Metalworks Classic Auto Restoration out of Eugene, Oregon has built some incredible vehicles over their years of experience and their latest has us in love. This is the modern revival of a 1955 Chevy 210 post with the best that 2017 has to offer. With a full Art Morrison chassis with and independent front suspension and multi-link independent rear suspension, this thing rides and drives like a new sports car with classic looks.

Under the hood is a Chevrolet Performance 430-horsepower, 6.2-liter LS3 with a warranty that makes this thing the ultimate flogging machine. Thankfully, they freshened up the look of the LS under the hood with gray accents and MSD coil covers which look incredible. Under the hood detail is what often gets overlooked when building cars and something we pride ourselves for at Classic Car Liquidators. Opening the hood of a car and seeing a mess of wiring and a million hoses and cables doesn’t appeal to most people’s sense of beauty. This ’55 has a completely clean engine bay with fabricated panels on the radiator supports, fender wells and a smoothed firewall. Noy many cars look this good under the hood, especially LS-powered cars!

Many cars have the power and suspension required to be a high-end ride, but not many have the right look. This car has the look NAILED with the black and gray two-tone, fat Budnik Famosa wheels with Wilwood 14″ disc brakes hiding behind them, and the stance that leaves you wanting more. This is a truly incredible build by an awesome company. Check out the video of this ride below.

Anthony Busack’s ’69 Camaro started off as the perfect buy. A big-block, 4-speed, 12-bolt ’69 Camaro Rally Sport with the correct Rally wheels. This soon turned into the wrong car as it was no fun to drive. The big block run out of guts at 4,500 rpm, the gearing sucked for highway cruising and the steering was lacking in the corners. He decided to transform it into a full-on, balls-out ProTouring beast that could do anything and everything he threw at it. Here she is in all of her glory.

This will forever be my favorite 1969 Camaro ever built.

Full Roadster Shop chassis hides underneath to make it corner and ride like a true sports car.

Attention to detail makes this ride stand out under the hood like no other. Classic styling with modern performance.

SPECS:

Year: 1969
Make: Chevrolet
Model: Camaro RS
Engine: 403ci LSx
Induction: NA
Transmission: T56 Magnum 6-Speed Manual
Rear End: Strange 9″ w/ 3.73’s
Suspension: Roadstershop FastTrack chassis, Penske double adjustable coilovers
Wheels: Forgeline GA3C-SL, 19×9.5 and 20×12

Jeff Thisted is the face of events such as Hot Rod Power Tour where he MC’s at the main stage. He a hot rodder true to form and has a killer ’55 Chevy that he drives all over the place. It’s a 210 station wagon with a 350/700R4 combination. Topping that mild 350 is Holley’s Sniper EFI system which is a self-tuning system with the ECU mounted inside of the throttle body. It’s Holley’s latest and greatest EFI swap that makes fuel-injection easy and attainable for the normal guy. He’s got a killer car with much more hiding underneath the surface.

SPECS:
Year: 1955
Make: Chevy
Model: 210 Wagon
Engine: 350ci V8; Edelbrock Performer RPM Intake; Blueprint Aluminum Heads; Holley Sniper EFI
Drivetrain: 700R4 Automatic Overdrive with stock rear end and an Eaton TrueTrac w/ 3,73 gears.
Ignition: MSD Pro-Billet Distributor; MSD Blaster 2 Coil; 100 Amp PowerMaster Alternator; Optima Red Top Battery; Accel Ceramic Tipped Spark Plug Wires; Accel Spark Plugs
Exhaust: Patriot Headers into Dynomax Super-Turbo Mufflers
Cooling:  Matteson’s Cooling Module – Aluminum Cross-Flow Radiator; AC Condenser; Transmission Cooler; Dual Cooling Fans; Expansion Tank
Steering:  Mooneye’s Purple Sparkle Steering Wheel; Flaming River Tilt Steering Column; CPP 500 Series Power Steering Box
Brakes: Wilwood Front Disc Brakes & Master Cylinder; Rear Stock Drums
Wheels & Tires:  17-inch American Racing Torq Thrust Wheels & Continental Tires 235/50ZR17 front and 245/50ZR17 rear
Suspension:  New Body Bushings; Rebuilt Front End with 2-Inch Lowered Spindles & Front Springs; Bilstein Shocks; New Rear Leaf Springs & Shackles
Interior:  New Interior; Padded Dash; Dynamat Under Carpet & Inside Doors; New Window Channels & Felts; New Tailgate Cables & Retractors
Gauges: RedLine Gaugeworks/Speedhut GPS Speedometer; Moon Eyes Tach; Auto-Gauge Oil, Volt, Temp Gauges; Holley Sniper EFI 3.5 Inch Handheld Touchscreen
Wiring Harness: Painless Performance 21-Circuit Wiring Harness
Stereo: RetroSound Radio Model 2; Alpine PDX-F4 Amplifier and Alpine SPR-60 Speakers; Remote Power Door Locks and Alarm System
Lights:  LED Head Lights; LED Front & Rear Turn Signals; LED Tail Lights
Extras:  Vintage-Air A/C; Corvette grill; Tinted Windows; Converted Windshield Wiper System

