By Tommy Lee Byrd – Images by the Author
The cool factor of an old-school gasser is hard to ignore, and there are many ways to accomplish the look. You can go rough and rowdy, you can go full-on show car, or you can find a nice spot in-between. That’s where this 1955 Chevy Bel Air lands—it has all the old-school features you want, while still being highway friendly and capable of cruising the boulevard without fouling plugs, running hot, or getting too much attention from law enforcement. The car has some history as a hot rod, but you’ll find out that some of its most recent builds brought on much of the car’s current personality.
Rick Rusk from Lanesville, Indiana, built this car a few years ago with the help of a few friends (Darrell Underwood, Clay Leak, and Buddy Rouck), and his intentions all along were to drive this car on the street. He found the car for sale online and went to Leitchfield, Kentucky, to buy it from Chris Clark. The car had passed through the hands of many gearheads, and Rick has spoken to numerous people who remember the car. He even spoke to the son of a previous owner, who was responsible for the car’s black paintjob. The car was all black, painted with Dupont Imron materials approximately 40 years ago. The paint still shined up nicely, but was showing a little age, so Mike Lowhorn spruced it up with a two-tone paintjob with gold and mixed flake into the clear for a cool look. The frontend is all steel and tilts forward, revealing a period-correct small-block Chevy. The aluminum Two-Lane Blacktop–style scoop gives the car a race-ready appearance, and the words “The Real Deal” is more of an inside joke among friends but it aligns with the period-correct parts used on it.
During the rebuild, he was convinced by Underwood to scrap the old front suspension in favor of a solid axle. Underwood not only convinced him to pull the trigger on the axle, but he also installed it in the car. It’s a Speedway 4-inch dropped round-tube axle put together with hairpin radius rods and a transverse leaf spring, all in chrome, of course. Rick upgraded to a 500 series power steering box, QA1 adjustable shocks, and disc brakes to improve the driving experience. Rear suspension consists of leaf springs moved inboard, combined with slapper bars and Monroe shocks. The rearend is a GM 12-bolt, narrowed slightly to fit 15×10 Cragar S/S wheels and Pro Trac 275/65-15 tires within the stock wheel openings. Up front is a pair of 15×4 Cragars wrapped in Firestone 560-15 bias-ply front runners.
Horsepower comes from an early 1970s LT1, which has been bored 0.030-inch over by Shively Speed Machine to bring displacement up to 355 ci. Underwood built the combination with 10.5:1 compression and Pro Maxx aluminum cylinder heads. A Summit Racing circle track camshaft offers a lumpy idle to go along with the vintage look. The outward appearance of the engine is dominated by gold anodized Moroso valve covers, an Edelbrock TR1X tunnel ram, and two Holley 450-cfm carburetors. Gold velocity stacks and Doug’s fenderwell headers are the icing on the cake. Rick installed an aluminum four-core radiator to keep it cool and upgraded to an MSD ignition system. Behind the rowdy small-block is a BorgWarner T-10 four-speed manual transmission, built by Alan’s Transmissions. Highway-friendly 3.55:1 gears and an Eaton Posi hide behind the gold Moroso differential cover.
Inside, the car is full of great pieces, including a Mooneyes gold metalflake steering wheel, Stewart-Warner gauges, and a Sun tach strapped to the steering column. The seat was in the car when he got it and already had a cool notch, offering plenty of room for the Hurst shifter. The button-tufted seat and pleated door panels by Heineman Upholstery are the perfect old-school touches for the interior.
Rick has put thousands of miles on his ’55 Chevy street gasser, and enjoys going to Bowling Green, Kentucky, for the Wally Parks Nostalgia Drags (formerly the Hot Rod Reunion), as well as the Tri-Five Nationals presented by CPP. While he has other project cars in his stable, the ’55 Chevy gasser checks all the boxes for this Indiana hot rodder.
Check out this story in our digital edition here.
TECH CHECK
Owner: Rick Rusk, Lanesville, Indiana
Vehicle: 1955 Chevy Bel Air
Engine
Type: Small-block
Displacement: 355 ci
Bore: 4.030 inches
Stroke: 3.48 inched
Compression: 10.5:1
Rotating Assembly: GM
Cylinder Heads: Pro Max aluminum
Valvetrain: Comp Cams 1.5 roller rockers
Camshaft: Summit Racing CT106 flat tappet, 0.544/0.553 lift, 252/255 duration at 0.050
Ignition: MSD distributor with MSD 6AL box
Induction: Edelbrock TR1X tunnel ram, dual Holley 450-cfm carburetors
Exhaust: Doug’s fenderwell headers, 2.5-inch pipes, Flowmaster mufflers
Ancillaries: Gold anodized Moroso valve covers, gold velocity stacks
Drivetrain
Transmission: BorgWarner T-10 four-speed by Alan’s Transmissions
Rear Axle: Narrowed GM 12-bolt, Eaton posi, Strange axles, 3.55:1 gears
Chassis
Front Suspension: Speedway Motors 4-inch drop axle, buggy spring
Rear Suspension: Leaf springs moved inboard, slapper bars
Brakes: Front disc conversion, stock drum rear
Master Cylinder: Manual, dual reservoir, Hurst roll control
Wheels & Tires
Wheels: Cragar S/S, 15×4 front and 15×10 rear
Tires: Firestone 560-15 front and Pro Trac 275/60-15 rear
Interior
Seats: Stock bench with shifter cut-out
Steering: Stock column with Mooneyes steering wheel
Shifter: Hurst
Dash: Stock with radio delete, chrome glovebox
Instrumentation: Stock cluster, with Stewart-Warner underdash gauges, Sun tach
Stereo: Radio delete
Wiring: Painless Performance Products
Exterior
Paint: Black with Gold metalflake by Mike Lowhorn
Hood: One-piece steel front end, aluminum scoop
Bumpers: Removed front bumper
Hood Hinges: Custom
