Corner Lurker

Poets, visionaries, and soldiers built Chris Wissing’s severe Chevelle

- Ro McGonegal

PHOTOS: Richard Le

As Chris Wissing came into his automotive age, he was front and center at a number of indoor car shows. He loved seeing them on display. He had those images in his mind when he considered this 1970 Chevelle. It was not his first attempt at stardom. He did not appreciate the current muscle cars. He liked the idea of mixing new with old. To Chris, it was about “having something different. One of a kind is more artistic, more personal,” he said. “I studied the car as it was being torn down and thought about what I wanted.”

The essence came down to this: details are everywhere. Chris went deeper in some areas than others, but no part of the pile was left untouched. He gathered his experts. One of them was Eron Andersen at Precision Classics & Collision in Eugene, Oregon, where Chris grew up. Eron and Chad Westrick scoped out the roller and envisioned the job at hand: killer paint, perfect gaps and lines, mini-tubs, modified stock chassis with upscale suspension, LS-pulsed powertrain, and details over details.