10,000 hours and over $1 million went into building this vintage Chevy from scratch piece-by-piece

This man spent 10,000 hours and over $1 million to recreate a vintage Chevy from scratch.

Even by the standards of classic cars, that’s a hefty bill and an awful lot of time invested.

The team over at Autopia LA paid a visit to Rodger Lee, who works at Ironworks Speed and Kustoms in Bakersfield, California.

He’s the man behind the laborious project, which began with two 1935 Chevys from Arkansas.

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The vintage Chevy that took 10,000 hours to bring to life

To look at the finished Chevy, decked out in slick silver, you would think you’d been transported back 100 years.

But it’s certainly a world of difference from the cars that Lee started his project with.

He told Autopia LA: “They [were] wooden structures with sheet metal nailed to the wood.

“After all these years, it’s just this rickety tool shed.”

Not what you want when you think cool and classical car.

Although wooden cars have worked in other arenas before – like this dad who spent 120 days building his son a Rolls-Royce out of wood.

Lee had big plans for the dolled up Chevy, namely putting it on display at the Grand National Roadster Show.

Lee said: “I wanted to show people what five years of some journeyman [A worker who is reliable but not outstanding] level work should and could look like with the right execution.”

With all the wood of the original cars gone, this Chevy has been crafted with ‘cool’ in mind and it’s certainly succeeded on that front.

The car’s design has been nicely complimented with specially designed motor mounts, brackets and a handmade grill.

Modern technologies like 3D printing and CAD [Computer Aided Design] have been utilized for the process.

But despite the 21st century approach, this car is quintessentially 20th century.

How does the car look on the inside?

Once Autopia LA’s Sean got to sit inside the $1 million Chevy, his verdict was pretty clear: “These seats are b**ching!”

We all love a cool interior, especially when its custom made like this Rolls-Royce Spectre that Supercar Blondie took delivery of.

Virtually everything in the car is a one-off, including the pedals.

But looks aside, how does this Chevy handle when out on the open road?

Given that the car is running on a V8 capable of producing roughly 400hp, it’s not going to be a speed demon on the road – nothing like the Dodge Cobra.

But it drives nicely and cuts a nice figure on the modern road.

Sean gushed: “What a mind boggling car.”

It was 10,000 hours well spent.

To see this $1 million creation for yourself, head over to Autopia LA‘s YouTube channel.