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From the time I was in high school, I dreamed of owning a Chevelle. Due to the time and expense of buying and building a muscle car, I never thought that I would be able to see my dream become reality. My luck changed.
In 1998 I found my dream car. I bought it from a young kid in Brenham, Texas for $2200. The very same day I bought it, I took it home, parked it in my garage and began the restoration of my 1970 Chevelle SS 454.
As luck would have it, a very good friend of mine, John Hold, owner of the Rod Shop in Brenham, TX., specializes in performance cars. We started working on the car immediately. With John's knowledge and experience, there was no limit to our imaginations on what we could do with this project car.
We started by sanding the frame and undercarriage down to bare metal. We then applied a generous amount of P.O.R. 15 to prevent rust in the future. After we made sure the frame and undercarriage were undercoated we began to reassemble the car. John insisted on four wheel disc brakes, posi traction, and new axles. We used aluminum adjustable control arms to hold the powder coated 12 bolt in place.
When the car was a rolling chassis again, we dropped in a 454 crate motor, which I purchased from Jim Pace Chevrolet. A T.P.I. 700R4 and 3.73 gears assured the performance for in town and highway driving. After all suspension work was completed and the vehicle was mechanically sound, my next concern was the body of the car.
Once again as luck would have it, I happen to know the owner of Mike Davis Collision One in San Antonio. With the help of all of their staff, especially Martin Martinez, and Jose Moran, the car came out exceeding my highest expectations. I followed the body restoration with restoring the interior, having the bucket seats reupholstered in leather and maintaining the correct 1970 appearance.
I spent an insane amount of money to get this car the way I had always dreamed. For that, I can now say I am the proud owner of the most awesome Chevelle in San Antonio, Texas.
Wayne Matthews
Team Chevelle would love to feature your Car on one of our future monthly articles.
If selected as a feature, we will send you a high quality Team Chevelle license plate!To take part, send a few quality pictures to us and as much information as you can (we LOVE reading about Chevelles!)
Al McKenzie, Box 68, Porthill Idaho, 83853
Note: preference is given to submitted photos, unless you have access to high quality scanning equipment, we would prefer to do the image work and touch-ups.
or: Al McKenzie, Box 231, Creston, B.C. Canada, V0B-1G0
