ALL ABOUT THAT BASS

PEER BENEATH THE hood of Ron Shaw’s full-figured ’66 Impala SS and it wouldn’t be a shock to find a tidy LS3 nestled into the frame rails, with a cone-filter-capped intake tube wrapped around the front of the engine compartment.

It’s the current trend, after all — one that has done much to reinvigorate the performance world and establish new benchmarks for horsepower. Then again, there’s nothing like the basso profundo of a big-block, which is what Ron’s Chevy is actually running.

In fact, you don’t even have to gaze under the hood. You know it the moment it turns over. It’s like a satisfying timpani solo from the tailpipes that you can feel in your chest.

“It’s an original big-block car and even though I wanted to go the restomod route to make it more reliable and driveable, I wanted to stick with the big-block,”