Classic Wheels Spotlight: 1957 Chevy Bel Air

Bruce Quintos said it was 1957 when he was hanging out with friends on the corner of 65th and Komensky Street in the West Lawn neighborhood of Chicago, and he got his first look at the world’s best-looking car. While he was only 8 years old, Bruce fell in love that day with the ’57 Chevy.

As he grew up, Bruce owned many cars, from a 1967 Buick GS 400 to a 1969 Nova and several Corvettes from the eighties and nineties. But, more than six decades later, the memory still resonates with him of that first ’57 Chevy: It was Tropical Turquoise with an India White top. Although he was just a kid at the time—he knew there would be one in his future.

After Bruce retired, he started to look for his ’57 Chevy. There were many out there, but some needed costly repairs. Then, one day, one of his friends who owns a body shop, Metal Masters, told him of a client who was in the process of rebuilding a ’57 Chevy sedan that had changed hands many times during the rebuild. Bruce talked with the owner, and they came to a fair price. That was in 2013, and it took about two years to complete the frame-up restoration process.

The body is 100 percent steel on Bruce’s ’57. The floor pans have been replaced, with many parts coming from other cars. Once the body was stripped down to the bare metal, and the needed metal work was finished, the body was taken off the frame, and the frame was refurbished.

New fuel and brake lines were installed, along with Wilwood 4-wheel disc brakes. The front and rear suspension is all new, with billet adjustable shocks for better handling and ride comfort, along with power steering. A vintage A/C unit was installed to keep Bruce and his wife, Dawn, cool on those warm summer nights. He even found factory-style A/C dash vents for that authentic ‘factory’ look.

The engine has been replaced with a 383 ‘Stroker’ motor with a forged crankshaft, Edelbrock aluminum heads, and a custom-ground hydraulic roller cam with roller lifters. Sitting up top is an Edelbrock manifold, a 4-barrel carburetor, and an MSD ignition system.

To drive all of the accessories on the engine, Bruce went with a Billet Specialties Tru Trac serpentine belt drive system. The transmission is a Syracuse M-23 severe-duty rock crusher 4-speed. A heavy-duty driveshaft ties to a custom Moser 12 bolt differential unit, with a 3.42 gear ratio, a Moser differential girdle cover, and 32 splined H.D. axles. And to allow it to breathe, there are powder-coated headers, turbo mufflers, and 2.5 pipes.

Keeping that 1960’s vintage look, the Chevy sits on Cragar mag wheels and Cooper Cobra radial tires. Bruce built his car the way he figured that he would have done it in the 1960’s. The interior was completely re-done when he got the car. He installed the carpets, door panels, and got new door panel blanks, sealing them to guard against deterioration. Sergio, from Tony and Sergio’s Upholstery in Hickory Hills, Ill., finished the door panels and a few other interior trim pieces.

Some of the little details Bruce handled was installing front power windows where the crank handles are the actual window controls. The glove box door and the ashtray have been chromed to brighten up the dashboard. Bruce wanted to keep the car as original as possible, so it looks like it just rolled out of the showroom – down to the color-matching floor mats.

If you have a car you would like to see featured in Classic Wheels, contact Rudy Host, Jr. at Classic.Wheels.Rudy@gmail.com.