Although there's nothing wrong with leaving your restoration project in the hands of qualified professionals at a trusted shop, there's something truly special about doing all the labor yourself. After countless hours of turning wrenches, and many late nights in the garage, you end up having personal knowledge of every last nut and bolt on your car.

This was the case for Larry Richards, of Seal Beach, California, who recently stopped by the Classic Industries showroom with his 1956 Chevy Bel Air. Larry restored this classic Chevy himself over the last five years, with some assistance from his friends on occasion. It features a 383ci stroker small-block V8 paired with a 700R4 automatic transmission. Disc brakes are visible through the windows of its chrome American Racing five-spoke wheels. We appreciate its vintage green and white two-tone paint, and abundance of intricately polished chrome accents.

If you've ever restored a car, you know that setting an accurate timeline for the project can be a difficult task. Everyone starts out ambitious, excited, and ready to complete the build as soon as possible. Then, nine times out of ten, life gets in the way. Often, the car gets rolled into a garage or covered up, not to see the light of day for years at a time. Occasionally, projects are completely forgotten, left to rust and be resurrected as barn finds years later.

Don Hilderbrand's '73 Camaro Z28 L82, a High School Sweetheart

For those of us who grew up in the sixties and seventies, Chevy's Camaro has been the ever constant familiar face in a frequently changing automotive climate. We've ridden the tides of change, from hot factory high-performance cars in the 1960s, to the decidedly lame Detroit iron of the 1970s. It was a long dry spell before the lords of Woodward Avenue and Van Nuys Boulevard would get back to the business of burning rubber from traffic light to traffic light in the mid-1980s.

Jerry's '57 Chevy Bel Air Hardtop Sport Coupe

Classic Industries' Southern California customer, Jerry Jacobs, pulled into the parking lot with his glamorous '57 Chevy Bel Air. This 2-door hardtop sport coupe is a daily driver for Jerry, but looks like it should be pampered at a local car show. He's the second owner for the last 25 years and this Larkspur Blue/Imperial Ivory combination quickly transports us back in time.

For enthusiasts, a car's story can be just as important as the car itself. Whether it’s spending memorable moments in the garage with dad, date nights and cruise-ins with that special someone, or highly-embellished tales of well-earned race victories, a car with a unique history becomes much more than mere transportation. It becomes the main character in its own story. This unique 1969 Camaro was built by one of the greatest legends in drag racing, Dick "Mr. Chevrolet" Harrell, and the story of its development is fascinating. Read on as we take a look back at the history of the Dick Harrell Camaro, and examine how this rare vehicle became part of the Classic Industries collection.