Wire wheels, expensive hydraulic setups and extensive eye-popping bling are what most have come to expect from the lowrider community. But for those in the know, there is the OG class where it's all about having that extremely clean, option-laden stock or restored classic. The Bowtie Connection is probably one of the premier restorers in the country in addition to building some hot low-lows at their Artesia, California, location.
We're going to give you some of the factoids on what collectors consider to be "the" automobiles to have in your collection. The white '57 Chevy Bel Air, and black '58 and Classic Cream/Highland Green '59 Chevy Impala convertibles that you're looking at on these pages took First, Second and Third Place in the "Original" category in 2004, firmly cementing the Bowtie Connection's reputation for no-holds-barred restoring. The build times for these three range from a mere year to six years. Whhen a customer comes to pick up their car and Bowtie Connection owner John Kennedy hands them the keys, what they get is a car that's better than factory considering that it's being totally hand-assembled.
The '57 Chevy was available with a number of options; this one being equipped with fuel injection, which was a $484 option over the base 6-cylinder model, along with a Powerglide transmission ($188). Power brakes ($38) and power steering ($70) are also equipped on this car and 1957 was the first year that safety belts were offered as an option. Big ballers of the time made sure that they heaped on every other option available and this one is chock full of them... power windows, power seats, dual spotlights, bumper kit and skirts all found their way onto this showroom-clean resto. With some of the more sought-after options, this vehicle would be in the top tier with an MSRP of about $2,700 in '57. Comparable options today would run in the thousands alone, forget about the car.
Owning one of these Bel Air beauties put you in the company of about 47,561 other people at the time, and nowadays we're sure that only a small fraction of those still exist, and only a handful in this condition. Much of the parts on these cars are NOS parts, which means "new original stock," not a reproduction piece, and transforms this OG into what is basically a brand new car. The cost difference between an NOS and repo part is sometimes staggering. A quick check on eBay revealed an NOS air cleaner with a starting bid of $299 while the same repo piece was $59.