Art Morrison 1955 Chevy Bel Air - Faster Than a Ferrari?

The Smoking Tire hits Supercar Sunday and the canyons with the Art Morrison 1955 Bel Air, one of the best handling hot rods around. We toss this 55 year-old car through some of the tightest curves in California to find out if there really is such a thing as a Hot Rod for drivers.

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[Idoloish]

@namybot

namybot: "Lotus, Radical, TVR, GM and Nissan make better cars than Rolls Royce, Bentley, Maybach, BMW and Mercedes-Benz."

That's your own logic.

Also, the Testarossa (it's one word, you automotive illiterate) was not the only car Ferrari made. Most Ferraris from that era couldn't approach 130. The Bel-Air (unlike Euros from that era) was made of steel (meaning it weighed almost 2 tons), plus it has room for five passengers or more, versus a lighter, slower Euro two-seater.

[Idoloish]

@mastercueartist

Stock, a '55 Bel-Air is probably faster than a good deal of Ferraris from that era. This was, after all, the era when American cars were not only #1, but #1 by a HUGE margin.

[AbstractsParody]

What I want to know is how much did the car and all its parts cost in total?

[leonjoramos]

@Idoloish of course... the LOLA based GT40, a British design

[mustng9646]

I just want to buy it!

[mikk999]

@lockdown260 Euro quality has definitely dropped considerably in the past 15 years, bringing European cars in line with improved American cars. Japanese cars have dropped in quality but still trounce them.

[xXBurntBaconXx]

i would like to see what they can do with a 70s Chevelle or a 69 camaro...

[Idoloish]

@lockdown260

Granted, Americans still make better engines than Europe does and Ford does produce great American cars. However, the American cars that Ford actually produces are only a handful (one could argue the Mustang is the only truly American Ford car left, since the Ford GT and Thunderbird went out of production). Most Fords now are European or Japanese. The same goes for GMs and Chryslers ( with few exceptions). However, a lot of good American cars are under Japanese names.

[lockdown260]

@Idoloish "I wouldn't say modern day American cars are superior to European cars (with a few exceptions)." I respect your opinion but what about Ford, Since about 2007 they've been putting out great product comparable, or superior to non-luxury euro brands. Gm & chryler aren't too bad any more either.

[namybot]

@krispy022 Yes it is a fact Europe is far better than America when it comes to racing, nobody can argue with the fact over the year European cars have been far superior to American cars.

Whether we make the best road cars, is opinion. It is purely down to personal taste.

[Idoloish]

@THExVETERAN

I wouldn't say modern day American cars are superior to European cars (with a few exceptions). At least, American cars that come from American brands are usually inferior to their European counterparts (again, with a few exceptions).

Of course, before the early 1970s, the exact opposite was true. During that period, if you were upper-lower class American, you probably drove a better car than the Queen of England.

[Idoloish]

@Idoloish

Of course, an automotive illiterate like you wouldn't know anything about the GT40 (the car that reached 200 MPH decades before the Ferrari F40).