Robert Rubins, 1968 Chevelle...
Robert Rubins, 1968 Chevelle
March 2008
Some cars scream, "Look at me!" Others wear the trick paint job of the week, along with wheels to match. Robert Rubins' '68 Chevelle has classic, understated good looks. This vintage A-body is one of Chevrolet's finest looking machines-why mess with a good thing? The factory hood and stripes are classic, the Torq Thrust wheels are period-perfect, and the vinyl bench seat a throwback.With 396 badges on the fenders, you'd be forgiven if you dismissed this one as a 12-second hot rod. But it's what is under the unsuspecting stock hood that pushes this Chevelle over the top. It's a 540-cube big-block with FAST fuel injection, Dart heads, and twin turbos.
When you see thousands of cars every year, how do you narrow it down to a Top 10 list? If you're smart, you probably don't. Why are we even attempting to do this? Maybe we're just gluttons for punishment. We know we're going to create controversy. Some will be ticked off. Others will go as far as to insult our mothers. Still, here we are.
Like most ideas that bear fruit on these pages, it came from a bench racing session. We were talking about the great cars we'd seen over the year and things snowballed from there.
Any attempt at compiling such an honor roll requires a set of rules, and the first was, "No vehicle belonging to an advertiser is eligible." The main reason for this is fairly obvious. Any award to such a machine would automatically smell of a sell-out. The readers put their hearts, souls, time, cash, and credit cards into their creations. This would be our way of saying thanks.
Cars had to be Chevy powered. No Northstar V8s, Buick V6 Turbos, etc., but LS power is OK. Selections were not limited to those found at Super Chevy Shows, nor did we exclude trailer queens or drag-only cars.
We also had to put some kind of time limit on this. In the bizarre world of publishing, our first issue of the year has a March cover date, the last February; hence we made those the cut-off dates. The only car not featured previously is this year's winner. Finally, we allowed cars featured in the Super Chevy Special issues eligible (Chevy Classics, Chevelle, and Nova).
Is this the end-all, be-all compilation? Certainly not. There were hundreds of cars we'd have liked to have pointed our cameras at, but for a variety of reasons couldn't. Some had been shot by rival publications, while others were geographically undesirable. Sometimes rain got in the way, some will be shot next year. It happens.
What follows on these pages are the cars 1-9, with the Super Chevy Car of the Year, our 10th pick, following on page 26.
 Chris Yorek, 1966 Nova April...  Chris Yorek, 1966 Nova
April 2008
We see tons of truly magnificent Novas around here, but few can match the craftsmanship of this one. It looks like a toy come to life, thanks to the 20x15-inch Intro wheels stuffed into the wheel tubs. This Chevy II is no joke, however.Everything on the car is sanitary, both in cleanliness and execution. The detail in the trunk and under the hood is every bit as brilliant as the interior and exterior. The bodywork is flawless. Power comes from a very streetable 383, which means Chris can drive it whenever he wants. |  Ray Borba, 1968 Camaro June...  Ray Borba, 1968 Camaro
June 2008
We see millions of '69 Camaros-the fact that Chevy only built a quarter-million of them seems odd. Perhaps they could reproduce. Still, this '68 proves there were great F-bodies built prior to '69. Who knows what evil lurks under that cowl-induction hood? Ray Borba does. He built this twin-turbocharged stroker small-block (how's 800 hp grab ya?). It's got twin intercoolers, fuel-injection and Brodix Track 1 aluminum heads, and a real-life six-speed manual is employed for gear changes.A quartet of 18-inch Michelin Pilot Sport tires keep it glued to the road, and we were intrigued that Ray made the upper A-arms himself. Yes, it can tear up the twisties, but there's also air conditioning to keep you cool and a stereo to keep you entertained if the sound of screaming tires starts getting to you. |  Robert Briggs, 1964 Impala...  Robert Briggs, 1964 Impala convertible
September 2008Long the dominion of the lowriders, the '64 Chevys are finally starting to catch up in popularity with the rest of their full-sized brethren among hot rodders. Like a low rider, this '64 has air suspension to adjust its altitude. But how many of those pavement scrapers have a twin turbo'd 406 Mouse motor with (get this) a draw-through carburetor?Lest you think this is all show and no go, check out the burnout shot on page 34 of the September '08 issue. No photoshop there. Just good, old-fashioned tire smoke from burning rubber. |