Chevrolet
“Corvette Bill” Bartenstein and his son, Bill Jr., are renowned around the state of Hawaii—more specifically Kailua—for their car-building talents. But that’s not all—at the 2007 Barrett-Jackson auction at Scottsdale, Arizona, a candy-blue Bartenstein-built ’69 Pro Touring Camaro fetched a record $182,000. It just so happens that this Firemist Red ’66 Corvette Sting Ray resto rod—another Bartenstein creation—rolled across the B-J auction block that same weekend and sold for an incredible $130,000. So what makes a Bartenstein-built car so attractive? Let’s take a closer look.
As we’ve come to learn, there’s something special about a ’55 Chevy, particularly when it is fitted with one of the popular Chevy engines that have become so common today. But that’s not the case when the hood is opened on this ’55. It is not the celebrated 265, or one of the more respected LS engines, or even a Chevy big block that captures your attention here. This is something different, and not a Bow Tie at all.
Maurice and Lynne Hoover were already the veterans of two wild project car builds—a ’67 El Camino and a ’67 Camaro—when Maurice decided he wanted to build yet another. He says, though, that when he brought up the subject of another project, his wife, Lynne, was not particularly pleased. Maurice went ahead and brought home a ’67 Nova anyway. While in some situations such a move could have worked out for the worse, before long Lynne came to like the car, and the two dove into the project.
Some car guys choose a path to automotive nirvana through the purchase of a car that someone else built or by having a shop build the car of their dreams, but Albert Alvarado is not one of those guys. Like many of us, he doesn’t mind getting grease under his fingernails and overspray in the garage. You see, Alvarado had completed this Bel Air once before. Back in 2004, it was a beautiful red-and-white car, but Alvarado was disappointed by the number of red-and-white Bel Airs he was seeing at all the shows, so he decided to make some drastic changes.
There are SEMA vehicles, and then there are SEMA vehicles. Do you want an explanation? Okay, all SEMA vehicles are built to show off a company’s part, but some vehicles are “built” with only that part on it and are otherwise stock. While we won’t say that these vehicles are totally a waste of time—some have shown a great deal of imagination—for the most part they don’t capture our attention, nor are they what you would consider to be mainstream vehicles.
In 1994, Denny and Dawn Johns picked up a ’55 Chevy two-door sedan. Along with Dale Johns, the couple runs Van Buren, Arkansas’ D&D Specialty Cars (479/414-2654), so it was no huge deal to think they would quickly rebuild the ’55 into something very special; after all, they had sold the car and its rebuild to Ed Johns, Denny’s father.
But about a year later, a major tornado tore through Van Buren, and along with most everything else, it left the ’55 demolished from bumper to bumper. Since the car wasn’t the only thing destroyed in the tornado’s path, it took a back seat as the Johns family rebuilt their homes and their business. Then in 2003, Ed sold the ’55 back to Denny and Dawn, and the couple decided to rebuild the car for themselves. Apparently the original plan was to build a nice driver, but once under way, Denny says, “We couldn’t find a good stopping point.” So they didn’t—stop, that is—until three years later.
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When it comes to muscle, power, and performance, you can’t beat a big block Chevy. And if you want to harness that raw power, there’s no better way to do it than with a custom set of headers. Enter the Pro Series Big Block Chevy Round Port Custom Header Build Kit from Stainless Headers Mfg. Inc. – the ultimate toolkit for any serious fabricator.
We here at The Auto Builder understand that when it comes to performance, every component counts. That’s why the Canton Racing Products GM LS1/LS6 Front Sump Road Race and Drift Pan has earned a top spot on our must-have list for any serious gearhead looking to elevate their game.
George and Leslye Jones’ ’67 Camaro convertible is one of the finest examples ever to turn a wheel. Built by the crew from Greening Auto Company (and others), this is an effort worthy of pride and praise.
Jerry McMullan is a long-time Chevy fan, and when he wanted to find a cool daily driver, he knew two things. The first was that the vehicle would be a Chevy, and the second was that he knew it had to be black. Having been the proud owner of a couple of previous ’67-’72 Chevys (a ’70 Chevelle SS and a ’70 El Camino SS), he knew that that the style suited him, so he thought that a pickup from those years would be just right for what he had in mind. After a little searching, he came across this ’71 Chevy Cheyenne. McMullan says that the truck was in fair condition when he purchased it (for the now-reasonable, though still hard to believe, price of $11,000), and thus began his three-year odyssey of building his perfect pickup.
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