I first heard of this guy on the show Rides on TLC. In my opinion, the guy builds absolutely incredible cars. If I had tons of money I’d be on the phone with him. Anyway, I’m looking over his website and find this car, built for that guy on that show. And it hits me. Troy Trepanier builds cars that look like the drawings designers make, with the huge wheels and ultra-low profile tires. That’s his own particular idiom. I also especially like how he doesn’t muck with the basic lines of the cars (also Chuck Foose’s way), and only smooths this and rounds that etc. He also builds the most beautiful engines I have ever seen. Not that I have seen that many, or really even know much about building cars. But that’s my two cents.
I can’t believe no car guy on the board wants to talk about these cars. They really are “rad”, and they’re made by a guy named “Troy”, so it’s a very cleverly named business, really.
I’m a car nut and I’ve been following Troy’s career from the beginning, starting with his turquoise '60 Impala. Get some back issues of HOT ROD magazine from about 1985 or 1986 and you’ll see what I mean. He’s got a great eye for style. You’re right, his body mods are not radical at all, he just makes the most of the original design and then applies paint and graphics that are understated but mind-blowing nonetheless. And of course the entire car is detailed like jewelry.
The '62 Chevy named Chicayne might be his masterpiece. Its twin-turbocharged small-block Chevy engine dyno’d at around 1100 horsepower, and the car’s fit and finish are like a Bentley’s. Cool guy, cool cars.
If the show didn’t have video of Chicayne driving on the road,I would never have believed a car that looked like that would be road worthy. It is a rolling work of art.
Unfortunately I only have free-to-air tv in Aus, but I had the pleasure of seeing an episode where a Plymouth Barracuda was built for the guy from Fear Factor and damn was it a sweet car. Unbelievable. Like you say, the way he accentuates the already well designed bodies is the key to such a nice car, I prefer the understated blow-your-mind look over the modify-the-crap-out-of-it approach. If only I could see more episodes 