This is your opportunity to finish a very high-end build that was started for the SEMA show. SEMA is the Specialty Equipment Market Association and their annual show in Las Vegas draws thousands of the top builders, manufacturers and gear heads from the automotive industry each year. This 1966 Chevrolet Suburban 4×4 was a build that was started for SEMA and subsequently stalled. Found here on Craigslist with an asking price of $35,000, the truck currently resides in Reno, Nevada. If you have the tools, knowledge and capability to finish this project, it has the potential to be an awesome machine!
Check out this full tube chassis! It takes some great engineering and execution to fabricate a chassis and roll cage like this. The new owner will have to fabricate quite a number of custom sheet metal panels to complete the interior, but this is a great start. The ad states that the ideas behind the design were for this to be a multi-function vehicle. Drag racing, off-roading, cruising and road racing were the focus of the build. It’s very hard to get a custom built vehicle to be great at several motorsports, but this one is on its way.
Yes, that’s a 500 horsepower big-block wrapped in plastic, ready to be installed! The ad has a very detailed list of the new and modified components that are included in the sale. Engine, suspension, drive train, wheels and tires, and tons of interior components. I would bet the current owner is taking quite a loss on this project, especially when you factor in the fabrication time that has already gone into the build.
Here you can see the fresh wiring, tubular chassis, shifters, and gauge pod. Not only is the chassis custom, the body has been heavily modified. The drip rails were shaved along with the rest of the body. Almost every part of the body was customized. I hope this truck finds a dedicated new owner who can see the project through to completion. Maybe it will roll into SEMA 2019 or 2020?
I almost never say this ( but others do, so what the heck),,,but what a piece of junk. What was wrong with the original Suburban with a bulletproof 283? Looks like a lot of time and money went into this, and for what? Sorry, I just don’t get it. I can’t see the end result here, and actually use it.
Hi Rube. I couldn’t agree with you more. A nice mostly stock Burb, even with a Big Block would be more practical than the likes of this one. Too few Burbs survived the years and the ones that are left should be preserved to some degree….
Nothing does everything well. It will wheelie due to the line lock can road race, jump and rock crawl, all with a GM crate 502.
Just because someone spent a lot of money doesn’t mean you will get it back. This car is a long way from being finished, quality fabrication work isn’t cheap, nor is high end paint and body. The only way this suburban comes close to the asking price is if is the dream project for someone with a huge bank roll.
Steve R
Obviously the suits at the top stopped the nonsense of this build. Who wants to be the next fool?
The inside supports ruined the vehicle.
35 k will get you a headache and more money lost spent on poor design.
I say send this one to the boneyard for scrap and sell your engine!
They are asking $29,000, not that it makes a difference. Once it’s cheap enough someone with big eyes is going to buy it, it will then become their eternal project.
Steve R
Sad but true everyone is in agreement…what a waste ..restoration to original..is ALWAYS my 1st pick….maybe a few upgrades…disc brakes..AC….ect……basicaly the 502 is the real value…..butchered shell….definitely not worth $35k to me
Maybe the “Count” will pick this up. He’s good at turning things around,,,cost no object. DANNY, this one needs your help,,,
all those high $$ parts………..might have been free.
lots of sema cars get the makers of those parts to donate them for the advertisement
All that metal framing inside the truck looks dangerous short of passengers/ driver being strapped in like they’re in a rocket ship.
This is a losing proposition to finish it even if it were free.
I thought it looked pretty cool….,until I saw the cage
taking up all the rear space..,
kinda makes being a suburban useless…doesn’t it?
There must have been a “fly in the Ointment” at some point,
to cause the builders to decide to stop,I wonder what it was?,
or else they would have just finished it…!!!
It’s not hard to see why it was never finished. I think the seller is trying to get every penny that was spent even if it was spent poorly.
Unless your a rich dude with dreams of crawling up mountains a goat would turn away and run this is not for the normal blue collar weekend off roader guy. Way too much $$$ and time to finish properly. I agree with Rube since it’s already in Nevada maybe Danny and Horny Mike will take it off their hands and finish it then enter it in next years SEMA.
The SEMA show floors are stuffed, every year, with project and exhibition cars that are obsolete in six months and useless forever.
Gotta wonder how many stalled projects are future ‘barn finds’…
More than one might imagine, Rick. Kind of like 1950s-80s kit cars that keep surfacing on a regular basis.
The SEMA Show has come a long way since it’s Long Beach, CA days…
I’m not disagreeing with some of the comments here, but did anyone actually read the ad?
The truck is disassembled for bodywork and paint. According to the ad he has the whole suspension, interior and drivetrain mocked up and ready to go. He say’s that it seats 7 and there are harnesses for all of them. So it a bit more than just a half finished project, but still a lot of work.
I think it is a really cool off-road project and if you had to duplicate all the custom fabrication already done, you would have more in it than what is being asked. Looks like quality worksmanship too. Don’t think it has any wheelies in its’ future though.
Apply $100,000, lather, rinse, and repeat
It sure looks like somebody was trying to make a 1966 version of a first-generation two-door Tahoe. there are a lot of parts with it and it looks like some pretty nice stuff but it sure would take a lot of work to finish it and I for one was never keen on following behind somebody else’s work
Big money for a money pit ,what a waste of a kool old truck.
I wish my wagon was running after 20 years, would love to see it run
“…multi-function vehicle. Drag racing, off-roading, cruising and road racing were the focus of the build. It’s very hard to get a custom built vehicle to be great at several motorsports…”
yes, “multi purpose is no purpose”. Difficult to pull off as vehicles R ‘systems’, a change 2 one area effects all others. May B ‘2 purposes’ is enuff of a difficulty. I’ve found that in the bronk (I daily drive & use as off rd ‘wrk truck’).
It got finished, here is it for sale at Barrett Jackson
https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Events/Event/Details/1966-CHEVROLET-SUBURBAN-CUSTOM-SUV-262756