Category Archives: Restomod

Restomod

Retro Muscle, Modern Fury: Trans Am Worldwide’s Chevelle 70/SS Is a 1,500-HP Time Machine

Trans Am Worldwide has never been content to let the muscle car era fade into nostalgia. Based in Tallahassee, Florida, the outfit made its name resurrecting icons like the Firebird and Trans Am, injecting them with modern engineering while keeping the attitude of Detroit’s golden age intact. Now, under founder Tod Warmack, the same crew has turned its sights on another heavyweight from the annals of American performance—the Chevrolet Chevelle SS. The result is a brutal, beautiful piece of retro Americana called the Chevelle 70/SS, and it might just be the most audacious restomod in the country.

From Camaro Bones to Chevelle Soul

At its core, the Chevelle 70/SS starts life as a sixth-generation Chevrolet Camaro. But to call it a Camaro in disguise would be an insult. Almost every visible trace of the donor car has been exorcised, replaced with custom carbon-fiber body panels that echo the broad shoulders and squared-off aggression of the 1970 Chevelle SS. Up front, the transformation is most striking—a newly designed chrome bumper, round headlights set deep within a bespoke grille, and the kind of stance that looks ready to pick a fight. Out back, the lines are pure ’70s muscle, from the squared rear quarters to the ducktail lip spoiler.

This particular example, finished in Autumn Gold with black racing stripes, isn’t just a tribute—it’s personal. The car was commissioned by Earl Newman, who owns the original 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle “Pilot Car,” the earliest-documented LS6-powered Chevelle in existence. After paying $220,000 for that piece of history, Newman wanted a modern counterpart. Trans Am Worldwide delivered exactly that—and then some.

Power Beyond Reason

Buyers can spec their Chevelle 70/SS in one of three trims: Base, 396 Heritage, and the range-topping 454 LS6X Limited Edition. Each can be ordered with increasingly unhinged levels of power.

The Base version packs a 5.7-liter LT1 V8, good for 425 horsepower in naturally aspirated form—or up to 800 hp when force-fed by a supercharger. Step up to the 396 Heritage, and the 6.6-liter (402 cubic inch) V8 offers between 800 and 900 hp, depending on your choice of supercharger or twin turbos.

But the real insanity begins with the 454 LS6X Limited Edition, of which only 20 examples will be built. This monster houses a 7.4-liter V8 that can be configured three ways: a 900-hp supercharged version, a 1,000-hp twin-turbo setup, or—if you’re truly deranged—a 1,500-horsepower twin-turbo build.

Newman chose door number three. The same man who owns the first LS6 Chevelle now has a modern one that makes more power than a Bugatti Chiron—1,479 hp for the French hypercar, 1,500 for the Floridian throwback. One can only imagine the sensory overload of stomping the throttle in a car that looks like 1970 but accelerates like 2070.

Old School Craft, New School Engineering

Every panel on the 70/SS is carbon fiber, shaped and assembled in-house by Trans Am Worldwide’s team. Despite the old-school lines, this isn’t a brute from the past—it’s a thoroughly modern piece of engineering. The chassis and suspension geometry from the Camaro platform remain, meaning the car benefits from modern handling, brakes, and safety systems. The company even engineered a removable hardtop and a functional soft top, making the 70/SS both a coupe and convertible at will.

Inside, the cabin pays homage to classic Chevelle cues but doesn’t skimp on comfort. Think retro-stitched leather, analog-inspired gauges, and enough modern tech to remind you this isn’t your uncle’s barn find.

The Price of Nostalgia

All this American excess comes at a price. The Chevelle 70/SS starts around $195,000, and Newman’s one-off 1,500-hp build easily doubles that. But you’re not just buying a car—you’re buying a conversation piece, a slice of reimagined history with the capability to outrun just about anything wearing a license plate.

Trans Am Worldwide’s Chevelle 70/SS isn’t subtle, and it’s not meant to be. It’s a love letter to one of the most iconic muscle cars ever built, rewritten for a world where the internal combustion engine is on borrowed time. With looks that stop traffic and performance that borders on science fiction, this machine proves that in Tallahassee, at least, the muscle car era isn’t dying quietly—it’s roaring louder than ever.

Source: Trans Am Worldwide via YouTube

Restomod

Totem GT Super Farina: The Alfa Romeo Restomod That’s Pure Italian Poetry

If Singer has rewritten the gospel of the Porsche 911, then Totem Automobili might just be Italy’s answer to that divine restoration craft — except their scripture is written in the language of Alfa Romeo. And this, the Totem GT Super Farina, might be their Sistine Chapel.

Only 40 examples will ever exist, each one hand-built with the kind of passion that makes you want to speak with your hands while talking about it. It’s based on Alfa Romeo bones — but “based on” is like saying the Mona Lisa is “based on a woman.” What Totem has done here is nothing short of automotive alchemy.

