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There is a certain level of restoration involved, even when building a super-bad street brawler like this 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air named Lucky by its owner. This Tri-Five is being constructed at Muscle Car Restorations in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and while restoring many of the parts that make this ’57 Chevy such an endeared member of the Tri-Five family, MCR is also making sure to infuse a broad helping of “musclecar” into the recipe.
The car started out as a fairly clean cruiser. From that point, it was completely disassembled and painstakingly de-rusted.
Known for their top-tier restorations on some of the most highly-sought examples of the golden era of musclecars, MCR is also quite capable of stepping away from build sheets and restoration manuals, and infuse custom touches per the customer’s tastes. After all, it’s what the customer wants, whether it comes from a manual or their imagination.
When Eric Moses found this car, it had been sitting in a Connecticut garage for the better part of 39 years. The story goes that a G.I. named Victor purchased the car shortly before being deployed to Vietnam. When he returned, the ’57 was a prized possession that Victor cherished. But, in 2013, Victor passed away, and that’s when Eric saw a for sale ad for the car. Being a fellow serviceman, he knew immediately that this car should be a fitting tribute to his grandfather, who infused his love for cars at an impressionable young age, and for Victor, who held on to the car for so long.
Going this deep into a rebuild means disassembling the vehicle to the very components that make it an automobile. This is your typical “nut-and-bolt” rebuild, but since these autos have been around the block a few times, if you’re going to do it right, you need to go a little further.
Besides custom modifications such as mini-tubbing the rear wheel wells, and smoothing and moving the firewall, there were plenty of rusty regions of the car that needed attention. Many times, the rust begins in areas that aren’t noticeable, and remain that way until after the paint work has been completed. Then it pops up to spoil all the hard work. MCR is determined to not let that happen, and went aggressively seeking out and eradicating any rust so it can’t come back.
Four-bar suspension and tubular control arms keep the wheels stable, while rack-and-pinion steering handles the cornering.
The chassis work began by fitting the Art Morrison four-link rear suspension to the factory frame. On the trailing end of each of those rods is a Strange Engineering 9-inch rearend. Up front, RideTech‘s StrongArm control arms keep the wheels pointed wherever the Flaming River rack-and-pinion steering dictates.
This big-block brawler is soon to head back to its owner, who will finish the build. Even at this point, the car looks awesome and has that oh-so-cool stance.
The engine is a 427 cubic-inch big-block with four-bolt mains. In its current configuration, it delivers a mild 505 horsepower, and almost 500 lb-ft of torque at 6,000 rpm. That torque, coupled with the “row-your-own” Tremec T56 Magnum transmission and extra-wide rolling stock, will surely make for an invigorating ride.
Eric's '57 when he received it from Victor's family, and how the '57 looks when he'll receive it from MCR.
That was the intent when Eric led the team at MCR away from the restoration side of things, and opted for more modifications than a numbers-matching manual can allow. The folks at MCR describe Eric as “very involved with the build, and a big car guy.” Eric explains, ” I never intended for so much of the work to be done by someone else, and at times, I am remorseful that I had to let someone else do some of the work, when I have that skill-set. But the truth is, Lucky is better for it.” Eric will soon get his chance to get his hands dirty when he preps the body and does the paint work himself. Currently signed on with the Air Force, he’s accustomed to feeling thrust of epic proportions, and when he heads out in his ground-pounder, he won’t feel like he’s giving anything up, except maybe altitude.
