Looking at the photos, you might think this the familiar 1957 Chevrolet owned and driven by Jeff Lutz that’s been a contender year in and year out at Drag Week with performances in the high six and low seven-second zone, but that’s ehere you’d be wrong.
Kind of.
Lutz and his team have constructed a nearly identical twin to the original ’57, utilizing a fiberglass body from US Body Sources and a lift-off front end from Unlimited Products to take it to the lightweight cars that have permeated — and won — Drag Week, in effect reproducing the original, 3,800 pound behemoth at a full one thousand pounds less while retaining the look of the matte black beauty. the car uses a reproduction front and rear bumper and side moldings, along with completely original window chrome, wind windows, and door cranks from a ’57 Chevy.
Like it’s predecessor, the new ’57 receives power from a 632 cubic inch big block mated with a pair of 91mm Precision turbochargers, with a Rossler transmission and Gear Vendors Overdrive and a ProTorque converter. Other components include Precision wastegates, Precision injectors, Strange Engineering 3.70 rear gear, a Braille battery, BigStuff 3 engine management, an MSD Power Grid (alcohol) and Digital 7 ignition (street gas), Racepak data acquisition, Profiler cylinder heads, a Hogan intake, a massive radiator from Art’s, Weldon fuel regulators, and Mickey Thompson wheels and tires. Stainless Works supplied the header and exhaust tubing on the build.
The original ’57, referred to as “the Beast,” had been as quick as 6.90-seconds at 216 MPH, and with the incredible weight savings offered by the lighter body and interior, could easily push Lutz into the mid six-second range and right into contention with the featherweight new machines in the Unlimited class at Drag Week.
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