CPD C10 SS/R “Super Sport Racer” Debuts at SEMA

Cassar Performance & Design (CPD) brought its most ambitious build yet to the SEMA Show this week, debuting the C10 SS/R “Super Sport Racer” to a crowd that spent as much time circling the tailgate as they did the engine bay. The truck started life as an exceptionally preserved, one-owner 1971 Chevrolet C10, and it has since been transformed into a purpose-built, street-legal machine that blends motorsports engineering with Pro Touring performance and grand touring refinement.

The question behind the build, according to CPD, was simple: What if Chevrolet had engineered a true factory-built Super Sport C10, one that fused modern performance engineering, NASCAR-inspired intensity, Pro Touring precision, and GT-level polish, built with uncompromising American craftsmanship? Every piece of the truck was designed around answering it, and almost nothing on the C10 SS/R is a bolt-on part. Each component was either redesigned, extensively modified, or purpose-built for this specific truck.

Built On A Raised-Rail Chassis, Stitched Together By Hand

The foundation is a No Limit Engineering Pro-Tech raised rail four-link chassis. CPD paired that with a five-inch engine setback to improve weight distribution, a fully recessed and bead-rolled firewall, and a 4.25-inch raised bed floor with bead-rolled bedside panels and a custom headboard. The fabrication work continues throughout the truck, including bead-rolled front inner fenders built in partnership with GMSS Fabrication, a fully fabricated radiator core support built in-house, hand-fabricated exhaust side-exit bedside buckets, and a modified tailgate assembly.

That tailgate alone took more than 200 man-hours of fabrication and finishing. It uses a seamless bearclaw latch system, a shaved exterior handle, and a fully integrated OEM-style interior latch. CPD also reworked the factory drip rail rather than removing it, reprofiling and TIG-welding it into the cab structure with a beveled edge and controlled radius for a smoother roofline.

Power comes from an 866-horsepower, 850 lb./ft. BluePrint Engines Pro Series LS 427-cubic-inch V8 topped with a Magnuson TVS 2650 supercharger. The engine routes through a Bowler Performance T-56 Magnum close-ratio six-speed manual with a short-throw shifter, a Gulf Coast Driveshaft one-piece carbon fiber driveshaft, and a fabricated Quick Performance Ford 9-inch rear end built around a Miller Built C5-style full-floater axle with a True-Trac 3.79 limited-slip differential and 31-spline axles. Ridetech single-adjustable 12-way coilovers and Viking progressive springs handle the suspension duties, with Ridetech R-Joints and Delrin bushings at every four-link and panhard joint.

A Cabin That Splits The Difference Between Race Car And Grand Tourer

Inside, Recaro Sportster CS bucket seats are wrapped in Italian Apex Fusion Black Pearl leather with navy blue Dinamica suede inserts, each seatback carrying a custom 3D-printed SS/R emblem. CPD worked with Fesler USA on the rest of the interior, which includes billet aluminum trim, Dakota Digital HDX instrumentation, and CPD X Elemental Garage machined T-6060 billet components. A Ringbrothers A/C dash bezel houses the infotainment system, and a Trackspec Motorsports .095-wall DOM steel roll cage, powder coated in Misty Wave Blue Prismatic Powder Coat, was TIG-welded in-house into a four-point configuration.

Forgeline GA3C-SL wheels measure 19×11 up front and 19×12 out back, wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires sized 315/30ZR19 and 345/30ZR19. Behind them sits a Wilwood Aero6 six-piston front brake setup with 14-inch slotted rotors, paired with Aero4 four-piston rear calipers and matching 14-inch rotors, finished in Infineon Blue.

While the C10 SS/R held court on the SEMA floor, Cassar founder Kevin Cassar confirmed that CPD will build a similar run of trucks for customers who want their own version of the SS/R concept. According to Cassar, only three allocations remain for buyers interested in commissioning a build.

CPD credited a long list of partners for helping bring the project together, including BluePrint Engines, Wilwood Disc Brakes, Vintage Air, Forgeline Wheels, TrackSpec Motorsports, American Autowire, PWR Advanced Cooling Systems, and GMSS Fabrication, among others. As CPD puts it, the C10 SS/R isn’t a restomod and isn’t a restoration. It’s the company’s answer to what a factory Super Sport C10 could have looked like had General Motors built one with today’s engineering and craftsmanship.