Built right before the iconic Tri Fives, the 1954 Chevy sedan is about as gorgeous as they come. Unfortunately, they’re not quite as popular as we’d like, but that hasn’t prevented James McKey from taking his and turning it into one hell of a build.

We first brought you news of McKey’s custom hot rod build last June. So, in the spirit of staying up to date, we reached out to him again a year later to see what the last several months have brought about for his build. Check out the progress below.

As we told you last year, the base of McKey’s build is a ’54 Chevy set atop a custom frame built by McKey himself, which features modified OEM rails, a 4 1/2-inch stepnotch, an X-braced center section, narrowed rear end (by five inches) and a Z’d front end (by three inches).

Giving the car its slammed stance is a custom crossmember conversion kit from Progressive Automotive, which allows the car to run components from a C4 Corvette, Ridetech Shockwaves, and a Ridetech swaybar paired with Unisteer electric power steering and a custom manual rack up front. Out back you’ll find a Currie 9-inch rearend with 3.50 gears, 35 spline axles, a Ridetech triangulated 4-link setup with Shockwaves, and a Ridetech swaybar. On all four corners, the Chevy is running 6-piston Baer Pro+ Series brakes, Intro wheels and Falken shoes.

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Giving the car its unique style, as seen in the Transou Design renderings, McKey has put in a ton of metal work, from extending the raised fender line onto the door, notching the firewall by five inches to allow the engine to set back more in the engine bay, and raising the driveline and transmission tunnel, to equipping the car with a ’56 Chevy front bumper and ’55 Chevy Nomad rear bumper, giving it 1955 Chevy eyebrows and fitting it with a custom grille. James incorporated influences from both vintage cars and trucks.

All of the floor pans, rockers, and quarter panels have been replaced with various sheet metal from a number of 1940s Chevy donors. The car now has mini tubs to fit fat tires underneath, while shaved door handles and key holes help give the car a smooth finish.

The car is being wired using Maxxlink wiring components for all of its modern amenities, including an on-board PC with touch screen to control everything from the custom audio system, featuring MB Quart, Pioneer, Cascade Audio Engineering and Arc Audio components, and lighting to the air suspension system, transmission shift points and engine tuning.

Eventually the ’54 Chevy will feature a 5.3L engine fitted with a FAST LSX 92mm intake, ported heads, FAST injectors, American Racing headers, MSD 92mm throttle body and COMP camshaft, with a MagnaFlow exhaust system out back. Topping it all off will be a Turbonetics twin turbocharger setup.

Backing the engine will be a 4L80E automatic transmission with a custom-built transmission cooler, Powertrain Control Solutions shift controller and paddle shifter, and a custom-built gear engagement.

Well on its way to perfection, this bad little Chevy hot rod should be finished in the near future and we look forward to keeping you up to date as we get more updates on the build’s progress! Happy building!