By Scotty Lachenauer – Images by the Author
Sometimes in life, that one thing that eluded you when you wanted it most can turn up when you least expect it. When the opportunity arose for Stephen Fisher, he took it into his own hands and landed the car that he had been hunting for the better part of a decade. Although it wasn’t the exact car he’d been searching for, the moment he laid eyes on it, he wasn’t about to let it get away.
“I had been looking for a gasser for about nine years,” Stephen says. “I was searching for a 1955 Chevy two-door coupe—one without the rear wheelwells cut, and I wasn’t having much luck. I also like coupes better than sedans, so that was another variable.
After blowing up the 454ci big-block in his hot-rodded Caprice, Stephen started roaming the want ads and the Internet for a suitable replacement. “I came across one near Maple Grove Raceway and quickly struck a deal with the owner,” Stephen says. “The next day my friend George Anderson and I went to purchase the engine. When the owner opened his garage, sitting next to the engine was this beautiful gasser-style 1957 Chevy. I freaked out!
The classic Chevy staring him in the eye was not a recent build. Owner Jon Fritz of Reading, Pennsylvania, had purchased the Chevy back in 1983, but the car’s history with Fritz started much earlier. “I’ve known of the car since 1973,” Fritz recalls. “The first time I spotted the Chevy was at a Texaco station in town. After that, I would see it now and then over the years. One day I stopped for gas and the Chevy was sitting in front of the station. The owner came out and asked if I could help him push the Chevy back into the garage. I enthusiastically said, ‘Yes.’”
Back then, the Chevy was built with a 427 and a tunnel ram, straight axle, narrowed rearend, and a fiberglass tilt front end. At that point the owner was going to pull the engine as it was giving him issues, so the Chevy sat for a while at the station in its black primer paint.
Over time the car disappeared, but in 1983 Fritz’s friend spotted a ’57 for sale locally. “He described the car to me and I knew right away it was that same car I had checked out 10 years earlier,” Fritz states. “At this point, the Chevy had a junk small-block in it, while the big-block’s tunnel ram and headers were stashed away in the trunk. Without giving it a second thought, I bought it.” It was then that the new owner learned the car’s history as a Southern California street racer back in the ’60s before it made its way to the East Coast in the early ’70s.
From there, Fritz installed a built LS7 454 and added a Weiand WCPX crossram along with a magneto. With 12:1 compression, a 600-lift cam, and a pair of 600-cfm Holley carburetors, this powerplant was gargantuan in stature. The headers were put back on, and an aluminum radiator with an electric fan was added to keep the ride cool. The straight axle was gone through and new springs and coilovers were installed to achieve the ride Fritz wanted. A Muncie M21 and a Hurst shifter gets this ride through the gears.
The Chevy was mini-tubbed to make room for the big 15×12 Cragars shod in chunky Mickey Thompson rubber matched with Cragar 15×4 skinnies up front for a street freak vibe.
The interior is made up of Thunderbird seats with upholstery that was put together in Tijuana, Mexico. A custom-made console sits between the buckets and houses a plethora of gauges to keep track of the vitals. Fritz is a body- and paintman by trade, so he used his experience to massage the sheetmetal prior to spraying the car in a combination of two BMW Mini Cooper blues to achieve the unique hue.
Fritz drove the gassed-up Chevy for 40-plus years before Stephen came knocking. Stephen asked Fritz if the Chevy was for sale and Fritz gave a resounding, “No.” So, Stephen purchased the engine and kept in touch with Fritz over the years. In January 2024 Stephen got a call from Fritz saying, “don’t get your hopes up, but I might be selling the car, and you have first right of refusal.” Two weeks later, Fritz called again and told Stephen it was his for the taking if he still wanted it.
Stephen and Anderson once again met up with Fritz, this time to thoroughly inspect the car and to take it for a testdrive. “I made a deal and sold my ’55 Nomad to fund the purchase. The ’57 already had most of what I was looking for, but I added a few personal touches to make it my own. I cleaned up the trunk, added a proper mat, detailed the engine bay, installed a chrome alternator for a unified look, and replaced some weatherstripping. I know the 427 emblems aren’t accurate, but I’m keeping them.”
Stephen’s been driving the car consistently over the past two years and has also taken home some awards along the way. “I’ve had the car in plenty of shows, and it brings home honors and accolades wherever it goes,” Stephen excitedly says, “and when people ask me if it’s for sale, I say, ‘No way!’”
Check out this story in our digital edition here.
Tech Check
Owner: Stephen G. Fisher, Warminster, Pennsylvania
Vehicle: 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air
Engine
Type: Big-block Chevy LS7
Displacement: 454 ci
Compression Ratio: 12:1
Bore: 4.250
Stroke: 4.000
Cylinder Heads: Open Chamber cast-iron #6260482
Rotating Assembly: GM
Valvetrain: Stock GM
Camshaft: GM Racing Mechanical #3959180
Cooling: Aluminum four-core radiator
Induction: Weiand WCPX dual-quad cross ram, two Holley 600-cfm carburetors
Ignition: Vertex Magneto
Exhaust: Custom fenderwell headers
Fuel Tank: 15-gallon tank in trunk
Output: 465 hp
Drivetrain
Transmission: Muncie four-speed
Driveshaft: Stock with a driveshaft loop
Rear Axle: 1957 Chevy narrowed rear, 3.73 gears
Chassis
Front Suspension: Straight axle, coilover shocks
Rear Suspension: Leaf spring, air shocks
Brakes: GM disc front, stock rear drum brakes
Wheels and Tires
Wheels: Cragar 15×4 front, 15×12 rear
Tires: 6.70×15 front, Mickey Thompson Sportsman Pro 29×15.50-15LT rear
Interior
Upholstery: Custom from Tijuana, Mexico
Material: Vinyl
Seats: 1966 T-bird
Steering: Stock column
Shifter: Hurst
Dash: Stock
Instrumentation: Stewart-Warner
Audio: None
Exterior
Bodywork and Paint: Jon Fritz
Paint: Custom-mix BMW Blue
Hood: Fiberglass tilt
Grille: Removed
Bumpers: Stock
