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METRO DETROIT — If you were to dig into Mike Mazelis’ vehicle history, you’d find someone who, at one time, had an interest in off-road trucks.
“I was always going out into the mud and mud-bogging and things like that,” he said. “I was always breaking the truck. Every time I’d come back, I’d have to fix something new.”
Eventually, the Warren resident switched gears and found a new pastime: muscle cars. In 2008, while perusing Craigslist, Mazelis found out about a 1970 Dodge Super Bee for sale in Hazel Park. He decided to check out the car, but when he did, it didn’t look like much.
“It was just a shell. There’s nothing on it but wheels. There’s no interior, there’s no engine,” he said. “The engine, transmission and all these boxes were just next to the car.”
Even though he “didn’t have any tools or knowledge” of restoring the car, he purchased the vehicle anyway.
“Everybody’s like, ‘How are you going to do this?” Mazelis, 51, said. “‘How are you even going to put this car together?’”
Mazelis learned from friends, watched YouTube videos and did plenty of reading to learn how to build the Super Bee.
“I spent almost every day of two years to get the car on the road, learning as I went, buying tools as I went,” Mazelis said. “A lot of trial and error.”
He made the car his own, including the sublime green paint job and addition of comfortable seats.
“It’s got a five-speed manual transmission in there. It had an automatic before. I added the wheels that I wanted. I added some suspension upgrades. That’s a custom hood that’s on there. It’s a steel hood with a fiberglass scoop,” he said. “I’m still modifying, adding parts, doing things to the car. People that have classic cars, they always say they’re never done because they’re always fixing things.”
One change Mazelis recently made was the engine.
“The car had a 440 six pack in it. That was getting pretty tiring,” Mazelis said. “I recently put a 512 cubic inch stroker engine in there, so it makes 650 horse (power). At least 600.”
Mazelis’ main goal was to drive the car as much as possible. During the summer, most Sundays are spent cruising Lake Shore Drive with his wife, Stacy; daughter Alaina, 15; and son Evan, 11. They’ll stop for lunch somewhere or grab an ice cream.
“It’s a special thing. It’s just quality time,” Mazelis said. “I like being able to share it with my family, driving around and going places.”
The eye-catching vehicle has been featured in many shows, including Detroit Autorama. The farthest trip he’s taken in the Super Bee was an 11-hour drive to Wisconsin for a car show.
Looking to connect with other car buffs, Mazelis created the Twisted Axle Car Club on Facebook and Instagram in 2013. At first, 30 people joined the group, and then 70 car enthusiasts came aboard. After a while, the pages went global as they reached car owners in Germany, Australia and Canada.
“Now it’s 50,000 people,” Mazelis said.
From that, Mazelis started the Detroit Area Only Twisted Axle Car Club on social media. He also has a presence on social media with Dynamic Detroit Mopars on Facebook.
“A lot of these people became my best friends. The car community’s just great, always trying to help each other out,” Mazelis said. “Metro Detroit is very diverse. You have all different kinds of cars, all cars that span decades. It’s just a very rich culture that we have here.”
The Detroit Area Only Twisted Axle Car Club meets at 7 p.m. every Friday at Gratiot Coney Island, 28560 Gratiot Ave. in Roseville. All are welcome. Car enthusiasts are also encouraged to check out the website twistedaxlemotorsports.com.
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