vinyl, the Chev’s interior also benefits from custom lowered seats to allow for more headroom in the reduced interior space.
With a very cool Dakota digital dash panel in place displaying speed, revs, water temp, oil pressure, voltage and fuel levels, plus the flame steering wheel that ties the interior into the rest of the build nicely (as seen on the rocker covers and air cleaner), all that was left to do was to install one hell of a stereo system.
Brad was the brains behind it, perhaps knowing all along that he’d steal the keys as soon as the car was completed.
“I just gave Brad a cheque and let him go for it,” John says. “I still don’t know how much it was, all I know is that it’s very nice and very loud.” If only all our parents were so easy to convince…
Powered by a pair of powerful Alpine amplifiers, the system is controlled by an Alpine DVD head unit mounted into the dash, and thumps out serious volume via two sets of Alpine interior speakers and a big dual voice coil Alpine 12-inch subwoofer mounted in a custom enclosure in the boot.
Cars like John’s ’68 Bel Air are great examples of hot rodding done right. Despite how drastically the car has been chopped, lowered, painted and modified, it only ever looks like an enhanced version of the original, completely following the lines and features of the donor vehicle. Combine that with a beautifully detailed, chromed and polished interior, exterior and engine bay, and you have a perfect cruiser.
It makes you wonder if the younger generation of car builders will be doing the same in 30 or 40 years time to vintage 2009 Camaros, Challengers or Mustangs.

