Mario Sammut's 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Hardtop: Purest American Pie
Mario Sammut has owned his 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air four-door hardtop for a quarter of a century, the first 10 years of which he spent performing a complete ground-up restoration. He did the lion’s share of this work himself in his own garage, which is very impressive, especially considering he was only a panel beater by trade from the age of 16 to 20. Even though the car was finished 15 years ago, it wins prizes today and, says Mario, is still in the same condition now.
(Image: Knackers Photography)
Like so many of us, Mario fell in love with the 1955-57 Chevies when he was very young. His favourite from these three classic years is the ’57 because it just has that extra bling. He actually owned one before he turned 18 but sold the car before managing to get it on the road.
It is fair to suggest that the 1957 Chevrolets, especially the glamorous pillarless hardtop variants, have more than a touch of Cadillac about them. Indeed, it’s difficult to realise that before you climbed all the way to Cadillac in the General Motors marque hierarchy, you had to ascend past Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick!
Way back in the early 1920s, General Motors supremo, Alfred P. Sloan, Jr, conjured his product policy of ‘a car for every purse and purpose’. The dearest Chevrolet variant cost just a little more than the least expensive Pontiac and so on all the way up to the priciest of Cadillacs. (For example, the dearest 1955 Chevy was the Bel Air Nomad at US$2571, while the entry level Pontiac was the Chieftain two-door sedan at $2463.) Competition between divisions was encouraged, which explains, for example, the phenomenal 1959 ‘Wide-Track’ Pontiacs – with a wider stance than even that year’s Cadillacs – and the gorgeous, unique 1963 Buick Riviera.
(Image: Knackers Photography)
It speaks volumes about US postwar prosperity that the entry-level marque in the GM range could produce a machine as beautiful as the 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air four-door hardtop sedan! While the 1955 and 1956 models were somewhat restrained, the flagship 1957 Bel Airs was dressed to the nines and ready to party. Silver anodised aluminium beauty panels were sandwiched between chrome side spears and three gold chevrons adorned each front guard. Two-tone interiors were also offered, executed in the style you see here. Huge chrome wheels aside, Mario’s Bel Air is extremely faithful to the original.
Jack Kerouac’s classic novel On the Road was published in 1957, which all in all was a pretty grand year in the United States of America.
If you were to ask most American car aficionados to name their favourite Chevrolet, I reckon the 1957 straight-from-heaven model would get the most votes! Almost certainly if you were to ask for the best three-year period, 1955-1957 would be the choice. The fact that Chevrolet launched its new small-block high-compression V8 for the 1955 season is a key factor in these three models’ enduring fame. For 1955, this celebrated unit displaced 265 cubic inches but the 1957 cars got the more powerful 283 – another claim to glory.
(Image: Knackers Photography)
Talk about Chevy breathing, this 1957 is an absolute stunner in every respect!
It was delivered new in the US. What Mario acquired was little more than a bare shell. He had to start from scratch. New this car would have had the 283 cubic-inch V8 running through the old two-speed Powerglide automatic. Now it packs a full-house 350 backed by a Turbo-Hydro 700. There is a 31-spline Ford nine-inch differential with billet axles.
(Image: Knackers Photography)
The engine boasts a forged steel crankshaft and pistons. Add alloy heads, a 750 double-pumper Mighty Demon carburettor and a twin three-inch HPC-coated exhaust system with Pacemaker extractors that Mario designed himself and you’re looking at 450 horsepower.
The front end is grafted with an HZ Holden chassis and has Pedder dampers. There are disc brakes all round with VT Commodore front calipers, booster and master cylinder and VL rear calipers. Wheels are 20 X 8.5 on the rear and 20 X 8s up front.
As far as the gorgeous bright red paintjob in two-pack acrylic is concerned, Mario prefers just to call it a ‘special mix’. But I reckon when Bobby Goldsboro sings ‘I told Billy Ray/ in his red Chevrolet/ I needed time for some thinking’ this could be precisely the car he pictures: I know I will from now on.
(Image: Knackers Photography)
The interior is very much the way the car emerged from Detroit but much work was required to make it so! Sunshine Motor Trimming re-upholstered the Chevy and it has a period-correct vibe. But rather than using loop-pile carpet, Mario opted for a much classier ‘Daytona’ style.
The dash was converted from left-hand drive to right, which task required cutting it into 20 pieces. Auxiliary gauges abound under the dashboard while a large tachometer is mounted on the steering column.
You don’t find many 15-year-old restos still winning trophies but Mario’s ’57 collects silverware regularly. In total, there have been about 25 awards. The trophy Mario most cherishes is for Best Custom Classic at the 2016 Victorian Hot Rod Show.
Having already owned this superb machine for 25 years and having had the presumably enormous satisfaction of doing most of the restoration work himself, it seems incredibly unlikely that he would ever be tempted to part company with it.
