Love can cause a person to do strange things and this Chevrolet Chevelle Laguna S3 is that concept realized in sheet metal. In the eyes of many, the Laguna is just a part of the lineage of cars that descended from cars like the Camaro but suffered under Malaise Era power restrictions. Built from 1973 through 1976, it was a car born into the oil crisis.
A quick peek at its original specs shows how underpowered it was when compared to the greats that came before it. Despite leveraging a 400 cubic inch V8, it made just 175 horsepower when new. Sprinting from 0-60 wasn’t really possible. Instead, it sort of jogged there in over 11 seconds.
Today, the Chevelle Laguna isn’t exactly a high-end collector’s item. As of this writing, only one has ever crossed the block at Bring A Trailer and it went for just $18,000 in 2021 during the midst of the wild pricing of that year. Despite that, someone reportedly spent over $150,000 making this Laguna S3 what it is; a tribute to what love can drive a person to do.
Up for sale over at Volo Cars, this 1976 Laguna S3 is mostly original with a few desirable upgrades. Let’s start with the stock stuff which includes the body itself save for the rear quarter panels. The seller says that “All the panels have been painstakingly aligned with consistent gaps that are well above average. The long heavy doors close easily with minimal effort. All the glass was replaced except for the rear quarters. They all have new rubber seals and fuzzy strips too.”
That’s the kind of attention to detail that Chevrolet might not have provided to this car in 1976 when it was on the production line. This car has its original urethane nose, egg-crate grille inserts, c-pillar window louvers, and even its “Strato-bucket” swiveling front seats. These are all products of a frame-off restoration that happened within the last few years.
What’s perhaps more impressive is just how far beyond a typical restoration this car is. If you’re curious, here’s what a stock one looks like:
Sticking to just the exterior, the rear bumper is now tucked into the body for a more uniform look. It also has cutouts for the exhaust tips. In addition, the builder grafted in functional front fender vents from a 1976 Pontiac Firebird. The wheels set the whole car off as they’re a set of staggered 18-inch akin to these ones from Ridler.
Under those wheels, keen-eyed viewers will note the huge slotted disc brakes and the Wilwood calipers. They’re an excellent indication of just how extreme this build is. Under the hood is a decked, bored, and honed 454 cubic inch V8. On top of that, it features Speedpro piston rings, rods, and main bearings.
The engine breathes through a Weiand Street Warrior intake and coated Hedman headers. In addition, it uses Holly Sniper fuel injection. New electric fans and an aluminum radiator help to keep things cool. According to Volo Cars, it’s dyno-tuned and makes 367 horsepower and 482 lb-ft of torque.
That’s more than twice what it came with stock. In an alternative universe where the Oil Embargo never happened and OPEC kept pumping out that sweet, sweet crude perhaps this is the power the Laguna would have ended up with.
Interestingly, it went to auction back in 2022. At that time, the clutch and brake were welded together and the gearbox was a Turbo 350 automatic. Today, the car sports a Tremec five-speed manual, and the pedals are back to doing their own thing. Power routes to the rear wheels only via a rebuilt 10-bolt positraction rear differential.
The steering linkage, gearbox, and sway bars (yes, it has both front and rear sway bars) are all new as well. The builder even went to the trouble of replacing the gas tank and all of the associated lines.
Whoever ends up slipping into those swivel seats looks like they’ll enjoy the cabin, too. It has air conditioning, a new carpet, a new headliner, a new Hurst shifter, a new rearview mirror, and new speakers. In fact, they connect via Bluetooth and an integrated microphone enables hands-free phone calls.
Dual controls allow for wing-mirror manipulation and additional gauges enable the driver to monitor vitals. The floors are rust-free and the trunk is just as nicely appointed as everything else on this car. The next buyer even gets a full-sized spare, a jack assembly, a lug wrench, and a fire extinguisher.
It’s worth noting that this car has a bunch of Cale Yarborough graphics on it. Those aren’t stock but instead come from the 1969 Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II. In this case, they’re still appropriate considering that Yarborough dominated NASCAR in a Laguna during the 1976 season. Chevrolet actually won the Manufacturer’s Cup eight times in nine years between 1972 and 1980. The Laguna S3 picked up two of those victories in 1976 and 1977.
