Pro-Touring.com's '55 Bel Air Project

[Larry Callahan]

Well, I have had the car since late 2015 so I guess it's time I started posting updates on it.

It's a 1955 Bel Air 4 door sedan with a 235 inline six, three on the tree and factory overdrive.

I found it listed on the internet near Chicago where member Bob Chiluk went and looked at it for me. Things looked good and I picked it up for $7,790 and had it shipped my way.

It arrived as a bone stock all original car with 100,061 miles on it. The story I'm told is that it was just pulled from a dry barn where it had been under cover for about 29 years. The tires held air until about a week ago and it fired right up when it arrived after a squirt of oil on the starter solenoid and a rap with a hammer. With the exception of the bottom of the spare tire area in the truck all the rust is just surface rust.

Shortly after I picked it up I installed and HEI distributor because the original distributor had issues and the vacuum advance didn't work. Shortly after that I installed and rebuilt carb and all is well. I have been driving it on weekends and after I installed new brake shoes, 2 drums and wheel cylinders I am driving it to work.

Well, enough on this update. Here are some pictures of what I am starting with.

[minendrews68]

I'd take that car in a heartbeat! Great find Larry,

[Bugzilla]

And your plans for the car are???? Pro-touring....

[HotRod47]

Great find, very reasonably priced too. Bottom of the car looks great, just minor surface rust from what the pictures show.

[Larry Callahan]

It's time for another update. The first thing I wanted to do was ditch the original wheels and 30+ year old tires so, I ordered a set of 17" Rallye Wheels and Derby caps from Wheel Vintiques and a set of 225/55-17 BFGoodrich Silvertown Redline tires by Coker Tire.

They really made a huge difference in how the car looks, rides and brakes.

Next, we install a ridetech Street Grip system.

[wadem]

awesome,keep the updates coming.We need more tri fives around here

[Larry Callahan]

It's time for another update.

We picked up the new ridetech Street Grip system for the '55. Check out the unboxing of the parts. It really is a system in a box.

They make systems for a number of cars. Check them out at http://www.ridetech.com/store/streetgrip

[wyattroa]

really interested in the street grip...Considering it for my 6 chevelle.

[mildcustom2]

It has two many doors ;)

[Larry Callahan]

It's a totally different car!

I had the gang at JCG install my ridetech Street Grip system in our '55 Bel Air. It works really well and it rides and handles very nicely. It's something you could install with a friend over a weekend and I highly recommend it. If your goal is to greatly improve the ride and handling without breaking the bank and without turning it into a full on race car.

[Larry Callahan]

Thanks again to Ben Hermance for another awesome rendering. This is what I am thinking so far as the end goal. This is the second rendering I hired Ben to make for me and I highly recommend a rendering for any project. It helps keep you on track and is a great motivational tool.

[chevymike]

Cool. I was just cruising through your thread again to see if there was any updates. I might be looking at a 4 door '55 so you're build is inspiring me.

Do you have an side shots of the car after the suspension upgrade?

[Michaels 69]

That ridetech street grip really helped your 55 nice to see.

[Larry Callahan]

It's time for an update on the '55 Bel Air. It's my goal to modernize it and make it as much like a new car that GM is building today. Lots of modern conveniences while still keeping it a '55. One of the things that I am doing is installing a Racepak IQ3s in a Classic Dash insert and a Street Smartwire. The dash is a street version that is per-configured for a street driven vehicle as well and the Street version of the Smartwire. No fuses, no relays, no breakers and it's super easy to install. Check out the video for a little run down before I start installing it.

[BLWN1]

What happened to this one? For sale?

[Larry Callahan]

Got put on hold for a home move / remodel and garage build. It should start back up soon. There are some changes as well. The big one is that it will not longer be black.

[andrewb70]

Looking forward to the updates.

Andrew