I've been thinking of writing this up for a while now. Not sure if anybody cares or even where to start. You may wonder why this is under builds, but the car has never been static, always in a state of upgrade and change that still continues. I'm going to try to get the history in first, then move on as things develop.
Long ago in a galaxy far, far away, oh wait never mind that was Star Wars. Ok, in 1966 my dad bought a new Chevelle Malibu. He had been looking and considering other cars with more of a "performance" image such as Corvairs and Mustangs, but upon the advice of his senior officer, (he was career Navy) he bought a family sedan with the smallest V8. Not quite plain Jane, though. It was 2 door, 4bbl 283, 4 speed, Marina Blue with black bucket seat interior. And he drove it everywhere. He wasn't one much to hot rod or modify, so many of what we call 'Day 2' modifications never happened. He claimed the original exhaust rotted off after 6 months, and since he had been shipped from CA to Florida, he put on glasspacks with dual exhaust, but that came back off when he came back to CA in 1969. The car still had duals, but with quiet mufflers that weren't going to attract undue attention.
How is this relevant to me? I came home from the hospital in my mom's arms in it in 1974. Ahh, the days before child safety seats.
Seeing as how I was an only child, it became the family car we took many trips in it all over the west coast as well as anytime we went somewhere as a family. Somehow those rumbles from going down the road got to me at an early age and from the beginning, my favorite car was always the Chevelle. Then, in early 1984, after having purchased one of those new Toyota vans, the Chevelle was sold.
I was 10 and heartbroken.
As the next few years went by, I still dreamt of cars, specifically 66 Chevelles, and others, I got into Datsun 510s for a while, and Corvairs, and others, but by the time I was 15 there was no choice other than a Chevy A-body. Being in CA at the time, however, meant that anything 1966 and newer had to pass bi-annual SMOG tests. Those were scary, nasty things according to Hot Rod magazine and I couldn't expect to pass at all if I performed any modifications to my vehicle, which I wanted LOTS of! I ws a Hot Rodder after all!
Around the same time, my freshman-sophomore years in high school, I had a good friend who was a year ahead of me who had a 65 Camino. It was ratty, with probably 25 year old original paint, virtually no interior, radiused rear quarters and wide slot mags on the rear. It had a 327 with a 350hp cam and 4 speed of some kind, and manifolds to pipes with glasspacks hanging off the ends just under the doors. It was loud, fast, and I liked the fact that it could haul stuff too.
That's all I have time for tonight, more tomorrow.
Devin
Long ago in a galaxy far, far away, oh wait never mind that was Star Wars. Ok, in 1966 my dad bought a new Chevelle Malibu. He had been looking and considering other cars with more of a "performance" image such as Corvairs and Mustangs, but upon the advice of his senior officer, (he was career Navy) he bought a family sedan with the smallest V8. Not quite plain Jane, though. It was 2 door, 4bbl 283, 4 speed, Marina Blue with black bucket seat interior. And he drove it everywhere. He wasn't one much to hot rod or modify, so many of what we call 'Day 2' modifications never happened. He claimed the original exhaust rotted off after 6 months, and since he had been shipped from CA to Florida, he put on glasspacks with dual exhaust, but that came back off when he came back to CA in 1969. The car still had duals, but with quiet mufflers that weren't going to attract undue attention.
How is this relevant to me? I came home from the hospital in my mom's arms in it in 1974. Ahh, the days before child safety seats.
Seeing as how I was an only child, it became the family car we took many trips in it all over the west coast as well as anytime we went somewhere as a family. Somehow those rumbles from going down the road got to me at an early age and from the beginning, my favorite car was always the Chevelle. Then, in early 1984, after having purchased one of those new Toyota vans, the Chevelle was sold.
I was 10 and heartbroken.As the next few years went by, I still dreamt of cars, specifically 66 Chevelles, and others, I got into Datsun 510s for a while, and Corvairs, and others, but by the time I was 15 there was no choice other than a Chevy A-body. Being in CA at the time, however, meant that anything 1966 and newer had to pass bi-annual SMOG tests. Those were scary, nasty things according to Hot Rod magazine and I couldn't expect to pass at all if I performed any modifications to my vehicle, which I wanted LOTS of! I ws a Hot Rodder after all!
Around the same time, my freshman-sophomore years in high school, I had a good friend who was a year ahead of me who had a 65 Camino. It was ratty, with probably 25 year old original paint, virtually no interior, radiused rear quarters and wide slot mags on the rear. It had a 327 with a 350hp cam and 4 speed of some kind, and manifolds to pipes with glasspacks hanging off the ends just under the doors. It was loud, fast, and I liked the fact that it could haul stuff too.
That's all I have time for tonight, more tomorrow.
Devin
