This Stunning Chevy Chevelle's Orthodox Engine Swap Is A Change You Can't Fail To Appreciate

This is an engine swap we can definitely get on board with. This 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle with LS1 power should definitely please secret ’Murican Matt, whose blossoming love affair with muscle and pony cars you might already have read about.

We found this on American eBay; a beautifully presented 1968 Chevelle from the car’s second generation, and isn’t it a looker? The Butternut Yellow paint also seen on Camaros of the same era is an acquired taste, but over the course of writing this article we’ve grown to like it a lot. There’s more than a hint of 1970s about it.

But the big news is under the not inconsiderable bonnet, where the original engine – either a straight-six of 3.8 or 4.1 litres, or a V8 of up to 7.4 litres – has been switched for a General Motors-correct LS1 small block V8, with a few modifications.

The seller, Grand Rapids Classics in Michigan, says the conversion has been ‘done right’, with an LS9 camshaft and a custom tune taking power to 448 horsepower, and since this is America, that should be imperial brake horsepower. Plenty, then.

BF Goodrich radials have the compulsory white lettering around the small five-spoke wheels, the interior is almost all new, claims the seller, and most of the famously imprecise instruments have been digitised and hooked up to a small display at the inside top left of the windscreen. Engine speed, fuel level, road speed and engine temperature are all now digital.

That’s a bit of a shame, we think. It would be nice to have all the original gauges working as well, but you can’t have everything. It looks like a lovely way to spend some spare cash, but the car’s reserve hasn’t been met at the time of writing.

Does the Chevelle get enough love, or will it always be overshadowed by the smaller, lighter Camaro? Does this car’s extra weight and lower performance mean it’s not the classic it could have been? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.