Slammed '55 Bel Air

Within hours of getting my hands on the Model Motoring '55 Chevy Bel Air, I had it disassembled and in close contact with my Dremel. I brought it to a race the next day, but chose to go with another car. I like to race different bodies, which is why I chose this one, but I get the feeling that this may become a fairly widely used race body.

Setup
Part	Installed
Chassis	Stock T-Jet (NOS)
Magnets	Stock-Matched (w/ compass)
Brushes	Thunder Brushes
Shoes/Springs	Stock
Armature	Stock, 16.5 on all 3 poles
Gearing	Stock
Front End	Wizzard SG+, .350 tires, steel nut spacers
Rear End	Custom cut brass axle, BSRT .225 hubs, BSRT slip-on silicones
Guide Pin	Stock

This is my first attempt at slamming the Model Motoring '55 Chevy Bel Air. As you can see there is room to lower this bad boy. The yellow is my modified car, the candy red is totally stock, and used for comparison.

As you might guess just by looking at the body, there is not much room to lower the rear of the Bel Air. I took quite a bit of material out from the under side of the trunk, as well as the bottom of the rear glass. The front lowers much easier, and I didn't shave off much plastic there because I wanted to keep weight over the guide pin. With lower front tires (which I have not yet installed) the car would be lower in the front. Even with the taller tires in the rear, my modifed car is barely higher than the stock. To get that lower, I simply need to press on a set of Thunder Rubbers (which I also have, but haven't installed).

There's a bit of an optical illusion here (not the tilt, they're actually like that). Although the bodies are the same width, the wider tire setup on the yellow car actually makes the bady look wider. You can see how low the front is to the rails at this angle. Just imagine much closer I could get it if I replace the .350 front tires with .330's!

From the top... I added flames to add to the "curb appeal" of this car. The decals are from Pine Car dry transfer decals ("Stripes and Flames" set, courtesy of my "Track Manager", this Christmas). A coat of Testors clear gloss coat is on top of it.

* Home *