TC member #2337
Sunday, January 27, 2001. I scan the classified section like I do every morning looking for a 70 Chevelle. None. But, I do see a 69 listed as "one owner"..."62K original miles"..."call Mon thru Fri 8am to 5pm". I'm on the phone at 7:50am the next day! The phone was finally answered at precisely 8am.
I began talking with the gentleman about the car and told him I would like to come and see it. His response was "Alright but its dirty. I haven’t cleaned it up." The first thing I thought of was a car out it the weather and another wasted trip. I put the thoughts to rest and headed for West Memphis. When I arrived at the address the location turned out to be a mechanic shop. The car was inside and stored on an old front end alignment rack which was pretty nice since the car was up off the ground making easy access to see the bottom of the car. It was about a half inch deep in dust and I could only see the black paint on the lower body panels.
It didn’t take me long to see that the car was pretty straight and original. He took a battery out of an old Dodge pickup and brought a bottle of gas to start it for me. His mechanic stepped in and informed us that it would start without a prime. He was right. It fired right up but smoked pretty bad and was running very rich. The mechanic went on to tell me that he had worked there for nine years and had only started the car four times in that period. He also told me that the car was previously stored in its own room in the back of the shop for many years.
The original owner, Mr. Earnest Rains’ version of the cars life story is as follows. "My wife drove our kids to school in that car until 1975. That’s when I parked it". The car came with the Chambered exhaust since it was an early November 68 car. The chambered exhaust was removed at 40K miles and replaced with a stock dual exhaust set up. His explanation about why the Chambered system was removed was "I was 29 years old, had a pocket full of tickets and those darned things just attracted the law". Lucky for me, he saved the chambered mufflers and the complete smog system that was removed at the same time the exhaust was swapped. Those parts were included in the sale. Yes....I bought it.
The car is a triple black SS396 rated at 350 hp, has a turbo 400 transmission, p/s, p/b, a/c and a 3:31 posi rear-end. It is 99% original with the exception of an 80's quicky repaint. This was due to an employee turning over an engine stand and damaging a door. Rains said he couldn’t match the paint so he had the whole car re-painted. A quck wash job once I had the car home revealed a real nice Chevelle under all that dust!
In 2004 I found the Team Chevelle website and was turned on to Chevellabration. I brought the car to Nashville in 04 and was really surprised at all of the attention that it got. Especially with all of the fabulous Chevelles it was lined up with. It wasn’t until then that I realized what an unusual car I had come across. A true "Survivor".
To this day the car sports the original hoses, belts and almost every other original part with the exception of the shocks. The car also came with the original Window Sticker and was purchased from Cliff Peck Chevrolet, 6700 New Benton Highway, Little Rock, Arkansas, which is now Crain Chevrolet. I also have the Protect O Plate and all other new car paperwork from the day. One of the coolest things about the car, in my opinion, is the original 1969 Arkansas Safety Inspection Sticker that’s still on the front windshield.
My plan for the car is to keep it as original as possible with a repaint and an original set of exhaust tips planned someday. Mostly, I plan to drive and enjoy it but I need to replace some of those original hoses!
I started my journey looking for a 70.....and ended up falling in love with the 69's.