Jim Cain has been a veteran of Hot Rod’s Power Tour for awhile now and when he cruises with his friend Bill’s Duster, they get plenty of looks. Jim’s car is a 1966 Dodge Charger with a ProTouring twist. He built the Charger for events such as HRPT. A total highway cruiser and street bruiser.

Under the hood is a 6.4L Gen III Hemi hooked to a 727 Torqueflite with GearVendors overdrive. It has Reilly Motorsports AlterKation front suspension and their StreetLynx 4-link out back. This suspension gets rid of the sloppy factory stuff to create a car that rides and drives as good as it looks. It has 18″ wheels as well to clear the big 14″ Wilwood rotors and 6-piston calipers up front. Jim’s Charger is just about picture perfect in my book! Feel free to go friend him on Facebook for many photos of beer, food and the the hood of his ’66 Charger.

SPECS:

Year: 1966
Make: Dodge
Model: Charger
Engine: 6.4L Gen III Hemi
Transmission: 727 TF w/ GearVendors Overdrive
Rear End: 3.55 w/ Eaton TrueTrac
Suspension: RMS AlterKtion/Street Lynx Coilover
Wheels: 18″, to fit the 14″ rotor Wilwood 6 piston front and 13″ rotor 4 piston rear brakes

Jacob Davis is a young guy from Georgia who’s always had a thing for hot rodding and nearly blowing things up. It would only make sense that he found himself friends with Mike Finnegan of Roadkill and has been on many a trip with him. In 2015, Jacob bought this ’72 Hornet in California and immediately drove it back home to Georgia. That’s a 2,200-mile trip in three days on an untested 43 year-old car. Unusually, he had no issues on that trip. He started to get confident in the little Hornet and started beating down on the little six cylinder that wouldn’t quit.

He drove it on Hot Rod Power Tour 2015, took it to Woodward Dream and Cruise and multiple other trips and decided it was time to go crazy. He put a bunch of shiny parts such as a Comp cam, Clifford Performance intake and headers, 390cfm Holley 4-barrel, MSD ignition system and last but not least, a direct-port injection nitrous kit. His plan is to force as much nitrous into the six cylinder as it’ll take under it blows up and he has an excuse to put another motor in it.

For now, it’ll be the little Hornet that could as it’s about to make a 6,000-mile trip in the wagon for the Hot Rod Power Tour long haul. His goal is to build something nobody else has. His future plans include a modern fuel-injected Hemi and a full racing-spec chassis, but that’s in the future. Stay tuned!

SPECS:
Year: 1972
Make: AMC
Model: Hornet Sportabout
Engine: 258 inline six
Induction: NA with direct port injection nitrous
Transmission: TF904
Rear End: AMC 15
Suspension: Leaf Spring
Wheels: Factory steelies up front Jeep steelies out back

Keith Jessee, Marketing and P.R. Coordinator, not only works in the aftermarket automotive industry for one of the best companies in the business, he lives cars. He has a couple of personal project cars and currently he’s working on getting this one ready to beat on the streets. His idea behind the car is something that isn’t a show winner, but is the ultimate hoon-worthy monster. This car is all function and fun with little attention to form.

