Dragsters based on 1950s Chevrolet Bel Air models aren't very common, but they show up at drag strips across the U.S. from time to time. Racers usually go with the classic two-door sedan body, but some choose to be different and modify station wagon models. And I just love it when that happens.
I'm a big fan of the second-generation Bel Air (1955-1957), but I dig station wagon versions like the Nomad and Sedan Delivery even more. Both are based on the Bel Air, and despite its name, the Sedan Delivery is not a sedan but a two-door panel van-style grocery getter.
Anyway, someone turned a Sedan Delivery into a turbocharged dragster, and it's a beautiful thing.
Spotted at the drag strip by YouTube's Drag Racing and Car Stuff, this Sedan Delivery dragster is a really clean build. Apart from the massive intake on the hood, the skinny front tires, and the meaty rear wheels, it's pretty much a standard station wagon.
All the chrome work is still there, and it also retains the two-tone look with a black roof. It seems the body is painted pearl white, which wasn't a factory color back in the day, but it's exactly what makes this hearse-like Chevy cool. It's got a bit of that sleeper factor, too. And it's impressively quick.
There's no info to run by beyond the fact that it packs a turbocharged V8, but we're looking at an incredibly powerful and fast wagon. This grocery-getter likely packs in excess of 600 horsepower and does a few solid quarter-mile runs.
It smokes a third-gen Mustang with an 11.37-second pass at 119.33 mph and then it goes even quicker against a 1980s Chevy. It takes the flag in 10.99 seconds at 121.54 mph, its only sub-11-second run in this video. Finally, it races a C5 Corvette and wins with a 11.11-second run at 122 mph.
I hope this thing is street legal because it needs to flex some of that muscle in supermarket parking lots too!
Ask Ciprian about cars and he'll reveal an obsession with classics and an annoyance with modern design cues. Read his articles and you'll understand why his ideal SUV is the 1969 Chevrolet K5 Blazer. Full profile
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