MARCO ANTONUCCI
’56 CHEVY BEL AIR
’VE always owned Aussie cars, but this time I wanted something American, and that’s when the ’56 Chev caught my eye. I spent countless days and nights in my garage separating the body from the chassis, stripping the paint and preparing the metal for the next stage. Jerry, a coachbuilder, agreed to do the whole body resto. Not being a fan of LHD steering, I moved the gear lever to the left side of the column and made all the other components to RHD specs. I set up the drivetrain and fabricated the engine mounts, gearbox crossmember and rear end to suit. Once the car was dummied up andin stainless steel headers; they’re ceramic coated inside and out and run to a 3in stainless system. The transmission is a TH350 with a TCI 4500rpm converter built by TJ Autos. Pat at Extreme 9 Diffs built the 9in diff with a Detroit locker, nodular iron case, large Daytona pinion carrier and 3.7 gears with Moser 31-spline axles. Brakes on all wheels are UPC discs. The wheels are genuine Auto Drags in 15x8.5 with Mickey Thompson 28x10s on the back; fronts are 15x5.5s with 175/80 rubber. It makes 675hp at 7100rpm, and 608lb-ft at 5200rpm. I spent countless hours fabricating and engineering the build myself to finally get my American ’56 Chev cruising the streets of Australia, blasting out the ugly duckling era! Many thanks to Exotic Kustoms, Pro Race, Jerry and Kool Trim.” Photos: Noah Thorley
