After attending a car show, how many times have you, or someone you know said, “I wish I still had my old car back that I owned years ago?” Well, I may be one of the luckiest men of late, because I can say that this year I actually had the chance to purchase my old 1966 Chevelle back from the owner I sold her to 12 years ago.
My Chevelle journey began in the fall of 1988. I was 23 years old and had a pocket full of cash and checks; a dangerous combination for a young man who loves older cars. I had just sold my 1963 Corvette convertible and was on my way home from delivering the Vette with my cousin Joe when we seen a 1966 Chevelle for sale in someone’s yard.
I had always liked the styling of the 66’ and 67’ Chevelles so on a lark we stopped to look at the car and spoke with the owner. He was a young man, maybe all of 18 years old and about to enter the Armed Forces; meaning he needed to sell the car quick. As we got a closer look at the car, I noticed right away that it was originally a Malibu now dressed with Super Sport emblems and that unmistakable Super Sport big block hood. The fenders and lower doors were full of bondo and the paint looked horrible, almost as if someone had painted it with a roller. The body panels were so wavy; I almost got seasick looking at them. The interior wasn’t much better. The door panels were in terrible shape and the bucket seats were all ripped up and far from original. The carpet was shot and wet on the passenger side floor, the unmistakable sign of a leaking heater core.
My suspicions were confirmed when I started the car and seen that white fog blowing from the defrost vent. The headliner and other interior parts had been dyed black; I could tell the interior had once been bright blue where the black dye had been scratched away. The car had an automatic on the floor with a B&M Quick Silver shifter, but it still retained the four speed brake and clutch pedals.
After opening the hood, there sat the best surprise of all, a big block engine. It looked tired and ran as bad as it looked. The rear end was a ten-bolt non-posi with highway gears. Any sane person, or an older more experienced person, would have passed on this car right away. After all, the young seller wanted $2,500 dollars in 1988 and it needed a ton of work. However, I just had to have it, so I purchased the car for the grand total of $2,000 cash. I could see all of the potential that car had, too bad I couldn’t foresee how upset my new wife of a few months would be when I brought the car home without discussing it with her first. Again, my inexperience in both cars and women would haunt me for years to come.
After patching things up with my wife, I let the car sit for several weeks while I devised a plan. I figured I didn’t need a budget because I didn’t have much money left over after paying bills with the remainder of the Corvette money. Again, another mistake I made was not having the foresight to devise a budget and stick to it. While the car sat, I searched a lot of junkyards and chased leads on parts for my car. This was long before the Internet, so information and parts were a lot harder to come by.
My two cousins, Joe and Steve also liked old Chevy’s and were more than happy to help commence tearing the car apart. First the engine came out and the automatic transmission. The engine was sent to a machine shop and had all of the normal treatments of a qualified machine shop. Meanwhile, I had purchased what I was told was an M-22 “Rock Crusher” four speed tranny. Due to my inexperience, I found out years later that the M-22 I paid a premium for was really an M-20 and it needed rebuilding because it kept jumping out of fourth gear. Once the engine was back in and the car was running, we ripped out the standard 10-bolt rear end and installed a Chevy 12 bolt 3:90 posi-traction rear end. At least I thought it was a Chevy rear end; it actually was an Oldsmobile rear end. Again my inexperience got me; I paid more for a Chevy rear end, but in reality I had bought an Olds rear end.
Once the drivetrain was completed and back together, I slowly saved money for the interior. After-market reproduction parts were very expensive for a young man with a wife and now a new baby boy at home. I was forced to search junk yards for parts and found good 1970 GTO bucket seats, old kick panels, arm rest bases, a four core Harrison radiator and even a radio delete plate (a rare find indeed). I scavenged parts at swap meets and chased down any lead I heard about; some leads panned out, others didn’t.
As the years ticked away, finally the interior was done. In addition to my two-year-old son, I now had a new baby girl at home too, my finances were even tighter. My wife was reaching the end of her rope with my expenditures on the car; money was tight and I rarely had time to work on the car with two young children at home. However, I had one last project to complete. Remember those wavy body panels I wrote about, I was tired of taking seasick medicine every time I looked at the car. Those panels were really wavy and needed to be replaced, so after cajoling my wife for several months, I took out a loan for all new panels, bodywork and a new paint job. It was expensive, but the car finally looked great!
I was so proud that I wanted to take my wife and young toddlers for a ride, but I didn’t have any seat belts in the back seat for the kids. My wife wouldn’t hear of letting the kids in the car without seatbelts, I tried explaining that when we were kids, we never had them, but it was a pointless argument, she was right, the safety of the kids was paramount. She finally had enough of this car. She insisted that we find a more “family oriented” vehicle, such as a boat. So, reluctantly in the summer of 1995 I sold my 66’ Chevelle to an acquaintance. We did buy a boat that summer (even though it didn’t have seatbelts) and we had a lot of fun as a family. However, I always missed that Chevelle and wished I hadn’t sold it.
Fast forward to the winter of 2007. Unbelievable as it may sound, I had recently sold my 1965 Corvette coupe and at the age of 41 I had considered myself retired from old cars. Retired that is, until I came in contact with the gentleman that had purchased my 66’ Chevelle all those years ago. After a short discussion about the car, I was surprised to hear that not only did he still have the car, but also that he would consider selling it back to me if I was interested. I discussed this possibility with my second wife and my now 17-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter; they were all in favor of getting the old Chevelle back into the family. The following week, my wife Nancy and my son Tyler and I all went to look at the car in the owner’s pole barn.
It was one of the coldest, snowiest days in Michigan. I was having second thoughts on the way to his house, but when he opened the overhead pole barn door, there she was MY 66’ Chevelle from all those years ago. For a moment, I was 23 years old again, and just like all those many years ago, I seen the potential in her; sure she was a bit rough after all these years, and yes, she needed some work, but it had potential!
I talked to the family about buying the car back and we all agreed that we had to have it. Well, I must have been crazy, but we made a deal and I am now the proud owner of my old 66’ Chevelle. Again, I didn’t count on the amount of work and money the car would actually need; one would think I would have learned something all those years ago.
Now that we’ve had the car for several months, our goal was to completely update the drivetrain. My son and I have freshened up the engine, bought new wheels and tires, had the troublesome transmission rebuilt and installed a new clutch, bellhousing and exhaust. The paint and bodywork was still presentable after all these years; it just needed a good washing and waxing. We did replace the bumpers with aftermarket units and polished all the stainless and aluminum trim. We still need to tear out the old interior this fall and replace that with new parts.
Of course after reaching my age, I did learn a few things from the past.
- Lesson #1: This time I included the whole family before making a major purchase. I’ve found that if the family believes in the project, it’s much easier to spend more money on parts and accessories.
- Lesson #2: I’ve learned that even though I set a budget this time, it didn’t make a difference. I’ve completely over spent on parts that I just had to have. This leads back to lesson #1; a continuous circle of spending.
My son and I are having a great time slowly bringing the old Chevelle back to life. The car is far from a numbers matching perfect show car, nor the fastest car at the track, but we are having a great time working on it together and learning from one another. My son has since learned to drive the four speed beast and that it often takes blood, sweat and even tears to bring the car back to life. I’ve learned that spending time with him is the most important thing a man could ask for; cars come and go, but family is forever.
As with any great car story, the best part of this journey has been meeting all the wonderful people along the way. The Team Chevelle members have been especially great at providing valuable information anytime my son and I needed help. It’s impossible to thank all the many people that have assisted me along the way over the years. To all of them, I say “Thank You”.
Tod Skrzynski
More photos in the November issue of Chevy Punch Online Magazine
