One-Bay Wonder

A Crazy, 750hp Unibody Chevelle Built at Night and on Weekends in a Single-Car Garage.

- Scotty Lachenauer

Hot rod builder Nick Weber and his dad, Nick Sr., have fabricated some nifty street brawlers in their family garage space, but when Nick picked up a 1969 Chevelle from an online auction, he decided the Chevy would be his best build to date.

When the Webers bought the Chevelle, it was powered by a 396 big-block and TH400 combo, which didn’t last long under his care. Right off the bat, the younger Nick pulled the drivetrain and installed 540 inches of Chevy big-block power backed by a 4L80E trans. Some suspension upgrades were added to the mix of speed parts, and the car was brought down to the ground as much as humanly possible.

Over time, Nick got interested in building an autocross car. As the all-important suspension upgrades loomed over him, he thought of selling the Chevelle and starting from scratch with another ride, but his dad convinced him to give the Chevelle another chance and turn it into a corner-burner.

In August 2012, Nick started the transformation. The first step was removing the body from the chassis. Nick wanted a unibody car, so he sold the chassis and put the shell of the car on a frame table to weld his own entirely new substructure. His goal was a final ride height of just 5 inches above the pavement. Low, but not slow.