1954 Chevrolet Corvette Nomad - The Waldorf Hotel - 53

After searching for the original Chevrolet Corvette station wagon show car for four decades, American John Bolsted decided to build his own ” but better.
Fifty years, or half a century if you want to make it sound even longer, is a hell of a decent stretch of time to hold on to an obsession. Most people simply don’t have the staying power to stick with a dream for that long, but then California-based retired fireman John Bolsted is not most people.
It was 1954, and John was a young freshman at high school. “I was flicking through a Life magazine, and came across an advertisement for AC Spark Plugs,” he recalls. “The ad featured an image of a car like nothing I’d ever seen ” the Chevrolet Corvette Nomad. I wanted that car so badly, and spent the next 40 years looking for it.”
It seems at first as though John must have been looking in all the wrong places, considering his four decade-long unsuccessful hunt. But the truth is, despite the various rumours and hoaxes that pop up every now and again, that particular concept car ” and the four other examples made ” were most likely destroyed by Chev before the 1950s were even over.
Now known as the Waldorf Nomad, the car was first shown on September 22, 1954, during the Chevy Motorama event at the Waldorf Hotel in New York, and it has since become a Holy Grail of sorts for Chev fans. A crazy mix of Nomad station wagon and Corvette sports car, the Waldorf Nomad was by all accounts the first sports wagon ever made. It had a complete first generation ’Vette fibreglass front end, an exceptionally low profile and aggressive, muscular styling. It is safe to say the Nomad/Corvette was well before its time, and why Chevy never put the car into production remains a mystery.
Never Give Up
As far as fans go, none was more die-hard than John, and although he gave up on his search, he did not give up on his dream. “About 10 years ago, I finally decided I would have to build my own version of the car as there was just no way I would ever be able to find an original. I started searching for a suitable Nomad wagon to convert and eventually found something that would work in Rhode Island, New York. The owner said I could easily drive it back to California, so I booked a one-way ticket and went to get the car. When I arrived, I found the Nomad sitting in the garage, held together with duct tape and bailing wire ” literally. I said no thanks and flew home.”
This is where John’s story takes a turn for the better. “Once back in California, I was talking to some of the firemen I had worked with about the trip, and one of them mentioned that he had attended a house fire in that area and it had got into a neighbour’s garage that just happened to have a 1956 Chevy Nomad restoration project in it. The owner decided it wasn’t worth his trouble rebuilding it and eventually agreed to sell it to me.”
No Going Back
After media blasting the car, it began to dawn on John just what he had got himself into, but not being one to quit, he sat down at a desk and began to study vintage photographs of the original Waldorf Nomad. Although you can get a rough idea of the shape of the car from pictures, the hard part lay in the dimensions. But John had a plan. “It is fairly common knowledge that the wheels on the Waldorf car were 15-inch. Knowing that much I used it as a scale to get the dimensions of the rest of the car from the pictures I had.” Once John had worked out all his measurements, he took his car to master body-man Dick Dean, who helped John chop the roof two inches, pancake it a further inch, and sectioned  the body three inches, thus creating a much lower profile overall. Next, Dick set about splicing Corvette with Nomad, grafting on the fibreglass rear end and complete fibreglass tilting front clip. Fibreglass was also used to create the swinging rear tailgate, complete with electric window.
Once all the glass and heavy body mods were completed, John towed the car across to Bad Boy Customs in Idaho, which detailed the body, painting it in two-stage urethane 1958 Cadillac Lake Placid Blue and 1955 Chevy India Ivory. Then, finally, chrome trim from a 1954 ’Vette was customised and added to the car to complete the body look.
Because John wanted the exterior to stay true to the original, he chose old-school stock steel wheels to roll on, clothed in skinny 225/70R15 whitewall tyres and genuine Corvette wheel covers, which he picked up for the princely sum of one dollar many years ago. The wheels fit nice and snug into the Corvette guards due to drop spindles in the front and re-arched leafs in the rear, all dampened by KYB shocks.
Modern Interpretation
As for the powerplant motivating the Nomad, John felt he could take a little artistic license since the original show car never actually had an engine or transmission at all. In the interests of reliability and power, he went for a late-model LS1 5.7-litre V8, pulled from a 2002 Chevy Camaro. The injected LS1 has been left mostly to its own devices and simply benefits from a new exhaust system. A custom alloy radiator, designed to barely clear the bonnet, has been fitted as the Camaro option simply was not compatible with the low-slung ’Vette front end.
That same donor Camaro was also relieved of its Tremec T56 six-speed gearbox, which found its way into the Nomad and pushes power out to a 10-bolt Chev rear diff with 3.73 gearing via a custom driveshaft.
As with the engine situation, there was little information to go on for the Waldorf Nomad’s interior, so John took it upon himself to come up with something that he felt fit perfectly. Trimmed in blue material and white vinyl, the Nomad’s living space is a mash-up of different bits and pieces: front seats from Toyota, rear seats from a Chevy Celebrity, a 1958 ’Vette steering wheel, a 2002 Camaro shifter ” the list goes on. A set of Auto Meter gauges was also installed so that John had a good, reliable eye on his engine.
No Trailer Queen
Finished a good four years ago, John’s Waldorf Nomad is a one-off that has received many accolades and trophies. Although it seems extremely doubtful that an original Waldorf will ever be found, that’s something we are prepared to accept if people like John keep the golden era of American motoring alive with cars like this one.
Since it was finished, John’s car has clocked up in excess of 120,000 miles (193,000km) thanks to his penchant for hot rod tours and car shows all over the States. If there’s a better way to spend your time in retirement, NZV8 can’t think of it.

1954 Corvette Nomad – Specifications

Engine: LS1 5.7 litre, Corvair turbo mufflers, custom exhaust, custom alloy radiator
Driveline: Tremec T56 Camaro six-speed gearbox, custom driveshaft
Brakes: Front S-10 Chevy disc brakes, factory Camaro rear drums
Suspension: KYB shocks, re-arched leaf springs, 3-inch drop spindles, custom rear sway bar
Wheels/tyres: 15×5-inch stock steel rims, 225/70R15 whitewall tyres, 1958 Corvette wheel covers
Exterior: 1-inch roof pancake, 2-inch roof chop, 3-inch body section, Corvette fibreglass tilt front end, Corvette fibreglass rear fenders, custom rear lift gate, custom electric window, 1958 Cadillac Lake Placid Blue paint, 1955 Chevy India Ivory
Interior: Customised Toyota front seats, Chevy Celebrity rear seat, 1958 Corvette steering wheel, early Chev van tilting steering column, 2002 Camaro Hurst shifter, Auto Meter gauges, modified ’55 Chevy dash, Vintage Air air conditioning, Alpine sound system

