Sean's '73 Chevelle Laguna is proof that not all Colonnade A-bodies are weaklings. Images: pro-touring.com

It’s been said that you should never judge a book by its cover, and the same holds true for cars. In every form of motorsport, there’s always been that underdog car that most people would be quick to dismiss, even before seeing it in action. A perfect example of this would be the mid-seventies A-bodies, often referred to as the Colonnade body style.

Usually disregarded as a post muscle car-era smog-mobile, the ’73-’77 A-bodies were large, heavy, and underpowered as opposed to their predecessors. Despite that, they do offer their current owners tons of potential on the cheap. Plus, the massive engine bay can swallow anything from a 6-cylinder to the most colossal big-block you can throw at it.

This resulted in many enthusiasts resorting to these cars as a budget drag racer, but with the pro-touring movement basically taking over everything, you have to appreciate at least one car builder’s desire to stray away from the pack.

How Sean's Laguna looked before the transformation.

Enter Sean, aka “sr73bu” and his ’73 Chevelle Laguna that he refers to as, “Project Bad Buzz”. Having picked the Laguna up roughly fourteen years ago as a first car while in high school, Sean wasted no time in modifying the old Colonnade to suit his tastes.

These days the car is equipped with Hotchkis upper and lower control arms, and front and sway bars.

OPGI 2-inch lowering springs aid the KYB shocks to keep the car planted in the twisties. A pair of Global West A-arm shafts helps tie the front suspension together.

In a more interesting turn of events, Sean has elected to forego the typical LS-swap so common in today’s pro-touring cars, for a more traditional 355 SBC backed with a T-10 4-speed.  If you’re going to be different, you might as well go all out, right?

Rolling stock consists of a set of 17×9-inch Cragar Soft-8’s wrapped in Nitto rubber, while Wilwood D52 b calipers and rotors are held responsible for bringing the big beast to a halt.

The body modifications are fairly minimal, and include a cowl hood that Sean has had on his car for years, and a NASCAR-esque rear spoiler (circa 1970’s) mounted on the trunk lid. Sean utilizes Energy Suspension polyurethane bushings throughout the whole car.

There are many more finer details both inside and outside of this Chevelle, and if you’re dying to know more, you can learn more about the build process of this awesome car on the pro-touring.com website.