1196 Wigwam Parkway
Henderson, NV 89074
702.369.7037
Reach us at
Mon - Fri: 9:00am - 3:00pm
Our shop is open
Henderson, NV 89074
Reach us at
Our shop is open
A classic you can drive every day. We keep the shape and rebuild the engine, chassis, brakes and cabin, all in our own shop in Henderson, Nevada.
A restomod is a classic car that’s been restored and modernized at the same time. It looks like the car you remember. It drives like a car built this year. Nostalgia Hot Rods builds them at 1196 Wigwam Parkway, Henderson, NV 89074, near Las Vegas, for owners across the country and overseas. Call us at (702) 369-7037. This page explains what goes into a restomod, what pro touring adds, and shows the builds we’ve done.
The word is a mix of restoration and modification. A pure restoration puts a car back the way the factory built it. A restomod keeps the look and swaps the parts underneath.
Those parts are the ones you feel. A modern engine that starts every time. A transmission with an overdrive gear for the highway. Disc brakes. A suspension that doesn’t wallow. Air conditioning that actually cools.
Most restomods start as muscle cars from the 1960s and early 1970s, but the idea works on almost any classic. We’ve built them from Corvettes, Camaros, Chevelles, Chevy trucks and even a Porsche 914.
Pro touring is a restomod built to handle. The focus moves from straight line speed to the whole car: steering, grip, braking and chassis stiffness.
That usually means a new chassis or subframe, a modern rear suspension, big brakes and wide, sticky tires. On our builds, the names you’ll see are Detroit Speed and Art Morrison for the chassis, and Wilwood for the brakes.
A pro touring car should be happy on a winding road or a track day. Then it should drive you home with the air conditioning on.
All Chevy Performance said it in June 2024: our builds are meant to be driven, with horsepower, driveability and comfort all taken seriously.
Here are some of the restomod and pro touring builds from our shop, with the source for each set of specs. We only list figures that have been published or that come from our own build notes.
| Build | What it is | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1965 Corvette Sting Ray, NightHawk | Widebody with 5 inch front and 7 inch rear flares, 427 big block, Tremec six speed, Art Morrison chassis, Forgeline wheels | CorvetteBlogger and Motorious, Nov 2023 |
| 1969 Camaro | Twin turbo Nelson Racing 427 LS, Tranzilla T56, Detroit Speed chassis, Wilwood brakes, HRE wheels | All Chevy Performance, Jun 2024 |
| 1976 Porsche 914 | Twin turbo LSX with 997 911 suspension and brakes, Forgeline wheels | Forgeline, SEMA 2024 |
| 1970 Chevelle, WhippleD | Supercharged LSX 408 with a Whipple 3.0 | Whipple Superchargers, SEMA 2024 |
| 1957 Chevy pickup, Atomic ’57 | LS3, 4L80E automatic, TCI frame, RideTech air suspension | Street Trucks, Oct 2023 |
Both are good choices. They just answer different questions. A restoration asks how the car left the factory. A restomod asks how you want it to drive.
If you own a rare, numbers matching car, a restoration may be the right call. If you want a classic you can take on a long trip, in the heat, in traffic, a restomod is usually the better fit.
| Restoration | Restomod | |
|---|---|---|
| The goal | Put the car back the way the factory built it | Keep the look, modernize how it drives |
| Engine | The original type, rebuilt | A modern engine, often an LS |
| Chassis and brakes | Factory parts, rebuilt | New chassis or subframe, modern suspension, big disc brakes |
| Interior | Factory materials and gauges | Custom seats, modern gauges, air conditioning, audio |
| Who it suits | Collectors keeping a car original | Owners who want to drive their classic often |
We do classic car restoration as well as full custom builds. If you’re not sure which way to go, that’s a good first conversation to have with us.
NightHawk is a 1965 Corvette Sting Ray we built for a collector who already owned a fleet of original Corvettes, as CorvetteBlogger reported in November 2023. He didn’t need another stock car. He wanted one he could really drive.
The body was widened with 5 inch flares up front and 7 inch flares at the back. It sits on an Art Morrison chassis, runs a 427 big block and shifts through a Tremec six speed. Forgeline wheels fill the flares.
The build took about nine months. NightHawk was shown at SEMA in 2023, in the FiTech booth.
Tell us what you have, or what you want, and how you plan to drive it.
Most of our builds are American muscle, but not all of them. Our 1976 Porsche 914 runs a twin turbo LSX and borrows its suspension and brakes from a 997 generation Porsche 911. Forgeline featured it at SEMA 2024.
Trucks count too. Dustin Hacker’s own 1957 Chevy pickup, Atomic ’57, runs an LS3 on a TCI frame with RideTech air suspension. Street Trucks magazine featured it in October 2023. You can see more of it on our Atomic ’57 page.
The point isn’t the badge on the hood. It’s taking a car you love and making it one you’ll drive.
Fabrication, paint and interior are all done in-house, as Street Trucks noted in October 2023. The same team that builds the chassis fits the panels and paints them.
That matters on a restomod. A widened body, a new chassis and bigger wheels all have to agree with each other. When one shop does all of it, the car comes together as one design instead of a stack of separate jobs.
We showed 10 vehicles at SEMA 2023, as Motorious reported that November. Shows like that are where other builders and the press look closely, panel by panel.
All Chevy Performance, Street Trucks, Motorious and CorvetteBlogger have all featured cars from our shop. Every spec on this page comes from a published source, named next to it, or from our own build notes.
It starts with a conversation. What car do you have, or want? How will you drive it: long trips, track days, shows or a mix? Those answers set the engine, the chassis and the brakes.
Then the work begins in our shop. Our projects typically take 9 to 12 months, as All Chevy Performance reported in June 2024. A build with more fabrication takes longer.
You don’t need to live near Las Vegas. Our builds ship to collectors, racers and enthusiasts across the world. When the car’s done, it ships to you.
Want to see one build in detail first? Our 1969 Camaro build walks through every major part, and our 1963 Split Window Corvette shows a very different kind of car.
It depends on the car you start with and the parts you choose. We don’t publish prices. We quote each build after we talk through what you want, so call (702) 369-7037 or use the quote form.
Our projects typically take 9 to 12 months, as All Chevy Performance reported in June 2024. Builds with more custom fabrication can run longer.
Yes. Our builds ship to collectors, racers and enthusiasts across the world.
Yes. We do classic car restoration as well as full custom builds, chassis work, suspension, sheet metal, body and paint, and interiors.
Tell us about your car and how you want to drive it. We’ll walk you through the build.
Nostalgia Hot Rods · 1196 Wigwam Parkway, Henderson, NV 89074 · (702) 369-7037