1982 Chevrolet Silverado - Daily Grind - 54

Name: Tim Kerr
Vehicle: 1982 Chevrolet Silverado
Nice-looking truck Tim, did you buy it like that?
Nah, it started off as a diesel and got tucked away in the garage when the diesel stuffed out, and then I got carried away and started rebuilding the whole thing. Ended up taking the diesel motor out, putting a fuel—injected petrol motor in, and then doing everything: new rubbers, lowering it, new paint, panel work, new wheels, the lot. I painted it myself ” I won’t do that again.
How long ago did you buy it?
It would probably be about eight years now; two and a half years in the garage getting rebuilt, when I could fit in time to work on it. As everyone knows, projects always take longer than originally planned. I didn’t plan to go this direction with it, but it always happens, doesn’t it?
Isn’t it a bit too pretty to be used as a work truck now?
Yeah, but it is good to drive every day, it’s quite a comfortable ride. It is a truck though, but I’m pretty happy with it.
What’s the new motor you put in it?
It’s a fuel—injected 350 from an early-’90s truck. I bought the motor and transmission together. The trans is a 4L80E, which has been rebuilt, so it goes well. It’s not too bad on gas now, which is good, as I drive it from Pukekohe every day to Procoat in East Tamaki. On the motorway it just idles along when you’re doing 100kph, it’s great.
If you weren’t driving it every day, what would you be driving instead?
I don’t know. It would have to be something practical. I did have a Hiace van but that crapped out at 450,000km. I was a bit gutted, as I was aiming for the half century. With its big tray the Chev is quite practical, but as you said, it’s a bit too nice to be used for lugging stuff round. I’ve already put a few scratches in it from delivering parts to people, so it really is time to sell it. It’s too nice for that.
Have you got another project on the go?
Yeah, I’m going to sell the truck, as I’ve got the project I’ve always wanted, a ’55 two-door post Chev. I’m really looking forward to getting into that. That will be another few-year project I’m sure. I’m really looking forward to it, and I know I can do a lot of things on it through here [Procoat].
So the ’55 will become a bit of a business advertisement when done?
Yep. You learn by your projects. The truck was a good gauge of how things should be done, for when I do it to another vehicle worth doing it on. With the truck, I learnt a few things, so you know what to iron out the next time round; hopefully everything goes according to plan.

1966 Chevrolet C10 SWB - Pick - Up Lines - 55

With a 502ci big block, this Chev truck doesn’t just haul parts, it hauls arse.
No matter what profession you are in, no matter how terrible your job, there is usually some form of perk, some kind of a hook-up that gets you through. Sure, cinema attendant might be a terrible occupation, but just think of all that free popcorn. Garbage collector? Start your own second-hand emporium. Even we lowly automotive journalists manage a few sneaky drives in cool cars and receive the best seats at events to make it all worth it.
As one of the directors of V8 performance parts specialist DC Trading, Carl Nixon is in a fairly good position when it comes to perks. Recent years have seen various V8-powered machines roll through his garage, but his latest, a 502 big-block-powered 1966 Chevrolet C10, is one of the best yet.
In The Know
“A friend of ours in Arizona had been building the truck for quite a few years,” Carl explains. “We had been watching the build as it progressed, but eventually, after eight years, the original owner had had enough and decided to sell. At the time it was about 80 per cent completed, I took a good look at the car and decided to buy it ” it was a very high quality build, and all the parts were top of the range. So I picked it up, and got it sent back over to New Zealand where we would finish it with the intention of using it as a work truck for the business.”
Indeed, the Chev is now finished, but as for the idea of putting it to work for the business, well, that never quite came to fruition. “Once it was finished, we just couldn’t bear to use it as a parts hauler, it was just too nice,” Carl admits. “Everything on the car is top quality in terms of both build and parts, I didn’t even want to park it oulone throw engines in the tray.”
Viewing the C10 in person, it’s easy to see why Carl couldn’t bring himself to put the truck to work. The flawless body is coated in a deep metallic blue, greatly improved by the immaculate chrome work, deleted rear bumper and custom rear roll-pan. This Chev is a definite show-quality head turner, not a parts hauler.
502ci Of Quality
Although the truck does look great from the outside, NZV8 is also fairly partial to the vista under the hood. Five hundred and two cubic inches of GM Performance crate motor sits in the chassis rails in the completely de-loomed engine bay, growling away flawlessly as the big Holley race carb sucks air into the high-flowing GM Performance intake manifold and heads.

