Many citations are no doubt available to say it is indeed an American regional colloquialism. Even that it is wholly acceptable/accepted in some parts of the USA or in some sections of USAnian society.
I believe that even so, it is cited as informal and not good practice in written or formal English (or American).
However, the example you cite (‘a hell of a’) certainly is standard English - a noun modifying or describing a noun - and uses ‘of’ quite properly. E.g. ‘a hell of a mistake,’ ‘a giant of a man’, ’ a beast of a dog’.
But that is ‘noun / noun’. Where it is ‘adjective / noun’ there are two different forms:
Adjectives of quantity such as ‘much’, ‘more’, ‘less’, ‘enough’ and so on do use ‘of’ - e.g. ‘enough of a problem’ and ‘too much of a stretch’.
But with adjectives of degree such as ‘good/bad’, ‘big/small’, ‘long/short’, ‘little/large’ and so on, ‘of’ is not used in standard English. E.g. ‘too large a box’, ‘not that big an issue’.
I believe it is these two different usages that American English started to idiomatically confuse and the misuse has proliferated hugely since the advent of the 'net, even if it may date back much further as local idiom in some areas.
People will perhaps be along to cite sources that prove me wrong and say that this ‘of’ usage is just fine, and it is a living language and I should stop whining about it.
All I can say is that in formal and written English, to my eyes and ears this use of ‘of’ reads wrong, sounds wrong, jars harshly, and it creates, in those of us wot was brung up wth proper grammar, a real case of the heebie-jeebies, almost as bad as coming across a black swallower when you weren’t expecting one. It is a Pavlovian response and we can no more do anything about it than can those who use it stop doing so, it seems.
But then I was brought up to use English grammar, not American. 
(I will manfully try to resist responding further as or when the counter-arguments and citations turn up below. The war on prepositions will not be won! And you can all get off my lawn while you’re at it, too.)
ETA too much derail - take any replies here please
