My long long long Chevelle project

In 1970 we bought a brand new 1970 Malibu hardtop loaded. A really nice car, but I didn't do enough research. As soon as I saw an SS I was done for. Sold the Malibu and bought a slightly used SS454 LS5 automatic car. Had a lot of fun with that car and my wife loved it. In a spate of foolishness I sold it in 1979 without telling my wife I was selling it. I basically got talked out of it and the money I was being offered was real good.

Well, since then she has always wanted another one. I agreed all along but wanted a 4 gear car for a change and to me it didn't matter if it was another 454 or the 396 as long as the car was not a major project. I found one, a 396 car, 4 speed, low miles (46,000) that had been off the road under restoration since 1999 in February 2006. I'd just had a stroke and we thought picking up a car would be therapeutic, get me out to the shop doing stuff, and it basically was a completed car but in essence a kit car as it was totally blown apart. It was also a four hour trip from home. So the car club guys got together and we headed up with a van pulling an enclosed 8' trailer, a truck with trailer on the back and a topper, a trail blazer carrying more people to help with the loading and just to be along. 9 of us altogether. We filled everything with boxes of parts and spares, all boxed and labeled, the car on a trailer tightly wrapped in blankets and then shrink wrapped and brought it home.

Unfortunately, I then had a heart attack and that basically killed the project for quite some time. I'm doing real well but don't have a lot of energy, so have been going out and tinkering but that has made the progress very slow. The club guys kept at me to let them come and help and finally the love of my life suggested this past summer that it would be nice to have the car done in our life times and she's right. So, enter the club guys and away we go. Sadly, though, many of those boxes that were nicely marked were actually filled with the old parts, not new. We learned the seller had two buddies also doing 70 Chevelle's and it would appear that they ended up with the best stuff and what was in the boxes was the best of the left overs. Not in all cases but enough that it was evident what happened and it made the project a bunch more costly than it should have been. Anyway, we ended up wading through all the crap and then I made some folks at Original Parts Group and Ground Up very happy and I'm sure there were Christmas bonuses paid this year. And every Tuesday three and some times four of the guys show up and we thrash hard on the car for 8 to 9 hours, then I heal for a week and order more parts, clean up stuff for install the following week, and we are now very close to having it running. Three or maybe four to five more Tuesdays and the car will be done with just trinket things to do that I can play with through the summer as we (read that mostly the wife) drives it.

So, with that long introduction, allow me to show you what is referred to in our house as "The Seventy". And with it's completion I can get back to doing some work on the Safari that needs to be done, and clean up my shop which looks like a bomb hit it.

 

That's one awesome resto.

So have you got all the ultimate bits and pieces to finish it off or are you still scouting for stuff?

 

WooHoo!!
Looks great! Nice to see it all come together.

 

With what should arrive next week I will have everything to finish it up. I have to say the guys at Ground Up were the best group to deal with for resto parts that I've run across in this long effort. Quick to respond, ship within 48 hours, the parts from them are always what you expect. I can't say that about any of the others we dealt with and some were an absolute disaster.

We think we can fire it also next week but that may be another week out. Then the hood back on it, put the rest of the interior in it, and get a glass guy over to do the windshield and back window. The guy who painted it screwed up the stripes on the trunk so I need to get that redone locally and she'll be a driver. My wife is SO excited. Me too.

What a huge load off our minds with it up and going.

 

SAF you and your car buds have done a great job.. Make us a video when you fire that beast up.

 

Whoa! Very nice.........

 

:2_thumbs_up_-_anima, oh yeah, your honey got a beautiful ride there! That car looks great Saf

 

Thanks guys. She is pretty excited. But it wouldn't be anywhere near where it is at without my car buds. It makes a great statement for the kinds of people are in our hobby when they will give up time on their own projects to help a friend out. I'm a very fortunate man to have met them and to be able to call them friends.

 

Saf,

Your "Seventy" is so awesome!
You are right, you have some great buds to help you with getting this amazing Chevelle back on the road. True friends! :2_thumbs_up_-_anima

David

 

That engine's a beauty.

 

Excellent job, Saf. You have to be so excited that the project is close to completion and has turned out so exceptional. Great story and wonderful end result. Have fun!!

 

Thanks for the kind words. I'm off this afternoon to pick up things like a battery, heater hoses, and vacuum lines so when you get to that stage you know it is darned close.

I had to go back out to the shop last night on the premise of checked to make sure the compressor was turned off just so I could take another look . And I hadn't been dreaming, it really is as close as I remembered from the trip out there just before dinner to have a look.

Yeah, I've got it bad, I know.

I'm already making a list of things to do on the Safari as soon as the Chevelle is off the hoist, but of course I'll lose that list in the pile of lists and have to make another one but it is all just part of the fun.

 

Like I was with EVERY resto I ever did. Ain't it great???

I keep insisting that creativity is the fountain of youth. Every time I get any new project done, car or room resto, I spend time just gazing and recalling the entire process (well minus the knuckle-dustings! )

 

so...the Wiff will be doing burnouts at the Timmys real soon??

look forward to seeing the 70 soon Saf...and shakin your hand

 

Thanks Rev. Yeah, I suspect she'll be slamming gears sooner than I'd like. Sorta drives a guy to .

I have one major screw up we inherited to have corrected. The painter who did the car did the hood and trunk separate and the trunk lid stripes are wrong:banghead3:. The trunk and hood were delivered after we bought the car (which was already painted as well). So I have to take it to a shop and get that corrected. I did get extra paint with the car but still a hassle.

Look forward to meeting you. These are exciting times.

Barry