Icon’s ’52 Chevy Business Coupe: Don’t Judge This Book By Its Cover

We see it all the time, you go to a car show and there’s always one car that stands out, always drawing a crowd wherever it shows up. Perfect paint, billet wheels, high-end interior, the list goes on. Cars like these have a build cost exceeding most of our mortgages. They end up being too nice to be able to drive and enjoy. We actually become slaves to these cars, having to babysit them everywhere we go with our guard up, not a fun way to enjoy this hobby.

Jonathan Ward, the designer over at Icon, has come up with a solution to the “I can’t leave my car scenario.” On the outside, this ’52 Chevy Business Coupe looks like an ordinary old ride, not exactly a rat rod, more of a drivable barn find. By taking a nice old weathered body and leaving the patina to it, surface rust, worn paint, and hazy chrome, it becomes the perfect canvas for an ultimate driver.

This old Chevy beater goes much deeper than what this relic reflects. Jonathan took the liberty of installing an Art Morrison chassis underneath this old business coupe. The chassis is stacked with independent coil overs, six piston disc brake calipers with anti lock technology.

The engine itself is a new 6.2 L GM V8, attached to a 4L65 overdrive transmission. The wiring harness and computer all concealed, so at first glance you would never know that this car is full of modern technology. Even the wheels are high-tech spun aluminum billet pieces, artistically painted to look old.

It might not look like much, but there's close to $50K worth of interior here.

This car abounds with details. You can get lost scouring this machine for little subtle tricks.

The interior appears somewhat plain, although a closer look reveals that the seats are, in fact, covered in a combination of alligator and buffalo hide. Jonathan labels this type of a build as a Derelict, stating that what you actually have is a very high tech build, hidden beneath an unassuming vehicle.

He might’ve just struck it big on a new fad, a high-end modern build that you don’t have to baby sit. Think of the money you’ll save on paint and body work. It definitely gives new meaning to a wolf in sheep’s clothing. This cool 52 business coupe is at SEMA right now, and it’s drawing more attention than some of the cars with $20,000 paint jobs.