Clearly, somebody with a lot of love was willing to do whatever it took to make this the ultimate Laguna S3. According to Volo Cars, they have receipts for over $24,000 worth of paint and bodywork on the car. In addition, they claim another $18,000 in upgrades during 2024. It’s asking $75,998 which is undoubtedly a lot of cheese, but this might be the greatest Chevelle Laguna on earth.
Someone had a vision and took it to the extreme.
All Photos: Volo Cars
The Colonnade cars look good with right options and proportionate wheels. The front flares and oversized wheels do it no favors.
I’m also astonished by how choked those Malaise Era engines were. that 175 hp 400 small block is almost 3 times the displacement of the 180hp 2.5 liter 4 in my Mazda. Even GM learned to do better. The earl oughts 3800 made over 200hp with pushrods
If you love this car, you have plenty of time to save up. Because there is no way it’s going to fetch even half their asking price.
The what now?
Did anyone suppose this car was going to be AWD?
Was this article written by aliens? AI?
To each his own, but whenever I see something like this, I just think “imagine if you spent that much money on a car that didn’t completely suck in the first place”. <shrug>
There is someone who thinks that about every customized car. In fact, that is what the majority of people think about almost every custom car!
the Laguna was always a pretty slick looking car, just born in a dismal era for automobiles. 175 HP was actually not terrible to be honest, Cat choked single exhaust massive two barrels with retarded ignition and low compression really did a number. I don’t honestly think they really did that much for emissions since most of the cars would be backfiring and running on when shut off it seemed like,
Some of the Colonnade cars really do look good, I’m glad to see one get some attention!
Neat, but the wheels let the whole thing down. First of all, while the fronts are 18s, the rears are 20s and are totally unnecessary IMO. Second, the wheels look like winter takeoffs for someone’s Camaro.
Agreed. Seems like nearly all of these restomod cars are ruined by putting ridiculously large modern wheels on them. They just look terrible. Wheels should be just big enough to clear the brakes, and no more.
This is probably the coolest Colonnade restomod ever.
I hope the new owner enjoys it!
“All the panels have been painstakingly aligned with consistent gaps that are well above average.”
Soooo plus/minus 1/16 of an inch rather than 1/8?
They are all in the same time zone
Cool! Now do the same with a contemporary Pontiac Can Am and I’m on board.
White with blue stripes?
except Super Duty 455, No Chevrolet lump making only 360HP, those things started at 300 HP and could be tuned with just fuel and ignition adjustments to make more.
As long as this rebuild was done as a labor of love, then, – to paraphrase Barry Goldwater (who himself paraphrased his speechwriter Karl Hess) – I say extremism in the preservation of beloved automobiles is no vice. Good luck finding a buyer that might share that valuation, though.
well said.. Great story, well written, but I’m not buying the book..
Back when cars had colors 🙂
This was before we all became colorblind.
This is right up my alley. I’ve always been a fan of the GM Colonnade cars, and also have always been fascinated with low volume “performance” versions of average cars (even though many were just lipstick on a pig), especially those for racing homologation, so I’ve always found the Laguna S-3s interesting. Lots of money invested here, but for someone (including myself if I had that kinda of money), it’s worth it.
That is fucking sweet and exactly why I’m not allowed to have money.
Fun fact; In 1973 alone, Laguna was the top Chevelle series and offered in all body styles – coupe, sedan, and wagon (that last with or without woodgrain). Buyers weren’t ready for a mass-market Chevy sedan with an Endura front, so it was replaced by the Malibu Classic while the S-3 continued as a coupe only and was revised for 1975 with this slanted, less stylish but more aerodynamic front which completed the pivot from “plush Chevy for when the Caprice is too big and the Cutlass too ostentatious” to “NASCAR homologation special”
I would fight that notion as the slant front end looks far more stylish to me. but I like them both.
This will look..fine(?) in it’s climate controlled bubble.
I can appreciate the heck out of this, but that is a lot of cheddar!
That’s where I’m at. This is gorgeous and the work looks like it was done extremely well.
But $76k gets me into a lot of other better looking, better performance, and more desirable cars.