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1970 Chevelle SS

Bill Taylor

Merrimack, NH

Team Chevelle Gold Member # 73
Bill T SS70

Meet "Bertha"

My love for Chevelle's started in 1965 when I was 15 years old. My parents purchased a new, 1965 Malibu, 283 CI engine with 3 "on the tree" standard tranny. This car was Dad's daily driver. When I turned 16 and got my drivers license this was also the car my older brother and I shared as our "evening" transportation. Dad's job involved him visiting fruit growers all over the south/central Pennsylvania area and most days driving on dirt roads into their orchards. I think I washed that car almost every day when he got home from work.

After I graduated from H.S. I bought the 65 Malibu from my parents and used that car as my daily driver while going to Electronic Institute. After graduating from EI in 1969 I was offered a job in Massachusetts so I packed up the 65 Malibu and moved to Mass. My 65 Malibu and I had many enjoyable miles together.

In 1969 I fell in love with the lines of the newer models so I started saving my money for a new car. My roommate, (now my brother-in-law), bought a new 1969 SS 396/325 hp 4 speed Chevelle. It was Orange with black vinyl top and black bucket seats, console, full gauges including the rare light monitoring system. After driving that car I had to have one so when the 70 models came out I placed an order for my 1970 SS 396 Chevelle from Sunderland Chevrolet in Leymoine, Pa. Since I was only 20 years old the dealer would only order the car if it was in my Dad's name. The list price for my new 70 SS was $4282.54. They gave me $1100 for my 65 with 125k miles on it. Side note, this past summer my parents found some old papers of mine at their house and gave them to me; my original cancelled check for $ 3182.54 and the knockouts from the keys. My SS was born the first week of May, 1970. I took delivery on May 28,1970.

I ordered my Chevelle as follows:

december99a_.jpg - 8676 Bytes Color: Champagne Gold

Interior: Saddle

My 70 SS was my daily driver until the summer of 1972. Somewhere along the way the SS got nicknamed "Bertha" so from that time forward the SS is only referred to as Bertha.

In 1972 I was transferred to Chicago. Since the company gave me a company car I did not need Bertha so I let my girl friend ( now my wife of 25+ years) have Bertha as her daily driver. She still lived in Pa. with her parents. Even though I wasn't driving Bertha, the company car I was able to order was a 73 Malibu, 350 4 barrel with dual exhaust. Not my Bertha but still a good running Chevelle.

In 1974 we got married and I got Bertha back, along with the wife… We used Bertha in our wedding, took her on our honeymoon and then hooked a U-Haul trailer behind her and moved my new bride to Chicago. Bertha didn't even know that dual axle u-haul was behind her but as I recall gas mileage suffered a little. Bertha continued to be my wife's daily driver until after 1976 when we were transferred back to the Northeast and we settled in New Hampshire. In 1977 we bought a Blazer as my wife's daily driver and Bertha stayed in the garage and became a "special occasion" car. As an example, in 1980 Bertha was used to bring our first child home from the hospital.

In 1981 the company changed the company car policy and I lost my company car so Bertha came out of retirement and became my daily driver again.

In 1985 I decided I needed a new car so I bought a new 85 Pontiac Grand Am, V6. Bertha went back into the garage. Due to work, family and other time consuming things Bertha pretty much stayed in the garage.

Then one day in 1987 I said to my wife, " Why don't we sell Bertha! We don't use her anymore, so why pay the registration and insurance?? She asked if I was sure, and I said "yes". We put a For Sale sign in the side window and my wife drove Bertha to the grocery store. Before she got home several people were already at the house ready to buy her. First in line was an 18 year old ( Kenny) and his Dad who lived about 1/4 mile away. His 2 brothers had a 67 SS 396 and a 71 SS so he was always watching to see if Bertha was for sale. He paid my asking price and gave me his word that he would take good care of her and if he ever decided to sell her, I had "right of first refusal". She went to a good Chevelle family.

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With Bertha only 1/4 mile away we got to see her all the time. Then in the early 90's Bertha disappeared. Then she would appear for a day or so, then disappear. Kenny had a pickup that was his daily driver so Bertha was again living in a garage.

Fast forward to 1998. We needed a new septic system so I had Kenny's Dad do the work. One day he told me he wanted Bertha out of this barn before winter and that Kenny was thinking of selling her. He also reminded me that I had right of first refusal. At first thought I wasn't sure if I wanted to buy Bertha back. I mentioned it to my wife and kids and everyone wanted Bertha back. After a few moments I started to get excited about getting Bertha back , but I had to wait for him to call. While I was waiting I was checking all the info and ads on Team Chevelle to determine the price I was willing to pay.

About 3 weeks went by and finally my wife called me at work and said Kenny called and left a message. I was at his place in less than 1hour. Took about 10 minutes for me to make sure he didn't molest her and agreed on a price. Kenny had put a total of 3000 miles on Bertha in 12 years. Everything was still in place including the original AM/8 track radio, FM converter under the dash, original SS wheels etc. He had even made some positive improvements. I had replaced the 396 with a 350 in 1971 when I spun the bearings in the 396. He had replaced the 350 with a 67 396/325 hp engine. He had also redone the suspension. From sitting for several years in an open barn the car was very dirty, the interior had mold on the carpet and had surface rust and corrosion every where, but she was all there.

I brought Bertha back home in late November, 1998. I immediately started to disassemble Bertha for a complete restoration over the winter. I had an agreement with a local body shop that if I could have the body to them by Christmas they would promise to get it back to me by April. december99c.jpg - 13927 Bytes I quickly stripped the interior out of the car, pulled the front end and doors off the car and started getting the body parts ready for the body shop. By December 22nd, the body was hauled off to the body shop while I focused on the interior. The body shop manager did most of the work on Bertha during evenings and weekends as like most shops today, the guys only want to do insurance jobs. The body was then stripped to bare metal. The biggest area of rust was the panel between the rear window and trunk. The replacement piece available form catalogs was installed. The vinyl top also had to be replaced due to rear window rust. The paint job consisted of primer, block sanding, 2nd coat of primer, block sanding, base coat, clear coat, sanding hood and trunk, painting stripes, re-clear hood and trunk, block sand entire car and then buffing. During the winter I cleaned and re-dyed the interior and redid the dash and gauges.

In mid March I got the body back and started the re-assembly process with the goal of having the car ready for the Epping NH Super Chevy Show in May. I spent every free minute I had putting Bertha back together including taking her to have the vinyl top installed, a glass shop to reinstall the back window and a new windshield, back to the body shop for some touchup because I scratched the fender putting the hood on and finally the day before Super Chevy, registering her and getting her inspected. Her maiden voyage was the 45 mile drive to the Super Chevy show. She ran flawlessly and we had a very enjoyable time at the show.

This past summer, while my 18 year old daughter was driving Bertha on the highway something went wrong in the 396 and spun the bearings. Since the 396 was not the original motor, Bertha has been upgraded with a new 454/425 hp crate motor.

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Our whole family has a special bond with Bertha and I know she will always be part of our family. As a family we enjoy attending cruise nights, car shows and just cruising the New Hampshire mountains.