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Boy, don't I know it. I wish I had that old GTO. I wish
I had my old 1970 Chevelle Malibu. Green with green vinyl roof, 307, two-speed
auto and AM radio and bench seat. I gave it away in 1985 with 150,000 on the
clock. Still ran perfect. I bought it from a lady in a retirement home for $500
in 1980 and put $700 into tie rods, brakes, and new Goodyears. Great car.
If you can imagine this, her husband bought the car for her new, brought it home
and by hand greased the inside of every body panel on the car and the inside of
the frame rails. Even took the door panels off and greased the inside of the
doors. That car did not have a speck of rust on it and it had spent it's entire
life in Michigan. Poor man's undercoating. My only complaint was you had to be
careful about how you put things in the trunk - if something fell down by the
quarter panel you'd get grease on it. I hated working underneath it - always
came up with a glob of grease on me somewhere.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2005 9:48
AM
Subject: Re: [Chevelle-list] Mecum
Auction
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 -----
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2005 9:03
AM
Subject: Re: [Chevelle-list] Mecum
Auction
I 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.
If one only had a unlimited bank account !
Larry (Z)
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