“Sometime in 2013 my Canadian roommate (note polar bear front license plate) at UNOH bought this car from a questionable gentleman in Lima, OH. When it was time for him to move back to Canada he couldn’t take the car back with him. I was motivated to buy it off of him.. One thing led to another and now here we are with what may be one of the most polished turds of all time.” – Keith Jessee

He’s going full G-body shuffle on this one with a nasty budget-built LS under the hood, RideTech suspension all around and later model disc brake conversions to make it the ultimate driving machine. You have to applaud Keith’s effort to build a car to drive, not look at. Under the hood is a 6.0L LQ4 with a BTR Stage 4 LS2 cam & spring kit, Holley single-plane EFI intake, Holley 4-barrel throttle body, Holley Dominator EFI system, MSD ProPower Coils, MSD Plug Wires and a Comp Rocker Arm Trunion Upgrade. Keeping the LS fed with fuel is a Buick Grand National EFI tank with a Holley 255LPH pump with Earl’s Plumbing -8 Kevlar braided hose and a Billet Holley fuel filter and pressure regulator. Thankfully Holley has a system to swap these LS powerplants into G-bodies with the Hooker Blackheart LS Swap headers, G-body LS swap engine mounts and more. That power is sent from the engine through a Tremec TKO600 5-speed manual from American Powertrain with a Quick Time bellhousing and Hays clutch. This spins the driveshaft to a built Currie Enterprises bolt-in G-body 9″ rear with 3.25’s and Trac-Lok.

The suspension is handled by the best stuff in the business: RideTech suspension. RideTech makes a full Coilover system for these cars with new upper and lower tubular control arms, sway bars, coilovers, new links for the 4-link, and more. This transforms the sloshy feeling G-body to a true corner-carving machine. For stopping power, Keith used 11″ disc brakes from an Explorer in the back and a C5 Corvette conversion in the front from Lonestar Caliper Co. with 13″ rotors. This made for one killer machine. He nearly has everything together to get the LS under the hood and we can’t wait to see it finished!

SPECS:

Year: 1979
Make: Chevrolet
Model: Malibu
Engine: 6.0 LQ4
Induction: N/A
Transmission: American Powertrain TKO600
Rear End: Currie 9″
Suspension: Ridetech Coilover System
Wheels: US Wheel 17×8 Daytonas

Tony Whatley’s been a friend for a few years and is a connoisseur of incredible automobiles. From this ’69 Camaro to a new Viper, he has good taste in cars and one thing he’s always put first is the proper wheel/tire package and the proper stance. He’s owned this Camaro since 2005 and decided a few years ago to do a full restoration with a modern twist to it.

This is an original X55-code SS and originale Hugger Orange car. Finding an original Hugger Orange SS ‘vert wasn’t an easy task, but he found this one in Tennessee. With no original drivetrain or anything extraordinary about it the way it was, it was the perfect candidate for him to build as an all out ProTouring monster. First off, he sent the car off to Gap Racing in Houston for the metalwork, then to RF Customs in Spring, TX for the paint & body work. These are the only parts of the car that Tony didn’t do himself. While at Gap Racing, they installed Detroit Speed minitubs and stretched the quarters 1/2″ to tuck wide tires in the rear. He built the rest of the car in the garage behind his home over a couple year period and his first test drive was driving it from his house in Houston to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to start the 2016 Hot Rod Power Tour!

He wanted modern power, so he started with a bare LS7 block then sent that to Texas Speed & Performance to build a bulletproof short block with Callis Compstar crank and rods, Wiseco pistons, and one of their custom-grind camshafts. He wanted to give it a killer look under the hood, so he install a Beck CNC billet intake manifold that looks absolutely incredible. The heads are CNC-ported units from Mast. Engine management is taken care of by FAST’s EZ-EFI system with the EZ-LS timing controller. Their setup is a closed-loop, self-learning system that requires no custom tuning. You put parameters into the setup wizard and it tunes itself. For proper breathing, the LS7 got a set of Hooker 1 7/8″ long-tube headers and a full 3″ exhaust system with Magnaflow mufflers. This combination is good for 650 horsepower all day long.

