Chevrolet Chevelle 1970 Convertible “Destroyer”

This 1970 Chevelle convertible swaps its original big-block for a supercharged LS9 straight out of a Corvette ZR1’s parts bin, with custom work covering nearly every panel. See how the factory LS6 454’s reputation still shapes what builders chase decades later, and why this one goes about it with a very different engine.

You would think that the LS9 under the hood of this one is the big feature…You would be wrong.. That is a very cool feature but this car is loaded with them.. Custom from front to back!!

Most people expect the headline feature on a modified 1970 Chevelle to be whatever’s under the hood, and on this one, that would be a supercharged LS9, a modern engine borrowed straight from a Corvette ZR1’s parts bin. But the LS9 isn’t even the most extensively reworked part of this build. Every panel from front to back has been customized, which raises the obvious question of how a car built to look this aggressive still traces its identity back to a factory options sheet from half a century ago.

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When ’70s Muscle Meets 21st-Century Power

The LS9 that GM originally built for the C6 Corvette ZR1 is a supercharged 6.2-liter V8 rated well north of 600 horsepower at the factory — numbers that dwarf even the most aggressive engine options Chevrolet actually offered in a 1970 Chevelle. Dropping one into a Chevelle body isn’t just about raw output; it’s also a practical upgrade in reliability, fuel injection, and drivability over the carbureted big-blocks these cars left the factory with, while keeping the classic silhouette that made the Chevelle famous in the first place.

The Legacy This Restomod Is Chasing

When GM lifted its corporate ban on engines larger than 400 cubic inches for mid-size cars in 1970, Chevrolet wasted no time putting a 454 under the Chevelle’s hood, culminating in the LS6 option’s factory-rated 450 horsepower — the most powerful Chevelle engine ever offered from the factory. Chevrolet built 354,855 Chevelles that year alone, but the SS454 LS6 cars remain the benchmark every high-performance Chevelle build gets measured against, restomod or otherwise. A custom convertible packing an LS9 isn’t chasing originality; it’s chasing that same reputation with modern tools.

Builds like this one also tend to divide collector opinion. Purists still chase numbers-matching LS6 survivors for their historical accuracy, while builders modifying a car like this Chevelle argue that a modern LS9 delivers everyday reliability and power a 1970 buyer could never have ordered from the factory. Either way, the “Destroyer” name suggests this particular convertible was built with performance, not concours judging, as the priority.

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