Inside the big block, GM Performance rods, pistons, crank and aggressive cam all make for an indestructible powerplant that produces upwards of 550 horse. Aeromotive supplies the fuel, while a full MSD 6AL ignition system with Pro Billet distributor, leads and coils provides the spark. Waste gases are extracted through a set of Hooker Super Comp headers and a Magnaflow exhaust, while the entire system is kept cool by a large Be-Cool radiator setup.
Five-fifty is not exactly a weak number when it comes to horsepower, and in order to get each and every one to the wheels, the Chev needs a fairly serious driveline. Backing up the motor is a very slick TH-400 transmission, built by Hughes Performance in the States. The quick-shifting trans runs a Hughes Performance 2500rpm stall converter and a tough limited slip diff at the rear end, all while being kept nice and cool with a remote trans cooler system.


Big Is Good
The C10 is what many would consider overpowered with this power train ” especially considering so little weight hangs over the rear wheels. “It is definitely a very interesting car to drive,” Carl admits. “You really need to be very careful if you want to drive it fast.”
With most of the weight up the front, Carl has tried to alleviate the problem by fitting big 20×10-inch Budnik Teardrop X rims, wrapped in grippy 285/50R20 Goodyear Eagle II rubber. This doesn’t entirely solve the issue, but it looks damn cool regardless.
The big rims hug the fully restored deep blue body thanks to some simple suspension work ” new coils and shocks in the front, and a new lowered trailing-arm system in the rear, complete with an adjustable panhard arm.
Because the truck is not overly heavy, it was decided that huge Wilwood brakes or similar would not be necessary, so new GM discs for the front and drums for the rear were ordered and fitted.
Although there isn’t a whole lot of real estate inside the Chev, the interior was given no less attention than the rest of the car, receiving late-model 2004 Silverado electric bucket seats, a cool Budnik steering wheel on an adjustable ididit steering column and the necessary gauges from Auto Meter. A simple stereo system from Sony was also installed should the 502 somehow not provide enough entertainment.
Hauling¦ Arse
Since getting the truck completed, VINned, registered, warranted and certified, Carl has only managed 480km in his C10, but those 480km have been some of the best he has driven. “It’s just a lot of fun to drive, and this era of C10 has always appealed to me, so it has been a good experience,” he says. “You tend to see a few earlier Apache trucks around and later ’70s trucks, but very few mid-’60s examples.”
Considering it is simply too nice for a work vehicle, Carl has reluctantly put the Chev up for sale. “I love the truck, but I just don’t use it enough to justify owning it, plus with our other project cars on the go, we really need the workshop space.”
Other projects? We guess some jobs have more perks than others.

1966 Chevrolet C10 SWB pick-up – Specifications

Engine: 502ci (8.2-litre) big block GM Performance Parts crate motor, GM Performance pistons, GM Performance rods, GM Performance crank, GM Performance heads, GM Performance comp cam, GM Performance valve springs, GM Performance roller rockers, Holley 950cfm double pumper race carb, GM Performance intake manifold, Aeromotive fuel pump, Holley fuel regulator, MSD 6AL ignition, MSD Pro Billet distributor, MSD coil, MSD leads, Hooker Super Comp headers, Magnaflow three-inch mufflers, Be Cool radiator, de-loomed engine bay
Driveline: Hughes Performance TH-400 R4 transmission, Hughes Performance 2500 stall converter, remote trans cooler, limited slip differential
Brakes: GM front discs, GM rear drums
Suspension: Standard front coil setup with KYB shocks and heavy-duty springs, lowered trailing arm rear suspension, heavy-duty rear coils, adjustable panhard arm

Wheels/ tyres:
20×10-inch Budnik Teardrop X rims, 285/50R20 Goodyear Eagle II tyres
Exterior: Rear roll pan, deleted rear bumper, PPG metallic blue paint
Interior: 2003 Chev Silverado electric bucket seats, Budnik steering wheel, Auto Meter gauges, ididit steering column/shifter
ICE: Kenwood MP3 player, Sony speakers

