If you’ve seen one 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air and 1999 Camaro Z28 rolled into one car you’ve seen them all. Next slide… I’m kidding, of course, this is an interesting Chevrolet soup, let’s check it out. The seller has it listed here on craigslist in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, and the seller is asking $16,000. Thanks to rex m for sending in this interesting tip!
The first thing I noticed, well, maybe not the first thing because the first thing would be a chopped-looking 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air with an incredibly raked windshield and 1957 Chevrolet features front the rear? It clearly looks like a 1955 Chevrolet on the quarters but then there are the ’57 fins and grille. After that, I noticed the painted silver bumpers and trim which I would have expected to be chrome. Believe it or not, we’ve seen a similar car in the summer of 2018 here on Barn Finds. The Belaro! The seller must not have given this one a name, thankfully. Actually, it’s a kit referred to as a Belaro, or they were available, we don’t know if this is an official Belaro or not.
Here are the silver bumpers and trim that I mentioned. I’m not sure if they’re some sort of resin or composite or something not made of metal or what they are. The Belaro was and is actually a kit that can be purchased in order to create your own version of this car. The other one that we saw also used a Z28 Camaro which is cool, although that was a 1994 model. I can do without the chrome wheels but that’s usually the case, most normal humans like that look so clearly I’m abnormal. As if I even needed to say that.
As with the other version that we saw, there isn’t one thing that says 1955 or 1957 Chevrolet on the interior other than a pair of fuzzy dice hanging from the review mirror. It’s all business inside, the business of driving from point A to point B without a lot of drama and none of the classic 1955/57 Chevy touches. I’m surprised by that but I guess that would really be hard to integrate Bel Air interior bits into a Camaro interior.
There’s no 64-year-old ’57 Chevy V8 here, this one is all Camaro Z28 but what that is we don’t know. The seller just has it listed as having 8 cylinders. One of you will know by looking at it and they say that this car is excellent inside and out. Would any of you drive this one?
The 1957 150 trim does look a lot like 1955 Belair trim but isn’t the same. The bumpers are molded fiberglass and can’t be chromed but a chrome paint like Alsa or even a chrome wrap would do wonders. I have considered building one and if so I would try to adapt real 1957 Belair side moldings. I have lso seen this conversion done with a Camaro coupe….don’t do that, however I wouldn’t be opposed to the modern V6 power but a V8 like this one for sale is much better.
Thanks for the good info, Jack!
An innovative fellow from the northeast created these kits as a follow-up to his T-bird/shoebox Ford mashup. The ‘glass work is excellent but the owners’ follow through doesn’t always rate as high. EASY RODS sold the kits for over a decade. I hope he’s still crankin’.
There is something about these “creations” that to me is so visually odd, that I find it hard to like them. The 2018 Belaro, at least was honest to the ’57, but his one’s mix of ’55 & ’57 design elements adds to the disharmony. I won’t even discuss the laid back windshields. No, I’m pretty certain that I would NOT drive this! :-)
It took me a while to figure out where the sort of odd looks were on this car. Need to move the front wheels forward about 2″ (you can do that easily) and nip about the same amount off the head light “eye lids” and you’ve got the visual effect where it should be. Certainly makes the shorty conversions look bad.
I think different wheels with a more classic look and a different offset would make 100% difference in how this creation looks
The only offensive element in this design is that windshield rake. I know it would pose a real challenge for the convertible top design but I feel no matter what you do you will not be able to make the design flow.
I dunno. Picture this in all black, including the bumpers, and get rid of the grille. Once it stop trying to be something it’s not, it could be interesting to look at.
**thinks of something positive to say**
Well, at least it already has an LS in it.
lol, you beat me to it….
Funny. This is not an LS, as the 1999 Z28 came with an LT1 5.7 liter motor. Nice try.
Hot Rod: Funny. My ’99 Z/28 bought off the showroom floor brand new came with an LS1, same as every other ’99 Z I’ve seen.
Refer to this chart:
This ‘thing’ does absolutely nothing for me. It looks like an overgrown kiddie pedal car.
hard no .
Nice cupholders.
Time + Money – Sense = _______
= belaro!!!!!
Yep, the math is simple on this abomination = less money and time
It reminds me of a chocolate chip hamburger. I like chocolate and I like hamburger, just not together. It ain’t right.
Well said.
They used to say that about liver and bananas but look at that now.
