n the early ’30s, Bell Auto—located, you guessed it, in Bell, California—was a hot rodder’s hangout, the place to be and be seen at the time. Owner George Wight started out with a wrecking yard, but his interest in performance parts along with his talent in refurbishing them turned his focus into what became the first and most important speed shop in the country. We could go on about what made Wight so successful and how he bought and improved the Valve-in-Head for Model A Fords, as it’s a very cool story, but we’re here to dig into Rick Van Unen’s impressive ’57 Chevy Bel Air.

So why even bring up George Wight and Bell Auto? Well, that’s the place Rick worked as a teenager back in 1963 and, as he puts it, “that’s where I got my hot rod education. Working alongside Wally Parks’ brother, Kenny, and Jot Horne–the designer of the iconic Cragar S/S wheel—was an amazing experience,” Rick says. “I looked up to those guys and here I was working with them and learning everything I could about hot rodding and the ins and outs of running a speed shop.”

After leaving Bell Auto, Rick served in the Marine Corps, came back, and went to work for a small four-wheel-drive company called Dick Cepek. Over the years, Rick worked his way up the ladder and became president of the company. He left there for an entrepreneurial career, and once he’d had enough of the workforce grind, he called it a day and simply retired. And that’s when Rick really got busy. Through the years, he’s owned numerous rides of various makes and models, and today he spends much of his time driving his hot rods on a number of cross-country tours. In past issues of All Chevy Performance, we have featured two of Rick’s cars: an LT4-powered ’64 Chevelle wagon and a ’73 Camaro powered by a supercharged L99 engine, both of which do very little sitting as he makes sure each one gets plenty of road time.

The ’57 Chevy Bel Air you see here came about when Rick found it in the Detroit area. It was a decent driver with stock suspension and nice paint, but like all Rick’s rides “stock” just doesn’t cut it as he’s got a massive itch for big horsepower and considerable fondness for reliability. With that said, he sent the ’57 to Dutchboys Hotrods in Vicksburg, Michigan, where they took the reins and brought the vintage Chevy up to date with modern horsepower, handling, and driveability.