Words: Harrison Wade Photos: Leo Batger
Have you ever come across a car that has stopped you dead in your tracks? It might’ve been something you had only ever seen in magazines, online, or overseas, but never in your own backyard. These are what we call unicorn cars — machines that are exceptionally rare and near impossible to find for the average person, much like the mythical creature the term was coined after. However, there are a lucky few who do come across said cars, and even fewer who are forwarded the opportunity to own them. Thomas Chrismas is one of those people, with a Nelson Racing Engines-equipped 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS being his unicorn.
As many of these stories go, the way he came about this car was a complete fluke — he was tagging along with a mate to look at a Nissan Silvia (S15) at JD Fabrication in Henderson, Auckland. As he walked into the workshop, he spotted a half-finished Chevelle with a unique stance that immediately caught his attention. But what lay in the engine bay was the real showstopper for him. “Is that an NRE motor?” he asked the shop’s owner, Jaden, who confirmed his query. You can probably guess what his next question was … And yes, the car was for sale.
The story goes that the original owner had gone overseas and effectively walked away from the project, leaving it in Jaden’s care, with the engine, suspension, and rear end all sorted. However, there was no gearbox, and the rest of the car was incomplete. Nevertheless, Tom was keen and asked for the price.
“Just adding up the components — the engine, the fabrication, the parts already in the car — it didn’t take long to realise the number I’d been given was basically the cost of the parts alone,” he says. “The work that had already gone into it was almost a bonus.”
So, as any reasonable person would do, he took out a loan and bought it as it was, where it was, making him the proud owner of one of the wildest builds in the country — one he’d need another six figures to actually finish. What looked like a manageable completion job turned out to be anything but, with every step uncovering another layer of complexity, and soon enough, he found himself rebuilding the Chevelle from the inside out.
To understand why Tom made such a poor financial decision (that we wholeheartedly support), we have to take a look at what’s under the bonnet: a Nelson Racing Engines 427ci LS twin-turbo V8. This is an engine that comes direct from the United States as a fully built, ready-to-run package producing 1,200hp on 95-octane and 1,700hp on E85 before it even sees the inside of a car. Built by Tom Nelson himself, the engine’s foundation consists of a Dart LS Next block bored to 4.125 inches with a 9.240-inch deck. Inside sits a set of forged JE pistons connected to 4340 Boostline I-beam rods and a Dart billet crank, while Dart Pro 1 280cc LS3 heads with Dart inconel exhaust valves are found up top. Charge air is fed through a Shaun’s Custom Alloy billet intake manifold, a 90mm throttle body, and Holley drive-by-wire management, with boost produced by twin 72mm NRE turbos — complete with billet turbines — sitting on either side of the engine bay. As for the exhaust, this was fabbed up locally to suit this specific car by JD Fabrication, consisting of three-inch stainless pipe and AdrenalinR mufflers.
In terms of cooling, a custom powder-coated intercooler and radiator do their best to manage the heat, with the latter causing a few headaches when Tom went to get the car tuned. He ran into problems with the radiator failing to keep everything sufficiently cool due to the obstructive design of the original front bumper, which was soon resolved thanks to several modifications by the team at Chopper Autobody.
Fuel is handled by three Trifekta 450lph pumps pushing go-go juice through teflon-braided lines, while a flex fuel sensor allows the use of either E85 or 98-octane. The ignition system consists of PRP and IGN-2A coils, with a Holley Terminator X Max ECU keeping everything in order, and a Holley seven-inch digital dash relaying all vital signs to the driver. The entire wiring harness for the engine and other electrical components up front was redone by Ryan at OCD Performance and neatly hidden behind a smoothed and de-loomed firewall.
Behind the engine sits a BTE Racing TH400 transmission, nestled inside a Reid casing rated at up to 2000hp, which is also home to a reverse manual valve body, transbrake, and a billet bolt-together torque converter. After passing through the box, power is sent rearwards to a Currie Enterprises housing and limited-slip differential with 35-spline axles via a custom steel driveshaft rated at 2000hp and a Strange Engineering billet 1350 yoke.
The chassis is sprung by Ridetech coilovers front and rear, with QA1 arms and a Ridetech sway bar up front, and a Ridetech four-link and sway bar out back. Stopping duties fall to 14-inch discs and six-pot Wilwood callipers at the front, while 12.88-inch discs and four-pot Wilwoods bring up the rear. Braking force is translated from foot to brake by an Aeroflow eight-inch booster and a Wilwood master cylinder. Topping it all off is a set of BC Forged MLE10 wheels measuring 20×9.5- and 20×11-inches, wrapped in Lexani LX-Twenty tyres in 255/35R20 and 325/30R20 front and rear, respectively.