1957 Chevrolet 150 - Ready to Roll - 59

People build and own V8s for various reasons. Some like the challenge of an intense, full-time build. Some like to tinker away in the garage on a 10-year-long project in an effort to hide from the missus. Others, like Southlander John Abbott, don’t mind skipping that part out altogether. As the owner of Charlton Auto Imports, John has been importing cars and car parts from the States for quite a while now. His main trade involves on-selling those goods to waiting New Zealanders, but occasionally he stumbles across something special, something that tickles his fancy just enough that he has to keep it for himself. This 1957 Chevrolet 150 coupe, in brilliant yellow, is one of those. Classic, American Graffiti rod looks, a five-speed manual and a whole lot of supercharged small block Chevy power at a fair price — that was just too good to pass up.
Running a 427 cubic-inch Chev Motown block sitting inside a smoothed and de-loomed engine bay, the big Chevy coupe snarls up an angry 650hp at the crank, which is more than enough to get the old girl moving. Internally, the motor runs a Scatt crank, pumping tough H-beam rods and forged pistons. Up above, Edelbrock has supplied a pair of high-flowing Victor JNR heads and thirsty twin carbs, which have a healthy dose of air sucked through them thanks to a whining 6/71 supercharger. A big Holley pump matches the large amounts of force-fed air with the right amount of fuel before an MSD 6 ignition system ignites the mix. Finally, a set of free-flowing Doug headers feed waste gases out into a simple exhaust system travelling out to the rear of the car.
Blower ’n’ Stick
It’s not too often you see a manual gearbox in an old rod these days, so it is a pleasant surprise to find a super-tough late model Tremec TKO600 five-speed backing up the blown Chev motor. It has to deal with a hefty power figure, but the Tremec box is well-known for its strength and should see John right for a few years yet, especially when combined with a meaty Centreforce clutch and a big Ford nine-inch diff.
The limited slip diff spins a set of 15×10-inch Centreline rims bolted to custom-made narrowed axles. The lightweight wheels are shod in big Mickey Thompson 26x8x15 street rubber, which although not full race slicks, provide a good compromise between traction and wear. Up front, much narrower 15×6-inch Centrelines hide a set of big Camaro discs and callipers, while the rear drums have been upsized to 11-inch items.
Keeping the old coupe both low to the ground and squat off the line is a reasonably simple suspension system, consisting of tubular A-arms sprung with lowered coils, while the rear springs have been relocated in-board to allow for the big treads. Bilstein shocks on all four corners dampen the car.
Classic Style, Modern Twist
When it came to the Chev’s exterior, the original builder was clearly after the clean and simple pro-street aura. A bright yellow hue coats the shaved and smoothed body, which has been freed of obtrusive extras like door handles and side mouldings.
The same theme carries through to the interior, which has been simply and tastefully reconditioned and re-trimmed, but also enhanced with the replacement of the standard dash by a digital unit — a little bit of late-model technology to liven up a half-century-old machine.
Put aside the fact that this 50-year-old piece of tin is a pleasure to look at, it’s also — as you could probably tell by viewing the specs box — a whole lot of fun to drive. Classic ’50s street class, simplicity and one hell of a thump under your right foot — it’s a Chev enthusiast’s whining, roaring wet dream. Sure, this rumbling monster of a machine wasn’t built here in New Zealand, but is that really a problem? There is nothing wrong with letting someone else do all the hard work, then taking it off their hands for a fraction of what it would cost to build yourself. That, folks, is what we call smart rodding…

1957 Chevrolet 150 – Specifications

Engine: 427ci (6997cc) small block Chev Motown block, Scatt crank, H-Beam rods, forged pistons, ported and polished Edelbrock Victor JNR heads, 6/71 supercharger, twin Edelbrock carbs, Holley fuel pump, MSD 6 ignition system, Doug headers, custom alloy radiator, electric cooling fan, twin custom catch cans, custom firewall
Driveline: Tremec TKO600 five-speed manual gearbox, Centreforce clutch, Ford nine-inch LSD diff, 3.25:1 gears, narrowed custom axles
Brakes: Camaro front discs and rotors, 11-inch rear drums
Suspension: Bilstein shocks, lowered coils, tubular A-arms, relocated rear springs
Wheels/tyres: 15×10-inch Centreline rear rims, 15×6-inch Centreline front rims, Mickey Thompson 26x8x15 rear tyres, BFG 275x60R15 front tyres
Exterior: Shaved door handles, shaved side chrome, custom yellow paint
Interior: Custom retrim, digital dash, Lacara steering wheel
Performance: 650hp (485kW) at the crank