A Modern Take on a Classic: The 1,500 HP Chevelle 70/SS

Daily Car

·

03/11/2025

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Trans Am Worldwide, a specialist workshop in Tallahassee, Florida, keeps the 1960s-70s muscle car spirit alive by building new cars that look and sound like old ones. Its newest model the Chevelle 70/SS, begins life as a stock sixth generation Chevrolet Camaro. Workers strip the Camaro to the chassis plus rebuild every visible surface so the finished product resembles a 1970 Chevelle SS while delivering modern super grade speed.

The rebuild is extensive. Every outer panel of the Camaro is removed and replaced with a carbon fiber panel that weighs less than steel. The nose receives a chrome bumper, a special grille but also four round headlamps that copy the 1970 layout. Pillar and fender shapes are measured and adjusted until they match the 1970 proportions. Buyers choose between a hard roof that unlatches as well as lifts off and a cloth roof that folds down like that of a convertible.

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Three trim levels share the 70/SS name but use different V8 engines. The Base trim ships with a 5.7-liter LT1 V8 rated at 425 horsepower - a supercharger pushes output to 675 or 800 horsepower. The 396 Heritage trim uses a 6.6-liter V8 that delivers 800 horsepower with a supercharger or 900 horsepower with twin turbochargers. The 454 LS6X Limited Edition holds a 7.4-liter V8 offered in three stages: 900 horsepower with a supercharger, 1,000 horsepower with twin turbochargers or 1,500 horsepower with a larger twin turbo system. The last figure exceeds the horsepower of a Bugatti Chiron.

Production of the 1,500-hp 454 LS6X stops at twenty cars. Earl Newman, who already owns the first documented 1970 Chevelle SS with the LS6 engine, ordered one of the twenty. His 70/SS was painted Autumn Gold and carries black stripes to mirror his 1970 original. Prices for a completed 70/SS open near 195,000 dollars - the 1,500-hp version sits at the top of both the power or the price lists.

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