Upon acquiring the Chevelle, Tom wanted to push the build into what he describes as ‘SEMA-show territory’, which we can confidently say he achieved — not only because of the engine, but also because he went out of his way to install standout items like Ferrari 360 electric front seats. Better yet, the car was already painted by Real Rides in Grigio Titanio grey — a Ferrari colour — when he first picked it up. Take another look inside, and you’ll find a Momo steering wheel sitting ahead of a Holley digital dash, while a Kilduff custom shifter and custom console add to the show car appeal.
Upon completing a build of this calibre, you’d think getting behind the wheel would be the first thing that comes to mind. For Tom, in the two years he’s owned it, he’s driven the Chevelle twice. Once for about a kilometre. The second time, maybe five.
“The first drive already felt like a thousand-horsepower car,” he says. “You have to feather the throttle just to get traction. It’s incredibly controllable, but the moment you lean into it — black slicks, clouds of smoke, no hesitation.” Then he checked the boost setting. He hadn’t even been on high boost.
After discovering what the car was capable of, Tom was honest with himself when he admitted that he probably shouldn’t own such a vehicle — not because it was a bad car, but because it was just so intense. With roads like ours here in New Zealand, and speed cameras hiding around every corner these days, it’s a fair statement.
About halfway through the build, Tom started an export business specialising in collectable and classic vehicles destined for the United States. It changed the way he looked at the cars in his garage — including the Chevelle. So, when a customer came looking to buy a Nissan GT-R (R34), Tom half-jokingly mentioned he’d throw in the Chevelle as a package deal. Instead of cracking a laugh, the customer was straight up and said they’d take it. From there, the plan was simple: load both cars into a container and split the shipping cost. But what struck Tom wasn’t the logistics — it was how quickly the deal was done. The car had been listed for sale locally for two weeks without a single phone call, yet when he mentioned it to one international buyer, it sold immediately.
“Cars like this aren’t always understood locally,” he reflects. “It’s a very specific build — high-end, extreme, and unapologetically over the top. The kind of car that needs the right audience. And that audience, more often than not, is global.”
The Chevelle, fittingly nicknamed ‘Silver Bullet’, is now on its way to Florida. With that being said, the story of this car goes to show that unicorns are indeed real — they’re hard to find and just as difficult to tame. Tom doesn’t seem troubled by the outcome, though. If anything, he’s the kind of fella who got the most out of the car just by building it and learning along the way.
OWNER Q&A
DRIVER: Thomas Chrismas
AGE: 34
OCCUPATION: Car exporter at Importifycars.com
PREVIOUSLY OWNED CARS: Ford Posies Flathead Flyer
WHY THIS CAR: Pure impulse
LENGTH OF OWNERSHIP: Two years
THIS CAR’S HISTORY: Built to an advanced stage by a previous owner until they relocated overseas
THOMAS THANKS: Jaden at JD Fabrication, Ryan at OCD Performance, Real Rides, and Chopper Autobody
SPEC LIST
VEHICLE: 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS
ENGINE: Nelson Racing Engines 427ci LS twin-turbo V8, Dart LS Next billet block, 4.125-inch bore, 9.240-inch deck, 4340 Boostline I-beam rods, forged 8.8:1 JE pistons, Dart billet crank, Dart Pro 1 280cc LS3 heads, Dart inconel exhaust valves, Shaun’s Custom Alloy billet intake manifold, 90mm throttle body with Holley drive-by-wire, NRE twin 72mm billet-wheel turbos, Holley Terminator X Max ECU, Trifekta triple 450lph fuel pumps, E85/98 flex fuel sensor, teflon-braided fuel lines, PRP and IGN-2A coils, three-inch stainless exhaust with AdrenalinR mufflers, custom powder-coated radiator and intercooler, custom wiring by OCD Performance
DRIVELINE: BTE Racing TH400 gearbox with Reid 2000hp-rated casing, reverse manual valve body, transbrake, billet bolt-together converter, custom steel 2000hp-rated driveshaft, Strange Engineering billet 1350 yoke, Currie Enterprises housing and limited-slip differential with 35-spline axles
SUSPENSION: QA1 arms, Ridetech coilovers, Ridetech sway bars
BRAKES: Aeroflow eight-inch booster, Wilwood master cylinder, 14- and 12.88-inch discs, six- and four-pot Wilwood callipers
WHEELS/TYRES: 20×9.5- and 20×11-inch BC Forged MLE10 wheels, 255/35R20 and 325/30R20 Lexani LX-Twenty tyres
EXTERIOR: PPG Grigio Titanio (Ferrari) grey paint, custom front bumper modifications by Chopper Autobody
INTERIOR: Ferrari 360 electric front seats, Momo steering wheel, Kilduff custom shifter, custom console, Holley seven-inch digital dash, Pioneer double-DIN head unit with Apple CarPlay, Pioneer speakers
PERFORMANCE: 1,200hp on 95-octane and 1,700hp on E85 (pre-install dyno figures)
