Mario Orsini And His Alky-Injected, '57 Chevy

Of all the different forms that the motorsport world has ever known, no venue has ever put a car's true performance to the test like the quarter-mile dragstrip; a lot of us drift around a circle at a high speed, but reaction time is everything when it comes to putting your "motor where your mouth is," and no one knows this better than Chicago-local drag racer, Mario Orsini.

Orsini is an active member of one of the Midwest's premiere, match and circuit drag racing clubs, the "Chicago Wise Guys;" since being founded by president Pete Demos in 1995, the Chicago Wise Guys have expanded as a drag racing organization, growing mostly through fan membership and participation at the track. Orsini, a "Chicago Wise Guy," is the owner of this twin-turbocharged and alky-injected, 7/8-scale '57 Chevy.

The 7/8-scale shoebox racer sits on top of a Rodger Elliot chassis, and is powered by a 481-cube, Alan Johnson engine with twin, Precision 88mm turbos. The twin-turbo alky V8 chases a Lenco trans, and the entire assembly utilizes Crower's 3-disc clutch system.

This pro-built setup is exactly that, and Orsini's outrageous setup is good enough to win this "Wise Guy" an E/T of 6.71 at 215mph, an incredible track run by the standards of any professional drag racing organization. Orsini's sponsors consist of The Race Shop, Powermaster, A-Team Speed Shop and TMD Construction of Lombard, Illinois, along with The Paint Spot of Addison. He also accredits crew member, Mike Vivona with the overall success of the '57 drag car, and Orsini names Mike Miller of The Race Shop and Rob Adler as being among his greatest helping hands as well.


In this video, Orsini's full-custom '57 shoebox is seen idling and revving at Byron Dragway in Byron, Illinois. The radical sounds of Orsini's 481-cube, alky-injected turbo mill are evidence of just how fast of a drag car Orsini's over-the-top shoebox really is!

Read more about Orsini's '57 on Chevy Hardcore!!!

Barrett-Jackson brings us this beautiful example of an up-and-coming rodding trend, a pro-tour, '57 Chevy Bel Air with a polished motor and complete, Corvette drivetrain.

This super-clean, Bel Air custom has over $218k invested in parts, excluding the costs of the car itself. The project itself took three years to finish, but with an old shoebox Chevy that's this close to pro-touring perfection, not a single man hour building the rod was wasted.

Under the cherry-red hood of this '57 shoebox sits an all-polished, LS6 motor connected to a complete, C5 'Vette drivetrain. The chassis is a custom tubed frame, and it goes without saying that the Bel Air has undergone a complete transformation. The car's custom interior is all-leather, and Billet Specialties custom wheels adorn the lead sled.

The custom, '57 Chevy is currently up for bid on lot 689.1 of the Barrett-Jackson auto auction, for a price of $106,700. Substantial amounts of both time and money have been invested into the full-custom '57, but thankfully the car does come complete with photo documentation of the ground-up build, parts receipts that total-out to $218k and a build book. For all of the work and hard-earned dollars that have been invested into the Bel Air, the car is a turn-key ride that has been built to professional, showroom quality, and Barrett-Jackson is proud to offer the sled at a price that’s more than reasonable with all things considered.


* Read more about this car at Chevy Hardcore!

Bel Airs Go Pro-Tour, And This Trick '57 Is At The Apex!!!

Imagine building the ultimate Chevy shoebox. If you were to build a '50s Chevy, and if that Chevy was built to be the end of all other show-quality, street/performance Tri-Fives, what kind of a car would that be? An even better question is what kind of a "show-and-go" rod would become of the most premium-optioned, Chevy shoebox that one could've possibly ordered back in the '50s when they were still new?

Rob and Lesia Carter may hold the answer with their pro-touring, '57 Bel Air convertible. Paint was provided by Kool Kolors, while Woody Meyers was responsible for the Bel Air's bodywork. Metalwork and other assembly was done by ASR Restorations, while Steve Holcomb of Pro Auto took-over the all-red, trick interior of the convertible lead sled.

