Best Muscle Cars
1970 Chevrolet Chevelle Pro Touring Roadster Shop
VIN: 136370K121714
Engine: Wegner Motorsports LS3 427ci
Transmission: 6 Speed Manual Tremec T-56 Magnum
Exterior Color: Lava Gray Pearl
Roadster Shop ‘Fast Track’ chassis
Strange Engineering 9-Inch Pro Iron rear end
3.89 gears
Price: $249,888.00
It was only last week when we were talking about the pros and cons of restoring and modifying a muscle car or any car for that matter. Dropping in a souped up engine is one thing, but nailing down the aesthetics can be a very fine balancing act. Basically, not too outlandish a re-design to be unsellable and generic enough to get the widest appeal, while still looking ‘enhanced.’ In this case, a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle has been given the Pro Touring treatment by renowned builders the Roadster Shop.
Firstly, it helps to have a renowned builder attached to a car. Even if your best mate recreated a vehicle to this standard, he firstly should get his name around as he clearly has skills, but he’s still an unknown quantity. A renowned builder speaks of a certain level of quality, plus it’s easier to find examples of their previous work and style. In this case it’s clearly still a Chevelle, just a very enhanced version. Not too overt, just classy enough to bring out the original features to their best. It also helps to have a shiny paint job that looks inches thick.
Looks are one thing, but the powertrain and rest of the mechanicals need to be in check. Tthis one sports a Wegner Motorsports built 427ci LS3 going through a Tremec T-56 Magnum Manual Transmission, which sits on a Roadster Shop ‘Fast Track’ chassis. This then flows to a Strange Engineering 9-Inch Pro Iron rear end, Tru-trac differential and 3.89 gears. A Wilwood Forged Superlite big brake kit sits at each corner with Forgeline SC3C wheels, 19×12″ in the rear and 18×10″ in the front.
The interior is all custom work with Recaro Sportster reclining bucket seats, Redline series gauges and Kicker in-dash controller to name but a few. If you’re interested in buying this thing, it is presumed you get a full rundown of all the modifications, what we are and ideally how much spent.
So, Renowned car builder, check. Top powertrain elements, check. Refined and not too overt interior, check and even the exterior looks appealing. Fantastic, but high quality builds also cost a lot. It goes with the territory and this one comes in at $249,888.00. Not cheap, but if you look around online for anything with a Roadster Shop chassis, they never seem to be under $100k. In the world of custom car builds, any renowned name attached does give an element of value. Like owning two designer shirts of equal quality. One has a know brand name, while the other has no brand. Guess which is worth the most?
Is this Chevelle worth the money? Yes and no. If you see the worth in a top-level, custom built and restored muscle car by a renowned builder and it’s more or less how you would have built one in the first place, then yes. The other benefit of buying into a custom build, previously owned by somebody else is that they put in all the hard work, hours and spend, which they can’t always recoup the costs from. However, if you just want a restored back to original shape 1970 Chevelle, ideally an SS model, then prices can be anywhere from $30k upwards for an example with a 350ci. V8.
A custom-build such as this one is far trickier to evaluate worth than say a well documented, numbers matching classic where prices are well documented by condition and originality. They are both in the category of show cars, but have completely different appeals.
If you’re in the market for a custom Chevelle, this maybe the one to shortlist.
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