It’s somewhat ironic that Kevin Watkins lists his dream car as being a ’53 Chev pickup. Sure, he owns the jaw-dropping example that you see on these pages, but the irony is that’s not the car he set out to build. Having owned a myriad old cars over the years, Kevin decided it was time to build something with a big block for a change. With this plan in mind, he set about sourcing and building the motor even before buying the car to drop it into.
The car he found wasn’t the pickup, but a ’63 Chev Impala. Having previously owned Chevelles and Camaros, the change of body style appealed, as did the fact the car was mint and already on the road here legally. When it arrived to him from Christchurch, though, there was a slight issue — it was too mint.
While we’ve all heard stories of cars being too good to hack
