As young kids, many of us played with toy cars of the Hot Wheels and Matchbox varieties, dreaming of the day when we could own the life-size inspirations for our playtime favorites. For one Glen Ellyn, Illinois man, nothing rang more true as a child, and, as we found out from the Daily Herald, now that man is living out his childhood dream behind the wheel of his very own Hot Wheels-inspired ‘69 Chevelle Malibu. While we’ve heard many stories like Andrew Keppel’s, we just can’t get enough of the classic gearhead beginnings shared by many enthusiasts and where that start has taken them. Check out Keppel’s car and story in the video above.

From a very young age, Keppel liked cars, but it wasn’t until age ten when his brother Adam got a ’70 Chevelle SS Hot Wheels car that Keppel really found his inspiration. At the time, the two young brothers vowed that some day they would have a real Chevelle of their own to enjoy, right down to the same colored paint.

As you know, childhood years go by with dreams and goals ever changing, but Keppel’s dream of owning a Chevelle never faded.

After college, with a limited budget, Keppel and his brother went looking for their dream car. Limited by funds, the two quickly realized that a potent SS model was not feasible so they opted for the best that they could find for their price range, ultimately a ‘69 Chevelle Malibu.

Although the car wasn’t exactly what they wanted, it was silver with a blue canvas top, the brothers knew that they would eventually do the work to the car to create their own adult Hot Wheels toy. After six years of driving the car as it was, the Keppel brothers started a full restoration on the car in 2010, taking care of some body work to get rid of rust, striping the car of its silver paint and tearing off the blue canvas top.

Plenty of work, two engine rebuilds and a couple of years later, the Chevelle Malibu is a sight to behold. Clad in a custom mixed blue metallic paint that was inspired by the Keppel’s original Hot Wheels car and the blue paint color of their father Charlie’s old ‘72 Nova, the Chevelle sports white racing stripes and rally wheels to complete its look.

Inside, you’ll find virtually no changes from the factory interior except for a factory-style radio and a new steering wheel, while under the hood you’ll find a rebuilt Chevy 350 with a mild camshaft and a Holley 650cfm carburetor.

The engine is backed by a 700R4 transmission that is reliable enough for the Chevelle to be a “driver’s car.” Not much else went into upping the power or performance of the vehicle so that the brothers could enjoy the true American muscle nature of the vehicle while keeping it tame enough to tool around town in.

The Keppel brothers’ story is very familiar to all kinds of gearheads, adding to the nature of owning a classic car. If it weren’t for our similar beginnings, who knows what the automotive world would be like today.