Mirandabuilt Chevelle – A 1967 Convertible Named “Detox”
This Mirandabuilt Chevelle was rescued then given a new lease on its performance life. Any good shop has had an experience with a car like this 1967 convertible. An owner shows up with a project that was started somewhere else, but was never finished. And he needs you to fix the other guy’s mess. Sounds very familiar right?
That was the case for Jeremy Miranda and his crew at Mirandabuilt Inc. in Delray Beach, FL, when the owner showed up with a painted, but unfinished project.
The customer’s goal was a nice driver. But while talking with Jeremy, he saw photos the 1967 Nova built by Jeremy’s team that won the 2014 Goodguys Street Machine of the Year. The Nova also was a 2014 Detroit AutoRama Ridler Great 8 finalist.
That sealed the Chevelle’s fate. Build something better than that, the owner instructed. And since the owner had the resources to finance an even better car, Jeremy launched on the two-year journey that produced this black beauty.
The owner liked the black paint that the first shop had laid down, but Jeremy told him that the only way to build the car correctly was to strip it to bare metal and start over. That decision made, Jeremy’s crew dug in and after a trip to the stripper a piece of Swiss cheese metal came back.
For his tens of thousands of dollars spent at the first shop, the owner received a decent paint job that covered pounds of mud. Jeremy and his guys replaced every panel on the car.
After restoring the body to solid sheet metal, the rear taillight panel presented a challenge. A desire for a custom treatment meant the factory bolt-in taillight assemblies had to go. The metal panel insert was designed and hand crafted in the Mirandabuilt shop, including fabrication of new taillight buckets.
Then 3D scans were made and sent to Greening Auto in Cullman, AL, where one-off taillights were constructed. With a $15,000 price tag, these might be the most expensive taillights ever installed in a Chevelle.
Even with all the striking body mods to the Chevelle, the interior might be the most impressive part of the car. The interior design and construction was handled by the craftsmen at Avant Garde Design in Palm City, FL.
The seats, console, door panels and the dash were all designed and built by Avant Garde. Classic Instruments provided the one-of-a-kind instrument cluster. The steering wheel is from Billet Specialties and the shifter is from Clayton Machine.
You can’t see the most innovative part of the leather interior. Magnets, not screws or plastic clips, hold the various components together.
After the body was massaged to perfection, it went to Charley Hutton’s Color Studio in Nampa, ID, where the single-stage PPG black paint was applied. Hutton does some of the best paint work in the industry. He’s worked with the late Boyd Coddington, Chip Foose, Rad Rides by Troy and other top builders.
Once back in Delray Beach, the body was mated to a Roadster Shop Fast Track chassis featuring coil-over front and rear suspension and Wilwood 15-inch, 6-piston disc brakes. Schott F10 wheels (20×8.5 front; 22×12 rear) and Pirelli tires make firm contact with the pavement.
The pristine engine compartment is home to a 367-cubic-inch LS3 crate motor surrounded by custom-fabricated engine bay panels. The forced-induction Magnacharger-topped powerplant is mated to a 6-speed RPM Transmission that feeds the power to a Ford 9-inch, posi-traction rearend housing 3.70 gears. We’re guessing 600hp with that huffer on top?
The exhaust gasses flow through Ultimate headers and a custom three-inch exhaust system that exits through outlets in the heavily modified rear bumper. Both front and rear bumpers were massaged by Mirandabuilt.
After two years and somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 hours of shop time, the owner of this black beauty has something to be proud of. And then some.
