RIDE OF THE WEEK: Fresh ride from Bel Air

by Michael Golubiewski
Production Editor

This week’s ride is one of the all-time classic American automobiles, the 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air. It is owned by Brian Feltch, who lives in Stroudsburg but will soon be returning to college in Bloomsburg.

Feltch says that he and his father David have been restoring the car for a few years.

“We probably started working on it when I was just starting high school,” Feltch says. “Now the hard work has paid off, and we’ve been taking it around to car shows and cruises. It is great to see what we were able to accomplish.”

Feltch says the car was originally owned by an uncle, “but it had gotten all weathered and rusty; He gave it to us with the hopes we would restore it to greatness. It is a piece of America.”

The Bel Air was produced by Chevrolet for a quarter century, from 1950-1975, through seven generations. The 1956 Bel Air belongs to the second generation, produced from 1955-57, and is probably the best-known generation of the car. The 1956 model was given the nickname “the hot one” by car enthusiasts. The Bel Airs came with features found on lower-model Chevrolets but also came with interior carpet, chrome headliner bands, chrome spears on front fenders, chrome window moldings and full wheel covers.

The “Bel Air” name was also put on the car in gold lettering.

The Bel Air runs on a 265 cubic inch (4,340 cc) eight-cylinder engine that features overhead valve compression and a long stroke design that was so good that Chevrolet kept the motor in production well into the 1980s. Felch’s Bel Air features the “Power Pack” option that includes a four-barrel carburetor and some other engine upgrades that push the Bel Air’s horsepower to 180 (stock Bel Airs average about 160 horsepower). The car features the two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission.

“We’ve kept the car the same red and white color the exterior was originally,” Felch said. “The only things we basically did was restore the body and get rid of the decay. We also replaced the convertible top with a newer one.”

The car is garage-kept during the winter and taken out in the spring and summer to car shows and car cruises.

“I haven’t taken it down to Bloom to show off at school yet,” Felch says. “I keep telling everyone maybe next spring I’ll bring it down and cruise around right before graduation.”

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