M2 Machines 1955 Chevy Bel-Air

Now here's two special reasons for this review: One, I found my first M2 chase as an auto-lift series with two vehicles (only one is trimmed in gold) and two, one of these '55 Chevy's has something special under the hood.

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Auto-Lift series from M2 Machines provides two vehicles in one package, and usually they are different vehicles wearing the same bodies.  In one set there was a Chevy and GMC badge trucks, most with a stock and custom version of the same car, and even one where the upper Mustang fastback had an I-6 while the lower version was a V8 drag strip car.  This set has a resto-mod and a drag version for the 1955 Chevy Bel-Air.  The one at the bottom is a blue drag car with Foothills Boulevard Flash decals on the sides in gold adorning the stock chrome trim.  The wheels are Craiger mags with the rear wheels wearing larger slicks.  As a warning that this car is a track car the rear trunk has the "Caution: Car in Tow" in gold.  The hood has a chrome hood scoop that feeds air to the stock 265 CID V8 that produces 165 hp. in stock form by a 3-speed automatic.  The interior has two-tone color with white bench seats and the twin-pod dashboard with large steering wheel.

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If you like GOOOOOLD then you'll like the chase version, where the upper car is covered in gold.  The body is gold, the chassis is gold, the interior (save the dashboard) is gold, all of the chrome parts are gold, even the engine cover is gold!  About the only thing not gold is the 5-spoke modern rims, unfortunately, that are instead painted white.  Finally, there's the lift that resembles the 4-post lift at most repair shops.  I have two of these in my display case and they work well with display diorama's or personal garages; however, if you want all cars to fit on this ramp you must grind off the two posts that support the M2 vehicles on top for shipment and paint the area red as the raised posts will not allow any other car to rest smoothly on the lift.  Oh, and the lift does not raise up and down like the real lift, so this is only a display piece.

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Now the gold is nice, but the real treat in this set is the jet black version of the same gold car.  The front has the round headlights with signal lights below and chrome grille with black insert.  The chrome bumper and the cool hood ornament is nicely done and really sets this car off.  The black also shows off the side chrome trim (actually silver-painted) and window trim, though the opening doors do make the trim look misaligned.  The back area has detailed taillights and chrome bumper, and also a clean look without the trunk badge anywhere.  To add aggressiveness the dual exhausts poke out under the rear bumper and uses modern 5-spoke wheels in chrome.  The stance, the color, the clean look it all looks good, but there's more:

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The interior opens up to see the front and rear cream-colored bench seats, two-pod dashboard with silver insert, large steering wheel, and a column shifter for the automatic.  Both the floor pedals and the transmission pan underneath the X-brace frame support the notion that this is an automatic-powered car...and then you lift the hood.  What is this!?!?!?!   That, my friends, is something you don't see often at M2 Machines: the Blue Devil supercharged 6.2L V8 from the 2009 Corvette ZR1!  For a tight fit the engine is nicely done with blue and silver accents in the correct spots.  Now before you eyes pop open for the ZR1's 638 hp. remember that is only with the six-speed manual and this car has an automatic transmission.  So in reality it actually has the same motor that is used in the 2009 Cadillac CTS-V: the wet-sump 6.2L supercharged V8 that produces 556 hp. and 551 Ib-ft of torque through the Caddy's 6-speed automatic.

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There's a lot 1955 Chevy Bel-Air replica's out there, but only a few select ones join my collection.  The sleek, stealthy, powerful with modern powerplant of this jet black 1955 Bel-Air will be one of them.