Hi Craig: I grew up in the 60's & I can relate to what you said. Would I still like to have my L-79 SS from 1965? Of course I would but it's long gone to the crusher. Sold it in 74 after the Army & during my first marriage. Had no place to keep it anyway & the last thing on my mind was owning a 40 year old car in 2005. Aftermarket was the way back then. Either performance or looks, and most of the time you sold what you took off. Never occurred to us to save for numbers matching in the future. The number of people that are original owners of these muscle machines are few & far between. I wish my Mom had a house & garage where I could have stored mine for 30 years. Even as a rustbucket it would have been worth a fortune today as an oringinal L-79. You don't even want to know about the 58-59 Baseball card collection I sold for $10. Bought a tank of gas & went out on a date. Today I own my 4th 65 SS and every time I drive it, it makes me smile. No numbers matching anything but some of the sheetmetal. No muncie shifter and no chalk marks anywhere. Close the hood & it looks like the 60's. A lot of shine and custom wheels. Not much stock under the hood either and the flowmasters are like music. Nothing stuffy about me or my car and people let me know they approve all the time. I admire and respect the stockers and the people that build them and if I did have that first 65, I'm afraid it would have to be a trailer queen today. Personally, I want to drive, have fun and leave the numbers to the purists. Let them worry about the right screws, bolts, and chalk marks. If it's your car you do whatever makes you smile whether that's going for 1000 points, pro street or in between!! And NEVER condemn those that don't share your views. To each his own. That's one of the beauty's of this hobby. The flexibilty to be yourself!
Phil G. 65 SS
-----Original Message-----
From: Larry Shouse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Craig Ellis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; The Chevelle Mailing List <[email protected]>
Sent: Tue, 27 Sep 2005 07:52:23 -0400
Subject: Re: [Chevelle-list] Mecum Auction
Well said Craig. I too grew up in the '70's doing as you said, except I was a Ford man back then <cough, cough>. As I "restore" my 66, my plans are to go original within reason - the body and interior will be original, but I will make safety and performance upgrades. And like you, if I use after market parts, I will keep the original parts for the next guy or gal, if I ever sell this thing of course...
----- Original Message -----From: Craig EllisSent: Monday, September 26, 2005 9:03 AMSubject: Re: [Chevelle-list] Mecum AuctionI don't know about anyone else, but I grew up in the muscle car era - had a '66 GTO in high school and worked at a local factory as a press operator to pay for it. The FIRST thing that happened to that car was ET mags. Then headers and 'vette exhaust under the door. Then a Holley 850 double because my buddy's Z28 spanked me. Then a Hurst shifter. I have no idea what happened to the original parts. That was muscle car era hotrodding. Hotrodding 32 Fords was a whole other thing but with muscle cars it was all about exhaust, cams, wheels, carbs and once in a while some serious dude would port the heads - and with cast iron, that was no mean potatoes - or stroke & bore. Only the south end greasers did that stuff...not us north end frat boys - and they cleaned our clocks at the local 1/4 every Saturday night.Today, muscle cars are about getting the chalk marks correct on the rear end diff and sourcing NOS bias ply tires. I'm sorry, but I don't really get that. I mean, I respect it and I respect the meticulous attention to detail, etc., but it so not me. For years, I didn't even know how to tell if the block matched the chassis - I didn't know or think it was important. When I got my Chevelle years ago, as soon as I had the money, off came the heads and on went aluminum...and a cam and carb and wheels with some swingin' KDW tires. Oh yeah, and headers and xpipe and Flowmasters and lower springs and a Mallory and the A/C is out in the shed. Now it's MY car. It sounds, looks, and drives like the nasty old girl she is. It ain't perfect - nothing I have is - but I like it.At least this time I kept the heads, intake, A/C and manifolds. They're sitting around collecting cobwebs...probably leaking oil on something.Craig E.-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Sep 25, 2005 11:30 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [Chevelle-list] Mecum Auction
