Tuned 1970 Chevy Suburban With 600 HP Races Tesla Model Y Performance, Delivers Death Blow

In production between 1967 and 1974, the sixth-generation Suburban is famous for featuring a single driver-side door. That’s right, it was a 3-door people hauler, but the idea behind it wasn’t for it to be gimmicky or quirky. Having a single driver-side door was meant as a safety feature, if you can believe it.

The goal was to make it safer for passengers to exit the vehicle, and if you can’t get out on the driver’s side, it means you won’t be exposing yourself to traffic. Let’s just call it a rudimentary idea built on good intentions.

Thing is, having one less door to worry about doesn’t necessarily make the Suburban lighter on its feet, especially if you’re racing a 1970 model year version against a brand-new Tesla Model Y Performance, which by the way is the flagship version of the Model Y range. It’s as quick as compact SUVs can get, nowadays.

Still, this is no mere scrapheap Suburban we’re talking about. According to the video’s description, it’s been fitted with a 468 big block V8 engine, good for 600 horsepower. You can also bet that it features loads of other modifications, such as a new gearbox, steering system, stiffer springs and so on. We’re pretty sure it has slicks too, although the image is kind of grainy.

In any case, the modded Suburban gave the Model Y Performance a piece of its mind and then some. It even jumped off the line faster than the Tesla, which has a 0-60 mph (97 kph) factory time of just 3.5 seconds, mind you.

This was a 1/8-mile race, by the way, which the 51-year-old Chevy won hands-down. Looking at the speed trap, something tells us it would have won over a quarter mile too.