Reminds me of the kiddie cars at Disneyland. Why anyone does something like this is hard to understand. ( I asked my shrink if I was wrong, she agrees, someone has a screw loose somewhere.)
Sorry but from almost any angle this does not look good to my eyes.
Reminds me again that drugs are bad, um kay?
Tree fiddy is my bid. Too many folks like to build Loch Ness Monsters…YMMV.
This thing would scare off a glass of water.
Something that Darth Hideous would drive.
I wonder if this monstrosity looks better on the road.
Probably not.
Maybe if it’s moving fast and out of the corner of your eye.
Interesting, but no.
Rather strange, yes. But unattractive? No worse than today’s Chevy trucks or all the look-alike SUVs. And unlike those SUVs costing many thousands more, this will get you noticed.This car is in the same vein as the ’50 Ford/’89 T-Bird conversions done in the late nineties. Odd? You bet. Interesting? Affirmative!
LOL have to agree. The new GM trucks are ugly as sin itself.
This generation of Camaro is very forgettable. It isn’t horrible looking stock but combine the GM Firebird clone you have a lot of the same looking fish swimming in the pond.
If it is a 5.7 and a manual trans different story. Don’t worry it isn’t. 99 percent were not. Do not want to come close to Corvette performance. Thanks GM.
Thus we see companies making kits to make it easier on the eyes or to forget this is an anemic V6 Camaro/Firebird. The target market has to be old geezers that want to live in the past but can no longer raise the hood on a car because I have no idea who this would appeal to.
I suppose if one would like laughing behind their back this is their ride.
When seems very easy to picture a car being driven by Bozo, that should tell you all you need to know.
Maybe it’s because I’m too young to have lived through 1957 but I’d rather have a ’99 Camaro that looks like 1999.
Well I’m not even sure they got that 1999 Camaro right. There was a picture that showed a 35th Anniversary emblem on the dash which should make this a 2002 Camaro. Unlike most guys here I didn’t think it is has bad as most did. It wouldn’t be the first or even 10th car on my car wish list but it was interesting and done right could possibly be a cool car.
I dub thee “Soupy”
Hmmm…. More like a stew or chowder. It feels like chunks are involved. Probably with fish.
As my father used to say…..”Beauty is skin deep, but ugly is to the bone.”
I will credit workmanship,if I can find any thing good. Other that that!!! Ogh. my lunch is coming up.
I think it’s a quote from an old Cheech and Chong movie, “Hey that’s a nice car man! Better get it back to the circus before they miss it!”
It looks like a space-age version of a 57 Chevy in the first pic. but I would feel embarrassed to drive around in this.
Needs black steelies and fake patina to be complete.
Bar none, the ugliest turd I’ve seen in a while. You’d have to, literally, give this car to me for me to take it. Then, I would immediately list it on B-a-T at no reserve and let it fly!
I would prefer to have my ’99 Z/28 back than this mistake!
Wow, there’s a lot of haters out there!
IMHO, I like it. Reminds me of Boyd Coddington’s Chezoom (if you’re not familiar, google it.) done as a convertible. I agree that chroming the bumpers and trim would help the illusion, as well as a different wheel/tire combo, but overall the build quality looks good. You’d have a lot of fun for not much money at your Cars & Coffee events.
As to “why would someone do this”, the car has a salvage title, so apparently someone had a wrecked Camaro that he wanted to save, so why not?
Well, you are apparently one of the haters I’m talking about. Yes Jason, you are wrong. Apology accepted.
Yeah, looks a bit odd, the windshield rake really throws the look ” off “. But it is something that I could almost live with if the ” chrome ” trim didn’t make this look so cheap. Same with the wheels.
My Godz, zhis onez hotz!
YeowZa!
If you like this, spend the money at get a 789. Much better looking and Corvette guts. http://n2amotors.com
fugly
Hideous!!
This has been for sale before.
I agree with PairsNPaint as I like this too. I think he/she used the word “haters” because of how vitriolic the naysayers were expressing themselves. This site appeals to many tastes, but certainly it’s possible to express dislike for a vehicle without the type of language some of you used. Especially since we don’t get to see what you drive and consider attractive.
bitter criticism, over a car…
Get a life…
It is an eye catcher but what kills it is the severe rake on the windshield and the cheap way to go on the “chrome” yea could have a 57 chev with the new stuff and not worry about old stuff breaking down,,,also I wouldn’t be so concerned about scratches or getting hit cause its newer and don’t have to replace hard to find original parts
why?????