The owner of this ’67 Chevelle, Billibob Boor of Sherwood, Wisconsin, started this project with simple intentions. “This whole build really started by accident,” he told us, “I have a couple of different cars that I work on at home, and I’ve always wanted a ’67 Chevelle. I found this car online and when it showed up, it wasn’t what I was expecting.”
This is just a snapshot of what Zuess looked like before the big transformation into what you see today.
Long story short, the Chevelle wasn’t what he hoped for, but he it was what he had to work with, and he wasn’t going to let that get him down. “I was sitting around and I was all ticked off and decided to build the biggest, baddest, Chevelle that I could.”
A lot of time and effort has gone into squaring away every aspect of this build.
What was originally meant to be a simple, big-block four-speed car has morphed into something a little more intimidating, and thus, has been given the name Zuess. This Chevelle is now powered by a built, 427 cubic-inch LSX engine that puts out 700-horespower and 690 lb./ft. of torque. Not only does it pull some serious numbers, the thing just look gorgeous under the hood. Everything is clean, polished, and design-fit for this car.
Getting what he felt was the correct sound from the engine was actually one of the more significant challenges of the build. Billibob explained, “I wanted a certain sound from the LSX, so it took us a long time to get the camshaft and everything just right. I wanted it to sound like a drag car.” All-in-all, it took nine months to get it just right.
The rest of the drivetrain is just as impressive as the engine. The chassis is a boxed, stock Chevelle frame, the transmission is a T56 Magnum six-speed transmission, the rearend is a Moser Fab-9 with 3.73 gearing, and for stopping power, Zeuss has Wilwood disc brakes all the way around.
Plenty of go power matched to plenty of stopping power.
The paint was done by Mike Bates at Color Craft Autobody in Hobart, Indiana. While the exterior has not be overly customized, it does feature some nice finishing – such as the absence of the rear trim panel and the custom machined taillight bezels. “I wanted to make it unique,” Billibob explained, “something that not just anyone could go out and do.”
The taillight bezels were actually custom madchined from aluminum for this car.
Part of what makes this car really stand out is the custom interior put together by Steve Holcomb at Pro Auto Custom Interior in Knoxville, Tennessee. The interior features a stunning two-tone theme, with a black and red vinyl featuring cloth inserts. Steve also added LED accent lighting and color-contrast stitching so that all the exposed stitching in the black vinyl is red and in the red vinyl it’s black.
Steve really did a great job putting together the interior on this car.
“We like to do something that’s really cool and unique, not like a cookie-cutter approach for cars like this,” Steve told us. The door panels and custom console are all hand molded from PVC material by Steve and his guys to get just the right shape. He also uses the PVC materials because it is durable and long lasting. “We want the materials to last as long as you own the car,” he explained. They don’t use any of the old-school style materials, at Pro Auto Custom interiors they are all state-of-the-art.
All things considered, we think Billy’s car definitely earned its nickname Zuess. There aren’t too many rides out there like this one, and we love the look inside and out. That LSX looks good, sounds good, and is a real powerhouse finish things off. This is Billibob’s first “public build,” and all we can say is that it’s an outstanding first showing.