Vegas Chevelle
By: Nikki Garcia Photos by: Topher Pettit
They say all good things come in time. That is the story for this 1969 Chevelle. Greg Jones is a So Cal native but decided to give Las Vegas a chance starting in 1994. He has always wanted to build a custom car and almost started on a ,68 El Camino. Well, one day while scouring the Pomona Swap Meet for parts for the ,68, he bumped into a friend who introduced him to this cool find, the ,69. Needless to say, it was hello to the ,69, and good bye to the ,68. “ It just made more sense,” said Greg.
The car used to be an NHRA race car. It was on a trailer and came to Greg as is, which was an old drag strip racer that had hit the wall a few times. The car was pretty much an empty shell and was in need of a lot of work. But Greg didn’t mind, he knew in time it would become what he always wanted. After discussing the build with Randy at Performance Motorsports, they decided to begin by replacing the entire front end of the car. At the time he thought it would be cool to have a little street runner, but like most projects it got out of control. Next, they decided to get a blown and injected 500+ cubic inch motor installed. Shortly after that process, Greg started looking for something unique and rare for the interior, he chose an aluminum dash and counsel. But, at the end of the day it still needed something more.
Talking it over with Randy’s crew and kicking around ideas, it was decided to do a “little” body massaging. First, they smoothed out the entire body, removed the door handles and the rain gutters. During this process they also built tail light fillers. Next, the original steel bumpers were molded to the body and the bumpers were filled with lead. Last was the color. Paul Barnes, sanded the body and proceeded to lay down some House of Kolor Candy Burple paint in addition to adding some classic “ghosted” rally stripes. Did I mention last yet? Well, what would a muscle car be without a custom billet grill, Boyd Coddington Crown Jewel 20x15 rims in the rear and 18x9 in the front? Consider this project complete, just over a four year process and in the hands of a very proud owner.
