Race cars are famous for their achievements on the track. However, the legendary Smokey Yunick-built Chevrolet Chevelle was banned by NASCAR before it could reach the field of automotive battle in 1968. Its spirit and colors live on this tribute 66 Chevelle built by one man in his Alaska garage.
Fabrication is the name of the game with this Chevrolet, which has been completely re-designed by Doss Daley. We think it has the makings of a top build in the Chevelle world because there’s nothing else like it.
The project started with a rusty old 1966 muscle car body, sitting on blocks and in bad need of TLC. Doss is an engineer and he started his masterpiece by making his own chassis in CAD. It’s got a huge notch that allows the custom rear axle to sit inside the body, but it also creates problems because everything had to be made from scratch over 5 years. While you were watching Netflix over the winter, this Alaska engineer was busy fabricating headers, roll cages, side exhaust and tucked bumpers.
Under the hood, this is like a dressed-down show car, still super-clean, but not capsulated. Whatever V8 was originally powering the Chevelle has given way to an LS3 crate engine that produces a little more than its advertised 530 hp. This is hooked up to a Tremec T-56 6-speed manual which sends power to a Currie Turn 9 Pro-Touring axle, floating inside that chassis via parallel four-link suspension with watts link.
The amount of fabrication done to the body is mind-blowing. The front end is notched into the fenders to look like a modern bumper while the rear has C7 Corvette taillights. The entire floor pan had to be made from scratch and the steering wheel is an all-metal replica of Formula One. It probably doesn’t look that safe to Shown from AutotopiaLA and neither does that metal dash, but at least the brakes worked.
To top it all off, the custom paint job was done in Doss’ garage as well, replicating the black and gold livery of the infamous race car which NASCAR banned. Smokey Yunick himself called the car a cheater but said it was “fair game” because he wasn’t breaking any official rules. He used the 427 V8 as a frame cross member to stiffen the chassis, shaved weight with Lexan windows, and could reportedly hold 5 gallons of fuel in the frame rails. I think he would have loved the look of this bad boy right here.
We can talk about the details for days. But the point is one guy made a stunning 66 Chevelle in his garage and painted it there as well.
