Custom Chevrolet Colorado pre-runner makes 544kW

Imagine a Holden Colorado. Not exactly a performance vehicle.

Now imagine it with a V8. You’re getting there.

Okay, now imagine that V8 is a dry-sump LS7, but the Colorado looks more like a Baja racer than a ute.

That’s what happened to one (very lucky) 2015 Chevrolet Colorado in the States, after high-end hot rodders Roadster Shop got a hold of it.

With the 7.0-litre donk, performance intake manifold, a 9-inch diff, a custom built chassis, 22-inches (56cm) of suspension travel at the front and 27-inches (68.5cm) at the rear, and a track width that would make any city street one-way, Roadster Shop’s ‘ColoRADo’ is beastly, and we want one.

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The idea of driving something with so much suspension travel that you’d launch the front end into the air at a slight throttle blip is a hilarious aspiration.

But, as ridiculous an idea it is, the team at Roadster shop put in a lot (a lot) of work to make this thing as capable as it is.

The company’s designer, Chris Gray, told US offroad racing publication Score Journal that by the time they were finished with it, most of the vehicle was their own work.

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“Our incredible fab team worked on shaping the fenders and building basically 80 per cent of the track from scratch.”

That includes the frame and chassis, roll-cage, suspension, and a lot of body modification.

We think the best testament to the quality and general cool-factor of this build can be found in the detailed photo journal Roadster Shop published on its website.

There’s some serious weld-porn in there, plus a good visualisation of just how far they went for the final product. Check it out here.