All Chevy Performance

Living in Orange County, California, I’m exposed to a good amount of cultural diversity. On my street alone, you’ll find a couple of imports and a few domestics. Yep, there is quite an automotive mix in my neighborhood, and I’m proud to be part of it. Ronnie up the street has a very cool ’55 Chevy Bel Air restomod. It’s got a small-block, 15-inch American Torq Thrust wheels, and a nice-sounding exhaust. It’s not his daily driver, but between he and his wife, it gets driven quite a bit. I know because every time I hear a V-8-powered car go by my house, I instinctively jump up and look out the window to see what it is. It’s a habit I just can’t break and one I’m sure many of…

1. SKINNY BOP Forgeline announces the arrival of their new forged monoblock SC1 Skinny. Similar to their original one-piece forged monoblock SC1, the new “Skinny” version is precision-machined from a single forging of proprietary 6061-T6 aluminum alloy. Unlike the original street version, the “Skinny” has been reengineered for drag racing applications, which includes a narrower width and revised performance metrics to make it as lightweight as possible. It also retains the exceptional brake clearance of the original SC1. For more information, contact Forgeline by calling (800) 886-0093 or visit forgeline.com. 2. UNIQUE ACCESSORY STUDS ARP’s unique accessory studs with a rounded “nut starter” nose are available for an ever-increasing variety of applications, including specially designed studs for securing bell-housings, carburetors, distributors, headers, timing covers, valve covers, and more. They are…

@TavisHighlander TavisHighlander.com Vehicle Builder: MetalWorks • Eugene, Oregon Some color combinations just click on certain vehicles. Bright red and silver on a Tri-Five Chevy is one of those for sure. Although restrained in terms of body mods, this ’56 will be sure to draw attention with its vibrant colors. Most of the factory trim is there minus the hood ornament, nose badge, and a few other bits. This keeps the classic looks intact but cleans things up just a touch. Getting the right handling, stance, and stopping performance comes from an Art Morrison chassis. Sitting just right looks that much better when it’s done with the right set of wheels. With all the polished trim and bright work, the choice was made to roll with some fully polished Budnik Vapor…

Prior to writing a car feature, one of the questions we ask the owner is why they built the car. Jim Senke, owner of this gorgeous ’68 Camaro, got right to the point: “Because I wanted to.” Fair enough. We’d have to say there is no better reason. He goes on to say that he just loves cool cars. We dig a little deeper to find out this “cool car” was assembled on the fourth week in December 1967 at GM’s Van Nuys plant and was purchased brand new at Washburn Chevrolet in Santa Barbara, California, by a local couple. Jim’s family became the second owners of the car in May 1970 when his mom received the car as a Mother’s Day gift; it’s been in the family ever since.…

In America bigger is always better. A single cheeseburger is never as good as a double for lunch and most hot rodders believe the same goes for nitrous systems, carburetors, camshafts, and clutches … But not always. It’s a continuing battle. Street car horsepower and torque values have escalated in the last decade and now even domestic V-8 production cars are pumping out more than 700 hp and the latest Hellcat promises 1,000 hp from a production vehicle! This just exacerbates the boulevard horsepower boom and now everyone will assume they need four-digit horsepower. The truth is not everyone wants, needs, or can properly manage that much power. For every one guy who has the scratch to build a 1,000hp street car, there are hundreds of applications for the rest…

Life. It’s a funny thing. You cruise through it doing what you do, you might stay on top of small projects around the house and keep the yard looking good, and when you least expect it, your wife buys you a ’70 Nova for your 40th birthday. A rare story, indeed, but a true one for Shawn Loos of Raymond, Nebraska. This all came about from Shawn telling stories and reminiscing to his wife, Heather, about the Nova he had in high school and how much he missed that cool old car. Well, it seems Heather was paying attention and wanted to help Shawn relive those days of owning a Nova, similar to the one he had back in the day. This falls under “thoughtful wife, happy life.” Yeah, we’ll…