When Andy McCoy introduced a Plymouth Duster body to the Pro Modified community two years ago he did so with every intention of making his product unique amongst the fast doorslammer crowd. The popular chassis builder from outside of St. Louis has the itch again, but this time his focus is on Chevrolet fans.

Coming soon, McCoy will introduce his latest creation of a muscle car legend – the 1969 Chevelle.

“The Chevelle is something we wanted to do so we could get our foot in the door with Chevrolet based products,” said McCoy, whose Andy McCoy Race Cars business is located in the small St. Louis suburb of Washington. “Everybody is doing the Corvettes and the Camaros and the 1969 Chevelle was a muscle car just like the Corvettes and the Camaros were. So basically what we did was create a body off of what we learned from the Duster and incorporated it into the Chevelle body. We narrowed up [the Chevelle body] and chopped, channeled it and really created a Pro Mod look while still retaining the factory look.”

The one aspect of this car, as evidenced by the above rendering, is the painstaking commitment to retaining the core body lines. This was achieved by knowledge gained in fabricating the Duster bodies.

When Andy McCoy introduced a Plymouth Duster body to the Pro Modified community two years ago he did so with every intention of making his product unique amongst the fast doorslammer crowd. The popular chassis builder from outside of St. Louis has the itch again, but this time his focus is on Chevrolet fans.

Coming soon, McCoy will introduce his latest creation of a muscle car legend – the 1969 Chevelle.

“The Chevelle is something we wanted to do so we could get our foot in the door with Chevrolet based products,” said McCoy, whose Andy McCoy Race Cars business is located in the small St. Louis suburb of Washington. “Everybody is doing the Corvettes and the Camaros and the 1969 Chevelle was a muscle car just like the Corvettes and the Camaros were. So basically what we did was create a body off of what we learned from the Duster and incorporated it into the Chevelle body. We narrowed up [the Chevelle body] and chopped, channeled it and really created a Pro Mod look while still retaining the factory look.”

The one aspect of this car, as evidenced by the above rendering, is the painstaking commitment to retaining the core body lines. This was achieved by knowledge gained in fabricating the Duster bodies.

“We are really looking forward to bringing it out and seeing how well it works aerodynamically like the Duster did,” McCoy adds.

Call McCoy a perfectionist, but just like the Duster, the Chevelle won’t see the light of day until he’s confident the new body style is all of that and a bag of chips.

“We’re big on if we’re selling something out there, we want to make sure it would work for the average guy,” McCoy explained. “We don’t want to just go out and say here it is and run with it. We like to make sure our stuff works. Like when we did the Duster, we held on to that Duster for a while until we knew all the flaws were worked out of that Duster body before we sold one to anyone.”
One of those initial flaws on the Duster, McCoy admits, was  determining engine location.

“We wanted to make sure that the car’s [engine compartments] weren’t too far back with the body,” McCoy said. “We wanted to make sure that the windshield area would have enough clearance. When we first did the Duster we ran into that problem in making the front end alterations, we had to make the front end a little longer.

“Another was the rear wheel openings. We have worked with several aerospace guys that have come in and helped us design what to look for when we’re doing these bodies. You want to have a little flare here even though it wasn’t factory on it, because it really helps the air go around the tire instead of the tire disturbing the air and messing the car up as it’s going down the track.”

Right now McCoy admits he’s ahead of the curve with those issues on the Chevelle, and with confidence, he’s already starting to think ahead to future projects.

“I would like to do one of each manufacturer like we are doing with the Mopar and a Chevy,” McCoy revealed. “I’d like to do a Ford next and I really like the [1964 – 65] Ford Fairlane. I think that it would make a really good looking Pro Modified car and get some of the Ford fans excited as well.”

He’s also considered Buick and Pontiac body styles as well in order to offer a full complement of original body styles, something which was a staple of the early Pro Modified movement of the late 1980s.

“It usually takes me about a year to get my concept down-pat,” McCoy explained. “With all the drawings and renderings I’d be looking at it usually takes me about eight months to a year to finalize that. Then I start on my project and once I start it and I’m almost finished with it then I start on my renderings for my next one.

“It’s just a never-ending process and that’s fine with me. When Pro Modified began, it was about each guy working towards having something unique that the next guy didn’t have. Starting with the Duster, we’ve tried to offer a racer that option. With the Chevelle, we’re just expanding the options.”

McCoy’s Duster bodies sell for $5200 in fiberglass and $11,500 in carbon fiber. The carbon fiber bodies weigh generally in the 70 pound range. The Chevelle bodies will be comparable in price and weight.

The first of the Chevelle bodies are expected to roll out into the marketplace as early as May.

 

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