The turbochargers are positioned near the firewall aft of the front wheels and draw air through the cowl; the intake manifold bends downward and merges into a single inlet, where the throttle body is positioned down low below crankshaft-level. The intercooler is located in front of the radiator, and the blow-off valve can be seen protruding from the grille, giving a slight hint at what’s under the hood.
A manual valve body Turbo 400 is paired with a 4,500 RPM-stall converter to send the power back to a
Strange Ultra case housed inside a custom 9-inch rearend with 3.90 gears and 40-spline axles. The housing hangs from Matheis’ Pro Mod-style, chromoly four-link with a wishbone and anti-roll bar. Strange coilovers provide the dampening the rear, while Strange Alumastruts are located up front. American Racing wheels front and rear in black finish set off the exterior with a contrasting look to its white color.
The factory ’65 dash was customized to fit the Holley HP dash in the center and a
Dakota Digital analog dash in the factory location, with the entire assembly moved back 4-inches closer to the driver’s seat.
A glass front windshield is paired with lexan windows both side and rear — the lexan door windows also roll up in factory fashion.
Matheis’ machine is a certifiable street car, making its first public appearance last weekend at the Street Machine Nationals in DuQuoin, Illinois.
“We put the first tank gas in it there,” Rob notes. “We just went on Saturday, and later in the afternoon when the rain stopped we cruised it around the fairgrounds and took it out and cruised it on the street the rest of the day.”
Matheis adds, “we’ll race it some. It’ll probably be a while…while it looks brand new I’ll probably take it a few shows and do that kind of stuff with it, but next year we’ll probably start racing it.”
With an estimated 1,200 horsepower on tap, Matheis conservatively expects it to run in the low eights, but won’t discount dipping into the high-sevens.