Bel Airs At the Sportsman's Club

            It seems as though an open classic car show just isn’t the same without a selection of Chevy Bel Airs. With red and yellow and blue models ranging from the introductory 1956 game changer through the 1957 beauty sporting the familiar fins, the 16^th Annual Clermont Sportsman’s Club Car and Truck Show was no different.

            Though the Bel Air was officially introduced in 1950, it wasn’t until Chevy gave it a total face lift before the ’55 model year that the car became an instant classic. Its styling was new and different for many American car buyers. In fact, that front grill is said to have been inspired by some of the Ferrari racing machines of the day.

            It wasn’t just the styling that caused that ’55 model to turn heads. Chevy dropped a 365 cubic inch V 8 engine that featured overhead cam high compression and a long stroke design that would be the basis for many Chevy engines for several decades.

            Buyers had the option of revving that engine up a little with the “Power Pack” option that pushed the brake horse power up from 162 to 180. When Chevy saw how well that was selling they soon offered the “Super Power Pack” option which added an additional 15bph. With a relatively affordable price it became little wonder that these cars literally flew off of the lots.

            1956 saw some major cosmetic changes, including a change in the grill away from the Italian style and more toward a traditional nose that rolled off the lines. There were various other body changes as well as some other body work. In addition, customers could upgrade to the 255bhp Corvette engine.

But it was in 1957 models that brought about one of the most recognizable cars in the history of Detroit metal. The stylish, yet somewhat restrained use of period fins on the rear of the car makes this year’s model a highly sought after car.

Though Chevy actually manufactured the Bel Air through 1975, it was those metal marvels that they turned out between 1955 and 1957 that caught the imagination of the general public and changed how Detroit would look at its buying customer base for decades to come.

Here are a handful of Bel Airs that I saw and got to photograph that day. I hope you enjoy them as much as everyone at the show.