The Carters built their custom '57 convertible with the intention of building a pro-tour car that maintains classic, 1950s styling while using the best of what the Carters themselves describe as "2009 technology." With this the hot-rodding couple has definitely succeeded, as a custom chassis from Fat Man gives the Bel Air convertible just low enough of a stance, while still delivering the ride and handling characteristics of a late-model 'Vette.

The Fat Man chassis is set-up for an LS2 motor, and the LS mill that's under the hood of this '57 is chasing an automatic with a 9-inch, Moser rear and 3.70 posi differential. Wilwood provides the large disc brakes that stop the shoebox from the front and rear.

A balance between old-school class and new-school performance, Rob and Lesia Carter's '57 convertible brings "glass-quality," street rod building into a whole new frontier.

A BDS-Blown, '57 Chevy Post Lopes To Life!!!

Shoeboxes are always cool, but when you take a post sedan and turn it into a pro-street, things usually get--for lack of a better word--"active" between the local stoplights and intersections, inviting a drag race nearly everywhere it goes, not limiting its "street fighter" attitude to Pomona.


Lenny, who owns this '57 Chevy, two-door post sedan, makes power via a BDS supercharged 427 big block. The pro-street sedan uses BDS' 8-57 unit, sitting on top of the 427 motor tucked under the shoeboxes' channeled body.


Channeled over the frame, the '57 uses a Fat Man custom front suspension, along with a four-link rear and 9-inch third member. The wheels are from Boyd Coddington, though '57 Chev owner Lenny is responsible for all of the car's paint, bodywork and custom fabrication.


This video of Lenny's bitchin' '57 was recorded on May 30th of this year, but Lenny's car is still a recently-finished project.

A manufacturer of 671 and 871 superchargers out of Whittier, California, BDS manufactures these forced induction units specifically for GM's LS engine. What makes BDS' custom intake system significant above all others is that the intake manifold itself can run with either a carburetor or EFI, largely because of the carburetor adaptor that's included with the intake manifold's other necessary hardware. The system also includes a runner-style intake, O-ring and backfire valve. The entire assembly is engineered to work with both factory and aftermarket LS heads, and the blower kits are compatible with both the square and cathedral-type castings on the LS motor.


* Read more about this car at Chevy Hardcore!

Doug Hoppe and Roger Burman build an award-winning, '55 convertible...

     Usually, when someone tries to make a radical custom out of a Tri-Five classic, the result is an original car that might have lost a lot of its integrity during the process of tweaking the original bodylines. When this happens, it's a sad day for every motor enthusiast.

     Not in the case of Doug Hoppe and Roger Burman's radical '55 convertible, however. In this instance, the final result of their collaboration was a clean, ground-up custom that also incorporates the driveability that most rodders are looking for in a contemporary showpiece. Driveable because of its custom front-end with independent suspension, complimented by rack-and-pinion steering. Maintaining integrity because the Frenched headlights, custom LED taillights and other styling cues are done in a way that  pays tribute to that era of bodystyling, while still accomplishing that polished, car-show finish. No wonder that Hoppe and Burman's clean '55 won the title of 2004 Goodguys' custom rod of the year.

     The clean custom is backed by a 502 motor with a 4L60E trans, so performance is definitely not an issue with this show-horse. Hoppe and Burman's '55 custom tears-up the tarmac while stealing the spotlight, true to the street rod craft.

- Sal Alaimo Jr., B. A. (7/28/11)

S. J. A.

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.

Skeeter's Performance Fabrication's NOS-injected '57...

The lost art of keeping tradition...

