Nathan De Vries was on the hunt for a chrome-bumper Holden to hot rod, but somewhere along the way, he decided to change tack and take the road less travelled. “When it came time to start looking for a project back in 2020, I initially had my heart set on an LX Torana or HQ,” he says. “But I decided I wanted something a little different. I remembered seeing the ’70 Chevelle in John Wick and loved the shape of those rear quarters, so I started my hunt in Australia for a clean Chevelle.”

First published in the February 2026 issue of Street Machine

A short while later, Nathan found a tidy ’69 Chevelle Malibu for sale near Port Stephens, NSW. Owned by a retiree, it had been turned into a Chevelle SS clone, and despite the trim being sad and some tinworm popping out, a price was agreed upon and Nathan brought the mid-size Chevy home.

“The 15-inch wheels, racing stripes, big rear wing and jacked-up rear end weren’t really my style, so I did a few mods,” he says. “I added cheap coil-overs, changed the wheels to an 18in/20in set-up, and got rid of the rear wing.”

With the car’s attitude sorted, Nathan got onto Daz, Guido and Jimmy at Stitched Up Custom Trim to fix the interior. Guido designed the centre console, armrests and the tops of the door trims, which were 3D-printed and covered in black Nappa leather. Nathan sourced Commodore SS ute front seats for the Stitched Up boys to trim in matching Nappa leather and Alcantara, and they also added flat floors and black Mercedes carpet.

“The guys really did an amazing job on the trim, but then the exterior and tired 406ci small-block let the car down,” Nathan says. “I drove it like this for about a year, but it was always something that bothered me. I’m the sort of person that once something gets in my mind, it’s going to happen one way or another.

“I thought it’d be really different to build the Chevelle using as many Aussie suppliers as possible,” he continues. “We’ve got some of the best manufacturers in the world, so why not show the Yanks what we’ve got?”

It was a sound plan, but tackling a full repaint, suspension rebuild and engine conversion is no mean feat, even with an aftermarket as large as the one available for late 60s/early 70s Chevelles. Complicating the build was a promise Nathan made to his then-fiancée Rosie that the car would be ready for their wedding – then just seven months away!

“The car was sent to Bondy for a bit of a ‘Tuggerah Tickle’, as it’s known,” says Nathan. “He put the Chevelle on his chassis table, chopped out everything from the front seats back and proceeded to fabricate the mini-tubs, transmission tunnel and rails, and he configured the four-link.”

Once the fab work was sorted, the Chevelle headed to BSG Refinishing, where Goldie, Steve and Shane tackled the bodywork. One hurdle they had to clear was that the car didn’t roll on its new Koya Racing 20- and 22-inch wheels now that it had been lowered to have 100mm ground-clearance. “I asked Goldie to do what he could to make it work, because it looked so good with that stance,” says Nathan. “The guys managed to box the inner guards to give the wheels plenty of room to roll, and it’s even got clearance lock-to-lock.”

BSG then shaved the wheel trims, side marker lights and badges, and fitted the two-inch reverse-cowl bonnet, a splitter from Spoilers by Randy, and Ringbrothers mirrors and bonnet hinges. Goldie smoothed the engine bay a little, before all the factory brightwork was blacked out and he sprayed the car in customised Ford Oxford White.

“I also got him to colour-match the grey in the wheels and then spray the section between the tail-lights and front grille to break up all the black on the front and back,” Nathan says. ”The underside of the car was then Raptor-lined to tidy it up, too.”

While the shell was being sorted, Nathan didn’t sit still, as he needed to re-power the iconic muscle car with something worthy of its heritage. Thankfully, there is a world of options available for sticking an LS into the GM A-body platform, and it took Nathan no time to realise he needed to see Troy Worsley at Warspeed Industries. “I didn’t want to go forced-induction but wanted something lumpy and reliable, so Troy suggested we go 440ci with a WASP-grind cam and all the usual high-end parts you’d expect of an engine built by Warspeed Industries,” says Nathan.

Needless to say, the LS that Troy built for LVELUP is no junkyard 5.3 with a cam. He used a Dart block, Callies crank and rods, and custom 12.5:1-comp CP slugs to push 440ci out of the late-model small-block. A WASP-grind hydraulic-roller cam, Isky Race lifters and Manton pushrods work the Ferrea titanium valves in the Higgins LS3-pattern six-bolt heads, while the deep-breathing combo is topped by an LOD Performance intake manifold fronted by a Nick Williams 102mm throttlebody.

Despite not rocking any sort of atmospheric enhancer, the big-inch LS punched out an impressive 640hp at the hubs once the Holley Terminator X ECU was tuned. More importantly, the white brute was finished in time for Nathan and Rosie’s nuptials, with days to spare.

“The car made the wedding, and my now-wife and all the guests were impressed with it and the story behind it,” he says. Well, who wouldn’t be rapt with such a staunch, distinctive streeter?

NATHAN DE VRIES
1969 CHEVROLET CHEVELLE MALIBU

THANKS
Bondy for giving the Chevelle the ultimate ‘tickle’; Troy at Warspeed; Daz, Guido and Jimmy at Stitched Up Custom Trim; Ross at RollingStock; Goldie at BSG Refinishing; Steve and Shane for the bodywork; Matty for installing the glass and trim; Mick for wiring; Ryan for tuning the Holley; Mark at PROcoat; Ben Hosking; my wife Rosie for ultimately loving the car as much as I do; my dad for always encouraging and supporting me in everything I do.