Scott's Hotrods 'N Customs and Classic Car Marketing's SWEET '55...

One of these things is kinda like the other...

Scott’s Hotrods’ custom ’55 deviates big time from Skeeter’s ’57 drag car

In my last article on Tri-Five Chevys, I had chosen the pro-street ’57 built by Skeeter’s Performance Fabrication because of its coherence to tradition. In today’s installment of my on-going series covering the 55-57 era Chevys, we’ll take a look at a more modern custom, a ’55 210 sedan from Classic Car Marketing and Scott’s Hotrods ‘N Customs, because it stands in brilliant contrast to yesterday’s feature.

The difference is in technique; Skeeter Performance’s nitrous-fed, ’57 Chev used a lot of old-school styling and engine-building cues, where Classic Car Marketing’s Viper-red, ’55 sedan uses the most candy-coated paint and up-to-date interior possible to enhance an already-brilliant design.

First, notice the difference in the interior. A lot of what you see inside this Tri-Five are not implements that you would find in a lot of cars from this era, even if they are custom; the gauges are white-faced, the dash is solid-painted and the leather seats are camel-colored. Again, the paint is a shade of red off of a Dodge Viper; most early-model Chevs that you see customized use the PPG variant that is usually sprayed on ‘Vettes. And what we see from under the hood is where the “culture clash” begins; the chromed, mechanical fuel injectors against the Viper paint make the car look a little like it doesn’t know what decade it’s in.

But one thing that can definitely be said about this radical ’55 210 is that between it and Skeeter Performance’s ’57 post, neither of them are lacking in the best drivetrain/powertrain components available. In fact, Classic Car Marketing boasts of the car’s 750-horse, 555-cube Lambert Racing big block. Aside from a monstrously-huge V8, Classic Car and Scott’s ’55 rides on a hand-crafted frame with air-ride suspension from Scott’s. The car as a whole is a creation of Scott’s, a rod shop based out of Oxnard, though the Viper paint was done by Palmer Custom Paint with the interior being finished by upholsterer-extraordinaire, Ron Mangus.

The clash between old and new tech is complicated, though a lot of times, a successful car-builder will know how to make the contradiction work. In the case of this beautiful ’55, the gap has most definitely been sealed.

- Sal Alaimo Jr., B. A. (7/6/11)

S. J. A.