Lauren & John McKee have recently purchased the coolest barn find in America. This is the “Surprise Package” 1957 Chevy D/Gas machine that is exactly how it was last raced in the early 1970s complete with a 426ci Max Wedge Chrysler engine, B&M Torqueflite transmission, and 8 3/4 Chrysler rear end! The car is an absolute time capsule that has both Chad and I literally sweating bullets as we sit here and look at it. The car has lived most of its life in the PA area and terrorized the gasser ranks at Numidia Dragway during its heyday. Lauren and John purchased the car from the original ower/racer who campaigned it. He is moving to the comfier confines of Florida soon so he had to part with the car which he’s had for something on the order of 40 years!

Even cooler is the fact that the engine in the car was a spare from one of the the legendary Jerry Stein’s “Teacher’s Pet” cars. The car is a real 1957 Bel Air and was a factory equipped V8 model. The amazingly cool hand lettered graphics on the car appear to be weathered but completely intact and perfect in our eyes. The period decals from the likes of Pete Jackson, Lunati, Mr Gasket, B&M, and others are awesome, and the car came with a Numidia time skip from back in the day as well.

We do now know Lauren and John’s immediate plans for the car but seeing that they have a great appreciation for its history and its configuration we don’t think any major changes are in its future. We have all of our fingers and toes crossed that they’ll get it back into running order and hit some nostalgia races, even if just to show the car off. Making laps would be complete and utter icing on the cake. And we like cake!

We have a gallery of about 20 photos that Lauren and John shot of the car’s recovery, some period black and whites, and plenty of details as well. This is one of the coolest “barn find” cars we have ever seen and we can’t wait to get a closer look at it sometime down the road!

Hit the link for a gallery of photos featuring the barn find “Surprise Package” 1957 Chevy Bel Air packing Max Wedge power!