I’ve always loved the ’57 Chev two doors — the smooth lines are out of this world,” says Graham Espiner. Let’s be honest, that’s a statement that’s hard to argue with. Graham admits that building a ’57 would be a dream come true, and he’s spent his fair share of time thinking about everything he’d do to one if it were to happen. As a visual kind of guy, his description starts with the body, where he says that he’d get the panels dead straight before applying House of Kolor candy purple paint. The dark hue would work well with all the car’s factory brightwork, of which the bumpers would be tucked in tight towards the body.
To get the stance right, airbags would be installed all-round. Nothing too fancy though, the change to a 4-link in the rear would allow for the bags to be fitted over the top, while a switch to aftermarket tubular A-arms up front would make the front end conversion simple. Two tanks in the boot and a couple of compressors would get the car lifting up on command from the remote control in Graham’s hand. While that all sounds simple, it’s a bit more involved than that, as the idea would be to run massive 20x15-inch rear wheels, meaning the rear chassis rails would need to be recreated, and new wider and higher sheet metal tubs installed to allow the car to sit down on the ground.
While the wheels are from the Boyd Coddington range, the big brakes that fill them up are out of the Wilwood catalogue, and the system would work off an under-dash booster to keep the firewall clean.
Speaking of which, Graham would go all-out on the engine bay, hiding all the wiring for the LS7 engine. Of course, the engine and transmission would be painted to match the exterior too. The finishing touch would be the addition of some subtle ghost skulls and flames throughout the paintwork, not too dissimilar to those that adorn the engine bay of his ute.
In Graham’s head, the car’s a SEMA-style showstopper, and judging from our illustration, we’d say he’s dead right … Come on Graham, get it done!
