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THE AUTO BUILDER
Featured
JET-AWESOME
We’ve seen lots of cool, stout VWs over the years, but only a few awesome Jettas have made us do a double- and triple-take, which is just what happened when we first caught a glimpse of Todd Sollar’s awesome wide-body Jetta. Our mindset went from “damn” to “wow” about that quickly.
AT ONE WITH THE PAVEMENT
If you’re like many of us, vacillating between the car you’ve always dreamed of owning and what you really can afford, be sure you know what you need before you shell out more money than sense. Check around, ask your friends, read magazines on the subject, surf the Internet, get connected, and you’re likely to find your dream car, even if it is not everything you think it is.
Beyond the Lift: Navigating New Heights with Upgraded Steering
Steering is one of the two most important systems on any vehicle, along with the brakes. Unfortunately, steering is often neglected for modifications that yield more visual impact, such as suspension lifts and larger tires. These are the exact modifications, however, that make attention to steering so important. Suspension lifts can alter steering geometry while big, heavy tires may cause increased wear to steering components, particularly if the tires are out of balance.
After a springover conversion was performed on the Dana 44 front axle in our ’67 Toyota Land Cruiser, the new spring location interfered with the steering geometry. The draglink was then bent as a temporary fix, but this sacrificed strength and resulted in poor steering angles.
Spotlighter
Destined Bel Air
A Classic ’57 Chevrolet From Hawaii, but Not Originally
Author
Bob McClurg
Story & Photography
This has to be one of the nicest looking ’57 Chevrolet Bel Airs I’ve ever seen in the state of Hawaii,” I kept saying to myself as I was photographing Keith Maeda’s black cherry ’57 tri-5 Chevrolet. I mean, this thing has all the bells and whistles.
It has a full house, Gerald Fernandez-massaged 350 small block. The 9:1 compression, Crane Cams-equipped short block sports 202 Bow Tie cylinder heads capped off with a pair of ProForm Industries Chevrolet-script cast aluminum valve covers, not to mention an Edelbrock Performer RPM Air Gap intake and 14-inch K&N XStream-filtered 770cfm Holley. It’s is also fired by an MSD 6AL ignition with MSD Blaster coil, NGK spark plugs and Accel spark plug wires. Finally, a pair of thermal-coated Sanderson block-hugger headers and Flowmaster muffler-equipped 2-1/4-inch exhaust complete the engine tune. A Griffin four-core aluminum radiator cools the package, and a polished 100-ampTuff Stuff alternator is responsible for the electrical power side of things.
Some of the equipment you don’t see on this awesome ’57 includes an Island Transmissions-prepared GM TH350. Suspension consists of a pair of McGaughy’s Classic Chevy Parts 2-inch dropped rear leaf springs, McGaughy’s 2-inch dropped front spindles, a set of William’s Classics tubular front control arms and a McGaughy’s 605 GM power steering box. This Garden Isle-based tri-5 also features Wilwood Engineering four-piston disc brakes, a set of four KYB gas-charged shocks, a set of 17×7-inch (front) and 18×8-inch (rear) Boyd Coddington Magneto billet aluminum wheels, and P215/45ZR17 (front) and P225/45ZR18 (rear) BFGoodrich g-Force KDW high-performance radial rubber.
Since the previous owner had already painted the ’57 in two-stage PPG black with a violet pearl overlay, all that was required was a little buffing and detailing. On the inside, you’ll find a Classic Chevrolet International silver and black reproduction factory interior, along with a Flaming River/GM six-way tilt steering column, Grant steering wheel, McGaughy’s billet aluminum dash insert, Classic Instruments gauges and a Kenwood audio system. The trunk area has also been fully trimmed out, and there you will find the Alpine woofers and Pioneer Amps. Now here’s an interesting story.
“The car was purchased last year in Oregon from the previous owner with only 53,622 original miles on the odometer. It was then shipped to the island. The funny thing is that when I rolled the Bel Air out of the container, it already had a hula doll affixed to the dash although the previous owner had never visited Hawaii before. Maybe the car was just destined to end up here,” Maeda says. Well, it sure seems that way to us!
