Icon Derelict brings glory of Chevrolet history to SEMA 2011

If you were wondering what that rusted old car in the picture is doing in our news column, you may be surprised to hear that this is going to be one of the show-stealers at the SEMA show in Las Vegas. Dubbed as the Icon Derelict, this beauty from history is a resurrected 1952 Chevrolet Business Coupe Deluxe, enclosing a plethora of mechanics and electronics from the modern era, thanks to Jonathan Ward at Icon, a US-based company better known for rebuilding 4x4s. What we are uncertain of is, whether the discolouration on the body is custom too!

The grandfather’s pride runs on a complete powder-coated Art Morrison chassis, and houses a 6.2-litre V8 gasoline engine sourced from General Motors. Mated to a 5-speed automatic transmission, the engine spits out a furious 430 hp, while stopping power comes from a set of six-piston brakes with ABS. Enter the cabin and one would not resist appreciating the retro looks recovered to the best possible extent along with the seats clad in leather, made out of alligator and buffalo skin, revealing no trace of the array of modern tech features, including Focal and Parrot audio components with Bluetooth capability.

As this masterpiece will be on display at the show, Icon claims that the same sort of restoration could be done for almost any vehicle hailing from the yesteryears between the 1930s and 1970s. With such unique master-works, Las Vegas seems to gearing up for an exciting instalment of the SEMA 2011 show next month.