1955 Chevy Bel Air

This is Jimmie Smith’s 1955 Chevy Bel Air that was build by Mike Cochran at Kreative Images in Wilsonville, Oregon. The inspiration to build this car came from Jimmie’s Father who had been attending shows with Jimmie but they never had a cool ride to arrive in. His father was 81 at the time it was built and said to him “Hey, I’m running out of time. If we’re going to have a special car, you need to get with it!”.

The build took 3 years to complete the car was painstaking taken apart and put together again with immense attention to detail. The majority of the modifications are very subtle but there are a lot of them. The underside of the car including the frame and floor were finished to the same high-quality as the actual body itself with the frame being de-burred, sanded, filled and finally finished in a high-gloss PPG paint.

1955 Chevy Bel Air

1955 Chevy Bel Air

Under the bonnet the firewall was also given the same treatment and was also smoothed and reshaped to give the necessary clearance for the 405bhp Corvette engine that was supplied by Street and Performance which has been fitted with dress-up components and a Lingenfelter fuel injection system. This was then fitted to a 4L60E transmission that delivered the power to a 9" rear end.

1955 Chevy Bel Air

1955 Chevy Bel Air

Inside the car is a set of bespoke classic instrument gauges and a center console that is used to hold the various additions such as the stereo and air conditioning controls. The seats have been replaced with Lincoln electric seats covered in Leather and Ultrasuede to complement the theme that runs throughout the interior.