Images: SpeedTV

In 1957, Stock Car Racing was still in its infancy, and yet it already faced scrutiny from Congress and car makers alike. In response to the 1955 crash at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Automobile Manufacturers Association banned racing and advertising of racing before Congress could. Yet the Big Three were all busy on figuring out a way around their own rules.

The result of this was the 1957 Black Widow, a ’57 Chevy built using GM catalog parts as a competition stock car, despite the ban on competition racing. Autoblog reports that a rare, period-correct tribute car is heading to the Barrett-Jackson auction tonight, and it will be broadcast on SPEEDtv.

The Black Widow came with a 283ci fuel injected plant making 283hp.

The Black Widow was the brainchild of Vince Piggins, the former lead Hudson racing engineer. GM set him up with a shop called Southern Engineering and Development Co., or SEDCO for short. Piggins then took a plain-Jane 1957 Chevy One-Fifty Utility Sedan (called the “150” for short) and turned it into one bad ass racing machine, using off-the-shelf GM performance parts.

Powering this humble car was a fuel-injected 283 engine (which would later be banned from NASCAR halfway through the 1957 season). This was the first GM engine to ever make one horsepower per-cubic inch. It also got a three-speed manual transmission, 20 gallon fuel tank, two shocks-per-wheel, while everything deemed unnecessary for racing, like the arm rests, cigarette lighter and radio, were stripped out.

Black Widows are easily one of the rarest and most intriguing cars GM ever built. Final production numbers are unknown and less is known about how many survivors exist today. This particular tribute car underwent a two-year restoration process in which no expense was spared. It will go to auction TONIGHT at Barrett-Jackson, which will be aired live on SPEEDtv. We’ll be tuning in to see how much this period-accurate tribute car draws.