Skeeter’s Performance Fabrication builds a nitrous-fed shoebox that’s actually a time machine

      Within the hot rod market, we usually run across an awesome, Tri-Five Chevy that captures the “Americana” corner of our hearts, the part that craves everything nostalgia. Here in our great country where 55-57 era shoeboxes always have a huge part in the landscape, there are a great many builders who either do custom conversions that leave us in awe, or else clean restorations that resurrect the showroom quality that was intended back when the car(s) was new. Every once in a while, however, an automotive writer like myself comes across that “bad boy” hot rod with slicks and centerlines that brings out the “bad boy” in them.

For me, this is what the pro-streeted, ’57 Chevy post built by Skeeter’s Performance Fabrication does; it brings out that little “greaser” who is buried deep inside of my psyche. It makes me want to run  back to the days of Van Nuys bench racing and “Super Shops.” Where Skeeter’s has been successful is in the maintaining of old-school, hot rod tech. For example, Skeeter’s ’57 does not use anything that is high-tech or over-the-top to make brute power. Where a lot of modern hot rodding has shifted in the direction of LS heads and EFI, Skeeter stays true to the backyard ethic of engine-building with a 468-cube big block (454 punched .030 over). The motor is built stout with a nice set of Brodix BB2 Plus heads and 4-bolt mains. The bottom-end consists of a forged, 4.00” stroke crank with an ATI balancer, and the pistons and con rods are aluminum pieces from Childs & Albert.

The valvetrain of this over-bored big block is tapped by a Comp Cams, .735” lift, 313/330 duration roller cam and lifters. The push rods are also from Comp, and the rocker arms are Crower, stainless roller rockers. Topping off the whole platform is a Holley 1150 CFM Dominator Series carb with a Brodix, HV2001 intake. 

As if Skeeter’s Performance hasn’t done enough to bring back the lost art of rat-rodding, their bad-boy ’57 gains most of its competitive edge from NOS’ 4500 Plate with Pro Fogger solenoids and a 15-lb. bottle. This unbeatable combination of Brodix heads and intake, Comp cam and NOS make for a screamin’ street car that runs an easy 9.83 ET at 130 mph on 110-octane fuel with nitrous; without the NOS, the car runs 10.51 @ 127.

Transferring all of this power is a Turbo 400 trans built by U. S. Speed Research. At the rear is a set of 4:56 gears from Richmond, backed-up by a Dana 60 rear-end. Launching the 3600-pound sleeper into the next dimension is a 5500-RPM stall from Neil Chance.

There’s always a certain sense of sentimental value when it comes to the Tri-Five Chevys; almost everyone who thinks “American” thinks “Chevy Bel Air.” But there is also a certain sentiment that comes with old-school built drag cars, because how often in our Web-based world do you see even the most prolific hot rod builders build super-fast sleepers with tunnel ram scoops and Centerlines? In the case of Skeeter’s Performance’s nitrous-shot, roller motor-powered ’57 sedan, these once common elements of hot rod mania have been brought back from the dead in a way that only a certain kind of “Shadetree Mechanic” can successfully do.

With some cars, it’s the little things or features that count the most; the subtlety of the ’57 Chev’s Centerline wheels and Saturday afternoon drag race hood are what make--ironically enough--the car remarkable. But what’s most remarkable about Skeeter’s ’57 are the thoughts and memories that it evokes. For myself, the car evokes a feeling of, “Hey, I’m the ‘Fonz’ and this is ‘Fonzie’s’ car, so don’t be messin’ with it!” Growing up in the San Fernando Valley around a lot of much-older people who told these kinds of stories from Van Nuys Blvd and the “Old Road,” that was exactly the feeling you got, that there was a certain license of “machismo” that came with owning such a car as a ’57 with a roller-cammed big block on NOS. These cars represented, for me at least, a certain edge or stigma that a lot of guys were able to achieve, while a lot of other guys like myself were not. One thing that could be said about a lot of the suburbs’ toughest is that they either drove a fast car or rode a motorcycle; for many of these, they drove ’57 Chevys with roller-cammed, nitrous-injected big blocks.

- Sal Alaimo Jr., B. A. (7/5/11)

S. J. A.