here are those who acquire the bug for all things mechanical as they navigate through life, while others seem to be born with the gene. Eric Fernandez is of the latter and performed his first engine swap at age 13. It was in his go-kart that he felt needed more horsepower, so he swapped out the old Briggs & Stratton for the more powerful Honda engine from his dad’s roto tiler. “Initially my dad was upset when he saw what I had done, but after calming down, he asked me if it worked,” Eric fondly remembers. “I started it for him and did a couple laps and remember seeing the smile on his face and him being surprisingly proud. I’ve been wrenching on engines ever since.”

In high school Eric remembers one of the kids driving a ’67 Chevelle to school every day. Seeing and hearing that car pull into the parking lot tugged at Eric’s emotions to the point that car became his dream ride.

About eight years ago, Eric was on a serious hunt for a ’67 Chevelle to fulfill that dream when he spotted this one on Craigslist. Located in an old truck yard in Chino, California, about 30 minutes from his home in Anaheim Hills, the car had no engine, no transmission, no interior, no nothing. What it did have was a small rust area just below the rear window and a whole bunch of potential. He handed over $2,200 for the roller and flatbedded it to his home garage and dug right in. “I disassembled the car right away and sent the shell out for paint and bodywork while I upgraded the chassis and suspension,” Eric tells. “Once the body came back with fresh paint, I mounted it to the frame where it sat for the next 4½ years.”

It wasn’t that Eric lost interest–far from it. Family life (second and third kid being born) and a home remodel put the Chevelle on hold for a few years. Once time freed up, Eric refocused on the car. Doing all the work himself added time but Eric wasn’t facing any pressure to meet deadlines, his main concern was getting the car done right and to his specs.

Picking at the project on nights and weekends it took about seven years from start to finish, but Eric estimates actual time spent working on the car was between 2½-3 years total. Not bad for a ground-up project being done by a lone soldier.

Once ready for power, Eric initially dropped a 468ci big-block in the car but soon had a hankerin’ for something more modern. Without ever firing up the big-block, he swapped in an L96 6.0L truck engine. Engine swaps were the catalyst to Eric’s madness, so he was in familiar territory. Besides, the big-block found a good home in his brother’s ’68 Nova. “A carbureted big-block that gets about 8 mpg wasn’t the direction I wanted to go with this car,” Eric adds. “I wanted something reliable and powerful that would get decent gas mileage, so the LS made more sense. I upgraded it with a Texas Speed Stage 3 cam and dual valvesprings and drove it like that for about five months. Similar to my go-kart days, I felt the car needed a little more pep, so I bolted on a 2.9 Whipple supercharger.”

Eric headed over to KP Fab and Tune in Rancho Cucamonga, California, for dyno testing where the car busted out a stout 623 hp to the tires on gas—near 700 hp on E85 and 9.5 pounds of boost. That’s the kind of power he was looking for; the reliability and improved fuel mileage is a bonus.

With plenty of grunt on hand, Eric moved onto the driveline and installed a 4L80E, but not before it got the onceover by Trans Auto Express in Long Beach, California, in order to handle the upgraded power. A Circle D 3,400 stall torque converter backs it all up and sends power to a Drive Lines Inc. 3-inch driveshaft and a Quick Performance 9-inch rearend stuffed with a Strange Engineering centersection, limited slip differential, and 3.70 gears. A TransGo Shift Kit provides proper pressure for solid shifting.

Handling and an aggressive stance were also aspects Eric set to improve on the vintage A-body, so in went a set of Classic Performance Products (CPP) upper and lower control arms up front accompanied by CPP spindles. Viking double-adjustable coilover shocks and 500-pound springs ensure a solid ride. Out back, Eric went with upper and lower UMI control arms and once again called upon Viking coilover shocks along with a set of 250-pound springs. A UMI frame brace and Hellwig sway bars keep body roll to a minimum when Eric takes to SoCal’s Santiago Canyon twisties. Arnaco Industrial Coatings in Pico Rivera, California, did the black powdercoating to give the chassis a uniform appearance.