Image Source: Hot Rods Restos

If you were at the 2014 SEMA show, then you might have seen this beast parked outside by some of the vendor booths. If not, then you missed out!

This 1964 International Loadstar CO-1700 was built by the crew at Hot Rods Restos out of Abbotsford, British Columbia specifically for the SEMA show. The amazing part is that they built the truck from the ground up in only 45 days. The chassis is bespoke and so are a lot of other little details throughout the truck.

For those of you not familiar with the Loadstar CO-1700, it was produced in a cab-over-engine configuration. Hot Rods Restos flipped the script and mid-mounted an LS3 engine in the custom chassis and fabricated a custom turbo kit, helping the engine produce anywhere from 800-1000 horsepower depending on what boost level its set at. The transmission is a T56 transaxle from a Corvette, but it’s not your typical transaxle.

Hot Rods Restos designed and built a system called the “side-drive” which adapts to the T56 transaxle. The system is an offset drive and allows for a more forward placement of the output shafts. The truck is on air bags, but the brakes and suspension arms are straight off of a C6 Corvette. For those of you wondering, yes, the truck is street-legal to drive in British Columbia, so if you ever see it cruising around, give it a thumbs up.

We’re intrigued by this International Loadstar CO-1700 and would love to see it moving under it’s own power. We’ve also included a video of the truck at SEMA shot by ScottieDTV. Enjoy!