BUCHANAN — John Pardy isn’t a typical artist.

Instead of canvas or clay, his medium is cars.

And the Buchanan man’s latest work, a modified 1965 Chevrolet Corvette named “Copbait,” won the Modern Muscle award at the Detroit Autorama custom car showcase earlier this month.

That means of the hundreds of vehicles there, his was chosen the best pro street car.

“That is a huge, national show, so to get any award out of that place is great,” Pardy said. “To be recognized on a national level is just… hard to explain.”

Pardy said he is not really into the car show scene. His love comes from taking a beat-up car and turning it into something special.

He said creativity runs in his family as his parents are both artists in their own right.

“For me it is about building something really neat — something no one has ever built,” he said.

Pardy purchased the car two years ago from a person who used it as a drag racer in Texas. It was already heavily modified from its original ’65 Corvette form.

“He had the car 15 years and was retiring from drag racing,” Pardy said. “I decided I wanted to make something very unique out of it.

“Since it was already modified, we just went the next step.”

Pardy came up with a new design for the car and re-built it from the chassis up with the help of a group of three men from US-12 Customs — Rocky Troxell, Max Gordon and Bill Dingus — who built the chassis.

Pardy, who honed his skills as a military jet engine mechanic, did the rest.

It was finished three days before Detroit Autorama.

Pardy said it stood out because it is a classic Corvette, a vehicle not many people modify.

“To have it that heavily modified is very, very unique, even in that show,” he said. “We had three different magazines that are going to do write-ups on it. That is insane.”

As for the engine, it is a 582 cubic inch big block Chevy that has 720 horsepower and runs on pump gas. The vehicle weighs 2,200 pounds.

Although it didn’t win the Ridler Award — the most coveted award at the show —Pardy’s Corvette was one of 36 finalists for the award.

“It was just overwhelming how much it stuck out to people,” he said.

Pardy’s Corvette will appear in the Cavalcade of Wheels show Saturday and Sunday at the Century Center in South Bend.