Many Chevy aficionados consider the 1955 Bel Air the most beautiful of the Tri-Five Chevys. The ’55 Bel Air models offered a V8 engine option that borrowed a powerplant from its stablemate, the Corvette sports car.

This 265ci V8 engine powered the full-sized Chevy with no problem. In fact, this combo became revolutionary in its day, helping the nameplate to spawn a cult following. There are still businesses that cater exclusively to the devotees of the Tri-Five automobiles.

The lack of oil filtration in the 1955 engine made it only desirable to period collectors. The Gen I small-block Chevy 350 became the typical replacement engine for the survivor Bel Air cars going right into the new millennium.

Recently, there is a new, favored engine combination that has been adopted by Chevrolet Performance to the extent the company has created a Connect & Cruise Crate Powertrain System for the swap. This system features an emissions-legal LS3 E-ROD crate engine backed up by a 4L65E four-speed automatic transmission. Economy and efficiency in one package with plenty of muscle to boot.

In the featured video, Chevrolet Performance Associate Marketing Manager, Bill Martens, and Chevrolet Performance Parts Design Release Engineer, Blake Nye, discuss the Connect & Cruise Crate Powertrain System utilized by Chevrolet Performance in their 1955 Bel Air.

As cool as this install is, for more information on the Connect & Cruise Crate Powertrain Systems, visit Chevrolet Performance online at www.chevroletperformance.com​.