Chevy truck set to hit the auction block in Vegas with the power of 800 horses.
The owner of this 1972 Chevrolet C20 almost got away with it. They almost made it a total sleeper. If you give it a casual glance, you’ll see a shiny, restored long-bed Chevy workhorse. With its egg crate grille, clean lines, and two-tone paint, it’s one of the bowtie brand’s more handsome old-school pickups. But it’s certainly not a sleeper.
That’s because the owner just had to slip the size of its engine to the world. See those red numbers on the front fenders? They’re 5, 7, and 2. As in cubic inches. For those of you who only speak liters, that’s 9.4 liters or nearly two Vortec 4800 LR4s. No matter which measurement you use, it’s an absolutely enormous V8. And it’s going to be up for auction later this month in Las Vegas.
According to the Mecum Auctions listing for this truck, that gargantuan V8 under the hood was race-built from the ground up in a hot rod shop. (If it would’ve said the engine was built in a WMD factory, we would’ve believed that, too.) If tuned correctly, the 572 is capable of blasting out 800 horsepower.
No word on what type of transmission can withstand the enormous amount of torque this monster is bound to generate, but the listing does provide a few details about the rest of the build. The mega-V8 breathes through a custom three-inch stainless steel exhaust with electric butterfly cutouts. The interior features new leather, a pair of power bucket seats, and a “custom high end stereo.” You can’t see it in the two interior pictures in the listing, but there’s also a navigation system in there somewhere. We wouldn’t be surprised if the next owner only uses it to get directions to the nearest drag strip.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