For the rest of the drivetrain, he went with a Tremec T-56 6-speed manual with a Ram billet pressure plate and dual-disc clutch. A custom driveshaft connects this to the Moser 12-bolt rear end with 3.42 gears. the suspension is all from SpeedTech with billet front spindles, tubular control arms and sway bar. The rear is also Speedtech with a torque-arm setup. The grip is put to the ground with Forgeline GZ3 3-piece wheels all around and sticky Toyo R888’s measuring 245 wide up front and 345 in the back. The brakes are Wilwoods with 14″ rotors and 6-pistons all around. This thing is one killer purpose-built machine and Tony drives the hell out of it. Look for more on this ride soon! Check out this BEFORE and AFTER!

Specs:

Year: 1969
Make: Chevrolet
Model: Camaro
Engine: LS7 427ci
Induction: Beck CNC Billet Intake
Transmission: Tremec T56 6-speed
Rear End: Moser 12-bolt, narrowed 4″
Suspension: Speedtech Suspension with QA1 Adjustable Coilovers
Wheels: Forgeline GZ3 18×8 and 19×12

Long-time friends of CCL, Aaron and Emily Reeves are some of the coolest people you’ll run into. With a love of cars nearly as strong as their love for one another, they’ve built some killer cars as a couple and their story is centered around cars.

When Aaron was 17, this 1978 Datsun 280Z they called Zen was his daily driver. He met his wife Emily in this car and made many memories in this fun little Datsun. In 2007, they got married and decided to go on Hot Rod’s Power Tour in Emily’s GTO. 15 years after they met and 10 years after their first HRPT for their honeymoon, they’ve built Zen to take on HRPT17 on their YouTube show, In the Shop with Emily! They’ve covered the build on it and are now covering the entire week-long trip in their newly built LS-powered Datsun.

Check out the killer Fast EFI Inglese individual throttle-body setup they put on the LS powerplant!

SPECS:

Year: 1978
Make: Datsun
Model: 280Z
Engine: LS
Induction: Inglese stacked induction
Transmission: T56 6 Speed Manual
Rear End: R200
Suspension: CRX adjustable coil overs
Wheels: American Racing VF502

Ken Kelley, our owner, bought this 1966 Chevelle from our friends at RideTech Suspension that was their original test car for the A-body suspension systems.

We took it and put our own twist on it. Repainting it completely to fix some paint issues, adding a two-tone look with a matte gray top with matching fender stripes outlined in bronze. We then powdercoated the 3-piece CCW wheels as well to match the bronze pinstriping.

Under the hood is a Lingenfelter 418ci V8 pushing over 600 horsepower at the crank. We installed Holley coil covers painted body color to clean up the look. Thanks to all of the updates, it took the win in Lingenfelter’s Design & Engineering at the New Orleans Ultimate Street Car event in the vintage class. She’s a looker and well done throughout! Plus she’s a BLAST on the autocross and road course where she gets used and abused.

SPECS:

Year: 1966
Make: Chevrolet
Model: Chevelle
Engine: Lingenfelter LS3
Brakes: Baer 13″ Rotors w/ 6-Piston Calipers
Transmission: ZF 6-Speed Manual
Rear End: Built Moser 9 Inch
Suspension: Full RideTech Suspension
Wheels:3-piece 18″ CCW Classic Wheels

Clay, our sales manager at Classic Car Liquidators, has a few cool project rides. This is one of his favorite projects as of now, a 1955 Plymouth Belvedere with the original drivetrain and all of the style. This is probably one of the best looking 4-door cars we’ve seen in awhile. One of his favorite pastimes is taking his granddaughter Avah for drives around the yard in this old Mopar.

“After nearly a 30-year slumber, we drug the old girl out of a beat down barn. I finally got everything freed up and she roared back to life. It’s still a work in progress, but I dig everything about my 55 Plymouth Belvedere.”

SPECS:

Year: 1955
Make: Plymouth
Model: Belvedere
Engine: 230 Flathead 6
Induction: 1 Barrel Carburetor
Transmission: Powerflite Automatic
Rear End: Stock
Suspension: Stock
Wheels: 15 Stock Steelies