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Scott Bisel grew up in the glory days of hot rodding and street racing in Southern California. Some claim California is the epicenter and the birthplace of hot rodding and drag racing. Nonetheless, the streets are still busy to this day with the sounds of both modern and classic hot rods.
Picturesque Lake Havasu, a gold mine in the southwest desert, is full of hot rods from mild to wild. With generally little rain all year, its the perfect place for a cruise!
Scott was no stranger to the scene, having campaigned and wrenched on many cars from Southern California. After he retired from over twenty years as an electrician, he moved to Lake Havasu, Arizona. Lake Havasu is a hidden gem in the desert once made popular by the TV show “Spring Break” on MTV. With the dry and arid climate and minimal rain year-round, it’s a perfect setting for the hot rodder lifestyle. We asked Scott what he does now that he’s retired and he simply stated, “I just work on cars, race, and go to car shows.” Now that sounds like a plan!
The blown big bodied Chevelle is always good for a monster wheelstand. Although Scott typically races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, you can also catch him at Bakersfields’ ” March Meet” and ” California Hot Rod Reunion”.
Scott now has several fast street legal drag cars in his shop but this Competition Orange blown 1964 Chevelle that’s he has had for ten years is possibly his finest. You can regularly find the street legal Chevelle driving around the streets of Havasu for car shows and cruise-in’s. “Street legal is the only way I roll,” Scott says. But it’s also fast and looks amazing doing it. About once a month Scott will run the Chevelle at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the Las Vegas Top Ten fastest grudge cars in the True Street category. For a big-bodied car it’s no slouch, with a best elapsed time and speed to date of 8.52 at 161 mph.
Scott Bisels 1964 Chevelle located in the famed city Lake Havasu, Arizona. His car is completely street legal and all steel except for the hood.
The Chevelle is a true back-half car complete with a ladder bar suspension setup. The cage is all chromoly and is currently certified to 8.50 but Scott tells us, “I may go faster.”
The '64 boasts a fully-functional interior with a rear seat delete to make room for the full size wheel tubs. Autometer Phantom gauges were installed to replace the factory instrument panel. Currently, the chromoly roll cage is certified to 8.50, although with a best elapsed time of an 8.52, Scott is thinking of adding a few bars!
The rear-end is a stout Ford nine-inch built by Jason McNeal in Yucca, Arizona, Moser axles, 3.89 gears for the street/strip capability, and QA1 adjustable coilover shocks complete the package. The front end also boats QA1 coil overs with TRZ upper and lower control arms and pinto rack and pinion. To stop this 3,400-pound beauty, Scott outfitted the car with Wilwood brakes on all four corners. The wheels are Mickey Thompson 15 x 15 in the rear and 15 x 3.5 frontrunners. Mickey Thompson was also the brand of choice for the tires, outfitted with 16.5 x 33 x 15’s in the rear and 26 x 4.5 x 15’s up front.
Classic looking Mickey Thompson Wheels and tires outfitted on all four corners! Scott said his Chevelle "can hook on dirt"!
Scott builds all of his own engines for his race cars as well as many others. The heart of this street breast is a Merlin all-aluminum 572 cubic inch big-block Chevy, complimented by the 10:71 Littlefield blower that produces 12 pounds of boost. Scott mentioned to us, “I love the torque and twisting of the chassis that comes from running a supercharger!”
Scotts “self built” all aluminum blown 572 cubic inch engine produces well over 800 horsepower! He just loves “blowers” He also has a similar combo in his 7 second Chevy Luv truck!
The bottom end is beefed-up with a SCAT crankshaft and SCAT connecting rods. To complete the rotating assembly, JE supplied the 8.5 to 1 blower pistons. Scott installed a Comp Cams solid roller with 746/748 lift and 275/282 duration at .050 w/114 lobe separation. The top half of the engine includes a set of Dart Pro-1 320 CNC heads with T&D shaft rockers. The top half of the engine includes two 1,000 cfm Holley carburetors fed from the huge Magnafuel fuel pump.
To keep the big 572 well-fed, a Moroso oil pump and deep sump pan were added. For ignition, there was no other choice but MSD for Scott. He run a MSD billet distributer as well as a 7AL2 ignition box. Temperatures in Havasu can easily exceed 110 degrees for long periods of time during the summer months, and so Scott shoved the biggest Griffen radiator and electric fans he could find between the frame rails. The exhaust system includes custom headers built by Jason McNeal, with 2-3/8-inch primaries into 4-1/2-inch collectors with dual four-inch exhaust and Borla mufflers. The transmission of choice for this monster is a Turbo 400 with a transbrake, and the converter is a 10-inch built by Rusty at The Converter Shop in Lake Havasu.
For 2017, Scott plans to run the Chevelle mostly in the Las Vegas Top 10 Grudge car events, along with the West Coast Hot Rod Associations “The Battle” and the Street Car Supernationals in November.
