Among the most popular muscle cars is the 1970 Chevelle Super Sport, whether stock or built to the hilt. It’s like the planets aligned for Chevrolet that year as the car was restyled to good effect and General Motors removed its edict limiting cubic inches, allowing the inclusion of the new LS6 454. What’s not to like? Gas Monkey Garage and the founder of System X like, and their collaboration led to a marathon build just in time for the SEMA 2025 Show.
As you can see, a slightly modified Champagne Gold 1970 Malibu (the upmarket trim level for the Chevelle) with white top was the basis of the build. Though not specified in the videos for the build, this Bow Tie had a White vinyl top, though if it painted Classic White top, it would have been one of 995 Chevelles painted in this fashion by the factory.
System X’s Todd Rudovich once owned a 1970 Chevelle in his youth and was pining for another one, of which Gas Monkey was only too happy to oblige. Once Gas Monkey bought the Chevelle and brought it from California to Dallas, next on the agenda was to determine the direction of the build. As enthusiasts, you know builds like these are all about style, power, performance, and braking. What color should it be? Transmission? How does it put down its power? What about tires and wheels? And how will it be driven? They all got together to discuss, with Todd determining he wanted a black-on-black supercharged driver with as much horsepower as possible while running on pump gas. In other words, a sinister Chevelle that evolved into Synister!
As bought, the Chevelle drove well and featured original sheetmetal and interior, including a solid dash pad. Starting with a good mule was key—a fine car to start with.
Then came the SpeedTech Performance chassis, which Rawlings claims to have the most bad-arse chassis for the Chevelle. This one features an independent rear suspension with overhead cantilever shock mounts plus adjustable QA1 Mod Shocks.
For several months, parts were ordered and gathered. Now, with SEMA 2025 approaching, the goal was to rally the team and finish the project in under 30 days. Makes for good television, of course, but what about the product?
Allow us to show you the finished product, which was unveiled earlier this week at SEMA. Stats include HRE wheels and Wildwood disc brakes, one-off custom Titans of CNC grille and headlight bezels, one-off CNC MagnaFlow rear exhaust tips, custom DTS interior, Sparco carbon fiber seats, Audison Thesis audio system, and more. However, the pièce de resistance is a 1,200-horsepower LME 427 LT4 with 2.7 Magnuson supercharger with Ultimate Headers and 3-inch MagnaFlow stainless exhaust.
The Synister Chevelle is on display in the System X booth (#52211) at SEMA in Las Vegas. Visit YouTube to view the serial build process, with the series finale dropping on Saturday, November 8, 2025, at 11 a.m. (CST).
