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Big Barn Opens Up To Reveal Muscle Car Stash, Hot-Rodded 1956 Chevy Bel Air Included

There's no denying that the most spectacular classic car collections out there are made up of fully-restored, museum-grade vehicles. But as much as I love pristine-looking classics, I can't help but get excited whenever I see a hoard of derelict cars. Because I know it might include a few cool surprises.
1956 Chevrolet Bel Air barn find 8 photos
Photo: Auto Archaeology/YouTube
1956 Chevrolet Bel Air barn find1956 Chevrolet Bel Air barn find1956 Chevrolet Bel Air barn find1956 Chevrolet Bel Air barn find1956 Chevrolet Bel Air barn find1956 Chevrolet Bel Air barn find1956 Chevrolet Bel Air barn find
I know rusty and dusty classics aren't exactly pretty to the eyes, but we need to look beyond that. What may look like a derelict barn find could be a rare gem. Or a classic that hides a unique or hard-to-find feature. Remember the 1955 Chrysler C-300 that was found in a sea of junked General Motors vehicles? That's a proper gem hidden among mundane vehicles.

Well, the guy who owns sits on a gold mine made up of hundreds of derelict classics he's been collecting for decades. They're way too many to mention here, but it's time to show you yet another cool classic he owns. Unlike the C-300, it's not sitting outside fully exposed to the elements, but it's hidden from curious eyes in a storage unit.

I'm talking about a 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air two-door. While very desirable in this configuration, this classic is not exactly rare. Because Chevrolet made more than a hundred thousand of them that model year. But this isn't a regular Bel Air.

While it's still all-original on the outside, including the copper paint, it's an entirely different car when it comes to firepower. Because the original mill was replaced with a 327-cubic-inch (5.4-liter) V8 sourced from a 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle. Originally rated at 300 horsepower, which is way more than a 1956 Bel Air was capable of, the engine also packs a few interesting upgrades.

The owner says it features a race-spec Offenhauser aluminum intake and a high-performance carburetor sourced from a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28. The Bel Air got these upgrades before the current owner bought it in 1975, so it's a full-fledged vintage hot rod.

Yeah, it's a shame it's been sitting on this concrete floor for a very long time, but it sure looks like it could become road-worthy again with just a few tweaks. I'd love to see this Bel Air get a good cleaning and then have its Chevelle-sourced V8 up and burbling again.

So what else is the owner hiding in this building? Well, there's a 1973 Chevrolet Nova SS that doesn't look half bad after sitting for at least six years. He also has a 1987 Buick Grand National that's all-original. And because it's a T-top car, it's also relatively rare.

He also has quite a few v8 engines laying around. Many of them are of the high-performance variety, including a few old-school HEMI units. Check them all out in the video below.

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About the author: Ciprian Florea
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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.
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