California Dreamin'

When The Mamas and The Papas released "California Dreamin'," it became an instant hit and the inspiration for a nation of dreamers. Many people began to think of California as a place perhaps better than where they were, a place where dreams could come true. One example of such a dreamer is 32-year-old Andre "Dre" Hughes, of Super Natural Car Club from Los Angeles, California. Dre spent the past five years and countless man-hours bringing his dream to life--this awesome '57 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible, appropriately called "California Dreamin'."

To make Dre's dream a reality, he employed the talents many of SoCal's best lowrider builders, starting with Maniacos Customs in Lynwood, California, where Alex (AKA "Levi") at Maniacos started by taking off the body. Then, he had Roy C. concentrate on the frame, "C" notching the rear, then shaving, filling and molding the metal to perfection. Once the frame was redone, it was taken to John Yamamoto at D&J Automotive in Los Angeles for the next phase.

John first mounted up a street and performance 350-c.i.d. V-8 from a '91 Chevy Impala featuring chrome-plated tuned port injection, polished valve covers, serpentine drive belt, numerous anodized parts (done by Louie at Custom Anodizing in Gardena, California), chrome headers and dual chrome exhaust. He mated the mill with a fully polished 350 Turbo automatic connected to a chrome driveshaft and a chromed Ford 9-inch rearend. Next, he installed all-new steering and suspension components including chromed steering parts, pin striped molded extended A-arms, polished brake lines and drilled chrome Turbo Disc brakes on all four corners. A set of 13x7-inch Zenith wires wrapped with P155/80-R13 Cooper Trendsetter rubber completed the package.

Back at Maniacos, Levi was busy with the body, shaving the firewall, filling floors and trunk and meticulously massaging the metal, taking out more than 40 years of dings and dents. Finally, the body was ready for the spray booth. Levi and Maniacos' Manuel worked together on the paint job laying on an original/custom two-stage diamont green. Then Levi brought in Walt Prey and the two of them applied the finishing art. The brightwork, re-chromed by Ruben at Ruben's Pacesetter Plating in L.A. was re-attached and the body was again mated with the rolling chassis.

As awesome as the engine is, the real focal point of the car is its hydraulics. It took the combined efforts of Ted Wells, Miguel Martinez and Andre working in his backyard to create the cool OG setup like "back in the day" when WWII aircraft hydraulics equipment was all you could find to lift a lowrider. The OG double-pump setup features two polished and painted Bendix aircraft pumps with external gears, two free-flow equalizers, two Adel square dumps and faucet handle slowdowns. Chrome-plated aircraft oxygen tanks are employed as oil reservoirs (tanks).

The exotic plumbing is the product of Ted's expertise and the hard lines are the handiwork of Miguel. Eight OG Motorcraft solenoids are wired up to four Interstate side-post batteries, with three switches for basic moves. Lift and lay is provided by aircraft cylinders (51/2-inch front and 71/2-inch rear), with chrome Super Natural Car Accessories' coil springs front and rear cushioning the bounce. The sweet setup is reflected in the chrome panel behind the pumps and a chrome battery rack reflects even more details.

All that remained to bring Dre's dream to life was the interior, so he called on Ben at Supreme Upholstery in Inglewood, California, to tackle the task. A two-tone light and dark green original replacement interior kit was chosen for its ease of use and fit. Ben installed electric seats up front for added style and comfort, replaced the old analog gauges with modern a Dakota Digital unit, installed billet pedals and added twin spotlights. Virtually everything else in the interior was brought to "stock original" standards. Ben also upholstered the new vinyl top and installed a trick tweed headliner, completing the package.

Now all that remained was to see what the public--and the judges--thought of the Bel Air by entering it in Lowrider Magazine's 2002 Scrapin' Tour show in San Bernardino, California. Against some tough competition, California Dreamin' won Best Display, Best Hydraulics, First in Full Custom and First in Sweepstakes. Proof positive that if you work hard enough and long enough, your dreams can come true.