Nineteen fifty-five was a renaissance model year for Detroit,
with fresh and exciting sheetmetal, abundant chrome, new
manufacturing standards, cool features, and vastly improved
technology. Chevrolet introduced the all-new overhead-valve V-8
we would come to know as the small-block Chevy. In 1954, Ford
got the jump on Chevrolet with its own overhead-valve V-8 known
as the Y-block. The Y-block didn't employ lightweight, gray-wall
iron technology like the Chevrolet; however, it made power and
offered solid dependability.  If you chat with anyone who was a
teenager during the '50s about what life was like back then,
their eyes get a faraway, euphoric look. They remember the best
music ever, and they reflect on cruising, hanging out with
buddies, flirting with girls, showing off, sipping a Cherry
Coke, 23-cent-a-gallon gasoline, and dreaming of the future.
When Tom Barbee roared up to our photo shoot with his pastel-
blue-on-white '55 Ford Fairlane two-door sedan, we got that same
rush of euphoria. It was clearl