1960 Chevy Biscayne Would Have Hellcats Running Up Trees With Its 496 V8 and NOS Manners

Take the Biscayne in the following video as the perfect benchmark for the' Other Chevrolet’ theory. It’s a 1960 Biscayne, and at first glance, it’s no different from what General Motors’ sales champion division put together back in the day, except this chip is so far off the old block that it couldn’t even be considered an entry-level Chevy full-size anymore.

The car filmed by Lou Costabile in Arizona at the beginning of the year is obviously a restomod – and a fairly clean one– but there’s a major disruption in the fabric of this initial impression. The black Chevy shamelessly sports a pair of tunnels under the rear bumper. 2.5 inches (63 mm) of exhaust pipes is the first warning sign – this is a sedan, a two-door, and not an 18-wheeler.

That’s the second brow raiser – the wheels, or the meaty rubber on them, to be accurate. I admit, a restomod is allowed to wear whatever it desires. Still, those extra fat tires aren’t usually fitted on a car unless there’s something below the skin-deep beauty of things. And lo and behold, this Biscayne has a few secrets. One giveaway sits comfortably in the trunk on the right side of the cargo bay in the shape of a pair of NOS tanks.

These are not New Old Stock gasoline containers, but Nitrogen Oxide cylinders, which explain the tubing and rubber extravaganza. However, there’s more to this old Chevy than just go-fast chemistry. Those two extra propellant reservoirs are mounted in the trunk for one reason: to feed the insatiable ogre between the front fenders.

Chevrolet has made legendary engines for the last century. Still, few would dare to go head-to-head against this Lingenfelter-built 496 big-inch artificial earthquake generator. That’s 8.1 liters of V8 anarchy that puts down 650 hp (659 PS) via a five-speed Tremec. Well, maybe ‘put down’ isn’t the most appropriate word in this circumstance. ‘Waste’ might express it closer to reality because, at one point, this Biscayne went through two rear ends in one sitting.

The former owner of this car decided to see what the result of overdosing on the very big V8 with the special essence in the blue NOS tanks in the trunk was. With around 800 hp (811 PS) on tap – pun mandatory – the Biscayne didn’t pamper the Ford differential, and the driveline was punished. Since then, the car has been fitted with a proper Chevy rear, and the nitrous magic has never been used again. Not that it would need it – hear the tires shriek in pain when the driver and owner of this sharp-looking Chevrolet Biscayne from 1960 puts the foot down.

When it came off the line, this Chevrolet full-size coupe was fitted with a three-speed. It now sports three pedals under the steering wheel, alongside a floor shifter lever with a five-plus-one gate pattern. Originally, the car was manual, but that was corrected when the big motor was dropped between the front fenders in the bay.

Because Arizona is renowned for its freezing weather, the former owner of this Biscayne retrofitted it with an air-conditioning system to up the cool factor three-fold. Except for those in-your-face add-ons, the Biscayne doesn’t let anyone know what kind of firepower it yields.