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This 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air Convertible was designed and built by Hulst Customs of Merlin, Oregon for Don and Karen Blacksmith of Grants Pass, OR. This car is a full custom in every sense of the word, way too features and modifications to list, but you’ll find most of it is visible in the pictures here.

“Heat” officially debuted at the 2009 SEMA show, was a Top 25 pick at SEMA by Hot Rod Magazine. From there, the car went on to the Good Guys show at Scottsdale, AZ and won the Top Ten pick.

Take a 2008 Harley Davidson Dyna Street Bob motorcycle, add vast amounts of ingenuity, imagination and innovation and blend with over 3,000 hours of labor and you might end up with this homage to the ever popular, instantly recognized 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air.  This red beauty was recently seen at the SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) Show held in Las Vegas, Nevada .

One of the things I see as most admirable and effective about the 1955-57 Chevy is the suspension design. It was the first of the strong, lightweight, open driveline, modern IFS (Independent Front Suspension) cars that GM would do so well with for many years after. This IFS was very well designed and in many ways a better design than later GM IFS.  I believe it to be superior by far to the 70's and 80's GM IFS, for example. For that reason, this suspension was more often upgraded as technology advanced rather than replaced. Racers and rodders both found that to make them shine on the roads and on the track only took a bit more tweaking instead of heavy modification (like sub-framing).

That front seat just won’t go back quite far enough, will it? We must be giants compared to the people back in the 50s... or perhaps we have all gotten a little bigger around the equator in our old age. Installing a tilt steering column can make things even tighter as they are slightly longer than the stock column. Or perhaps you have a floor shifter that hits the seat and you just don’t want to change shifters or modify the seat. A simple solution is to relocate the seat further back in the car. But, if you move the seat back on the floorboard, the rear legs of the seat tracks will drop off the seat platform and lean to the rear. Plus, new holes would need to be drilled in those nice stock floorboards. Classic Chevy has developed a simple bracket system that bolts to the floor using the stock mounting holes. The seat will be relocated toward the rear of the car 4”. Best of all, no new holes will need to be drilled in the floor.

I first fell in love with the Tri-5s in 1955, when I was five years old. My dad, Jay Kirk, was employed as a salesman at Mantes Chevrolet in Tooele, Utah. A friend of his, Bud Pendleton, used to drive over to our home in a Coral and Gray '55 Chevy two-door Bel Air. I would just stare at the car, thinking how it was the coolest car in the world.

I bought this ’57, 210 2-door sedan about 15 years ago for $500.  Originally a 283 power pack 3-speed car, it had been converted into a race car.  While loading the car on the trailer, I noticed it was equipped with a Dana 60 4.11 posi rear, sweetening the deal.  I remember “Hot Rod Magazine” around 1974 built a similar ’57  210 2-door sedan drag car that used a Dana 60.  I stored (more like buried) the car in my storage building, while I finished other ’57 projects, until about 2 years ago when I started the restomodification.

Customer quote: “Nearly all of the weatherstripping, wiring and many other parts came from Eckler’s Classic Chevy and other suppliers”

RAKISH was a six-year project. I purchased this ’55 210 when I was 55 years of age. I had wanted a 1955 Chevy since the age of ten, when I first saw my dream car. A neighbor came home from the service with a black beauty. I loved it! When I made the decision to do a frame-off restoration on this car, I had no idea what I was in for. My goal was to complete the car in about two years. Boy was I off target! Being new to the hobby, I had no idea how long it took to get body work done, painting, interior, upholstery, etc.

My sister said, "Brother, you're not going to buy that piece of junk, are you?"

My love for Chevys started back in high school when in 1984 I purchased my first Chevy, a 1955 two-door sedan. Although I loved all Tri-5 Chevys back then, my real love was for the ’56s. I liked the changes in the grille, taillights, and rear wheel styling. My budget just would not allow me to own one!

Customer quote: “I spent 3-1/2 months on the Internet, 8 hours a day, 6 days a week, locating and purchasing parts for this car…”

The ’57 Nomad is arguably the most beautiful and most collectible Nomad of all. Sure, production during the “Tri-5” years was quite limited to begin with - 8,530 units in 1955 and 8,103 in ’56 - but for 1957, production dropped to just 6,534 units. Add this low build number to the fact that the ’57 Chevy Bel Air (on which the Nomad was based) stands as perhaps the world’s most iconic vehicle, ever, and you have an instant automotive masterpiece.