If what we’ve seen thus far is any indication of what’s to come in the year ahead, Jeff Lutz and his brand new “Evil Twin” 1957 Chevrolet are going turn some heads and a hurt a lot of feelings.
We got our first up close and personal look at the new machine at the PRI Show in Indianapolis back in December, where Lutz and company unveiled the stunning new machine that’s a near dead-ringer copy of his feared ’57 to the public with great fanfare. The twin, recreated with an appearance as close to the original steel bodied car as possible, features a fiberglass composite body from US Body Sources as well as a lift-off front end, with reproduction bumpers, side moldings, door handles, and other trim components. The result is a car that weighs in a full one-thousands pounds lighter than its sibling, that will present a monumental challenge to equally-lightweight peers in the Hot Rod Drag Week Unlimited class, of which Lutz has been a forerunner year in and year out.
Like its sibling, the new car is powered by a 632 cubic inch big block that’s been paired with a set of 91mm Precision turbochargers that’s meant not just to lay down mid-six-second laps in the quartermile, but also survive hundreds of miles of highway driving during Drag Week.
Lutz and company were out at Midwest Street Cars, the speed shop made famous on Discovery Channels “Street Outlaws”, where the “Evil Twin” and its massive hairdryers attempted to swallow up the film crew and the shop on the chassis dyno. Cranking out 29 lbs of boost, the ’57 put 2,140 horsepower to the rollers, making it the new king of the Midwest Street Cars dyno. And while that may seem pretty impressive as-is, Lutz shares that when all is said and done, 50 lbs. of boost is the goal, meaning what you see here is only the beginning.
With the film crew present, we’d expect these dyno pulls will be part of the third season of “Street Outlaws”.