A Shade Straight Out of the Seventies

The owner of this particular GT Super clearly wasn’t interested in blending in. He ordered his dream machine in Luci del Bosco, a luscious metallic brown inspired by the earthy tones of 1970s Italian exotica. It’s the sort of colour that looks different every time the light hits it — sometimes liquid bronze, sometimes molten espresso. Add in gold-painted rims, satin nickel accents, and a full carbon-fibre body treated with Totem’s extended satin finish, and you’ve got a restomod that looks like it should be parked outside a Lake Como villa, waiting for the espresso machine to finish.

Retro Soul, Modern Precision

From every angle, the Farina looks impossibly right. The stance, the proportions, the delicious blend of old-school romance and new-school aggression — it’s all there. It’s as if someone took a vintage Alfa and whispered, “you deserve better,” before rebuilding it molecule by molecule.

Open the door, and the theatre continues. The cabin is wrapped in ivory Nappa leather, with Alcantara, carbon fibre, and brushed metal making cameo appearances. The machined aluminium switchgear feels like it was carved by watchmakers, not fabricators. And then there’s that manual gearbox, crowned with a wooden shift knob — a glorious rebellion in an age of paddles and screens.

Heart of a Modern Italian Beast

Under the bonnet, Totem could’ve played it safe with a lightly warmed-over Alfa twin-cam. But that’s not their style. Instead, they teamed up with Italtechnica, who conjured a twin-turbo 2.8-litre V6 that sounds like it was tuned by Pavarotti’s pit crew.

In its “standard” form, it delivers 600 horsepower and 700 Nm of torque — but if you tick the right box, you’ll get 750 hp and 986 Nm, which are numbers that start to feel a little… unholy. All that in a compact, lightweight body that channels its power through a proper manual? That’s not nostalgia — that’s nirvana.

The Price of Passion

At €539,000, the GT Super Farina isn’t just expensive — it’s exclusive. You could buy a small fleet of Giulia Quadrifoglios for that. But none of them would feel like this. None would blend 1960s romance with 2020s performance so seamlessly.

Totem hasn’t just made a car; they’ve made an emotion you can drive. A tribute to Alfa Romeo’s soul, to Italian craftsmanship, and to the art of making machinery that moves you — literally and spiritually.

If the GT Super Farina proves anything, it’s that sometimes, il cuore sportivo still beats loudest when it’s hand-built, polished to perfection, and painted the colour of autumn sunlight over Tuscany.

Source: Totem Automobili

Restomod

Theon Design 911 Restomod Is a Masterclass in Air-Cooled Perfection

Singer may have lit the fuse on the modern Porsche 911 restomod movement, but the fire has spread far and wide. Across the Atlantic, a handful of British builders have emerged as serious players in this rarefied art form—and Theon Design is leading that charge. Its latest creation, the result of 18 painstaking months of craftsmanship, may just be the Oxfordshire firm’s finest work yet.

At the heart of this Ice Green Metallic masterpiece is a powerplant worthy of a standing ovation. Theon’s engineers have built an air-cooled, 3.8-liter flat-six that breathes through independent throttle bodies and spins out 407 horsepower at a stratospheric 7,600 rpm. Torque peaks at 293 lb-ft (397 Nm), delivered with the kind of immediacy that only individual throttle butterflies can provide.

Those numbers alone might not scare a modern 911 GT3, which enjoys a roughly 100-hp advantage, but the Theon weighs in at a featherweight 1,150 kilograms (2,535 pounds)—a staggering 312 kilos (688 pounds) lighter than the factory GT3. Add in a five-speed manual and rear-wheel drive, and you’ve got an old-school driving experience distilled to its purest form.

And then there’s the noise. Theon’s adjustable exhaust can whisper through the village or wail like a banshee on a Sunday blast, depending on your mood and proximity to the local constabulary. A semi-active TracTive suspension keeps the car composed no matter how pockmarked the road, while a built-in lift kit spares that sculpted nose from steep driveways and unkind speed bumps. Brakes are lifted straight from the 993-generation Carrera RS, and custom 18-inch wheels wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport rubber keep the classic silhouette planted and poised.

Every Theon begins as a bare-metal 911 shell. The company reworks and strengthens the chassis with fresh seam welding before clothing it in carbon fiber panels that mirror the original’s curves but shed precious weight. The result, finished here in a shimmering Ice Green Metallic with Polished Eclipse Chrome accents, looks as if it just rolled out of Stuttgart in a better alternate universe.

Inside, the craftsmanship borders on obsessive. Recaro CS seats with carbon fiber backs sit amid a sea of gray Alcantara and bespoke leather. The gauges are reimagined yet familiar, while a stealthy Alpine head unit feeds six Focal speakers—modern sound discreetly hidden in a cabin that still feels gloriously analog.

Of course, exclusivity like this doesn’t come cheap. Theon’s commissions start at £420,000 (about $564,000), and that’s before you even source the donor car. But for the lucky few, this is less about cost and more about curation—about owning a machine that captures the soul of the air-cooled 911 and reimagines it for the modern world.

Singer may have started the movement, but Theon Design proves the symphony of the classic 911 is far from over—and in the right hands, it might even sound better than ever.

Source: Theon Design