Meet the '57 Chevy “Black Widow” NASCAR Saved, Barely, From The Crusher - Yahoo Autos (blog)
That trait led one enthusiast to the discovery and restoration of one of the few remaining Black Widow 1957 Chevrolets, a car scheduled to cross the auction block next January. Smith, an Illinois native, had competed in the first NASCAR race in 1949, but his racing career had a slow start. That would all change in 1957 when Nalley Chevrolet in Atlanta—acting on behalf of, ultimately, Chevrolet itself—handed Smith the keys to his No. 47 fuel-injected 1957 Chevrolet 150. As the calendar flipped from 1956 to 1957, Nalley found itself... No less than Vince Piggins, Chevrolet performance engineer and the man who led Hudson to NASCAR championships in the early 1950s, had set up shop at Nalley under a venture named Southern Engineering and Development Company and had begun... Piggins started with a Model 1512 utility sedan, a version of the 150 two-door sedan that Chevrolet introduced for 1957 and that came without a back seat and with fixed rear windows. According to George Swartz, 1957 Chevrolet expert and owner of the Jack Smith car, Piggins beefed up the chassis using heavy-duty springs, six-lug rear axle, spindles and brakes meant for the heavy-duty limousine version of. Source: www.yahoo.com
