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Welcome to the June's Ride of the Month Competition!

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June's ROTM Winner @Billdini

Please follow all instructions posted below
  1. You must add 3 Photos; no more, no less. NO Collages. Pictures must be of the current state of your vehicle. Avoid having any people in your images.
  2. List any/all Legal Modifications to your vehicle if you have done any.*
  3. The vehicle must be yours. Vehicles waiting to be purchased may not be included
  4. Include a short description of your favourite aspect of your vehicle, or your favourite memory or ride taken with your vehicle*
  5. Votes for the month’s winner will be tallied by the number of “Likes” your post has on the last day of the month. The winner at the end of the month will win a free 1 Year Premium Membership for the forum and a custom flair under their username. If the winner is already a premium member, their subscription will be extended an additional year.
  6. Remember, please post your entries and pictures in this thread.
  7. If you have won in a previous month, you can no longer enter for the rest of the year. However, if you have a second car that meets the above criteria, you can enter that.
* These are optional but encouraged
 

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We respectfully enter our 1969 SS 396 Chevelle for consideration in Team Chevelle's July 2021 Ride of the Month Competition. The car is powered by an L78 375 HP 396 engine that Ole assembled and installed himself. Although the block, heads and intake are correct (JD code block, 840 heads and 163 Winters Intake) for this car they are not original. We do have the car's original L78 engine stored in our shop. This car was purchased new in the fall of 1969 at Dutch Miller Chevrolet of Huntington, West Virginia by Bernard Adkins of Huntington, who owned the car for three years before selling it to Dave Adkins (no relation). At some point during the late '80's to early '90's it was sold, after perhaps a decade in storage, to Joe Goodrich of Huntington, who subjected the car to a full body-off-frame restoration. From there the car went to Ohio for a time and then to Arkansas, where it apparently was again stored for more than a decade. Ron and Sheila Brightmore of Ramore, MO then bought the car and showed it at local and regional car shows for a few years before selling it to Coronado, California collector car broker Danny Naranjo. We purchased it from Danny in July of 2016 and had it shipped to rural northwestern Washington, where we spent about a year rebuilding the car to our standards; replacing the interior, the entire front and rear suspension, fuel system, braking system, radiator, steering system and all wiring, while installing the rebuilt, essentially stock L78 engine, Centerforce Clutch, rebuilt M22 Muncie Transmission and the correct KK Series 4.10 12 Bolt Positraction Rear Axle. Body, paint and brightwork were previously refinished in 2015, while the car was owned by the Brightwells in Missouri. Paint is correct Code 67 Burgundy/Maroon with D96 Red Stripe. Interior is correct Code 755 Black Bench Seat. Other factory options are Front and Rear Bumper Guards, Tinted Glass and Power Steering. We added stock style aftermarket in-dash Tach/Gauges, F41 Suspension, a rebuilt, correct 1969 4 Spd Tilt Steering column from Ground Up and a replica Blue Light AM/FM Stereo Radio. We drive the car mostly on rural roads and secondary highways and occasionally attend small town car shows and cruises. Balanced and Blueprinted Engine is very strong and the car is essentially a hand-built, all-new 1969 Chevelle lacking squeaks, leaks or rattles. We built it as a Day 2 car, with American Torque Thrust Wheels, headers, Pypes Stainless Exhaust, Comfort Grip Steering Wheel, Holley 800 Double Pumper Carburetor and an MSD Distributor. Ole performed virtually all the restoration work himself. Car is listed in Dale McIntosh's L78 Registry and is pictured in Dale's recently published book on the 1969 Chevelle. Thank You for considering our Chevelle.

Ole and Paula Birkland
Chimacum, Washington
 

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1968 Chevelle Malibu, upgraded to a 396/TH400 from a 327/PG
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Well, damnit Bill, I guess I need a small block to win. Here we are, entering this contest again. Again, this is Charlotte. Took my cousin Joe, retired Lt. Col. USAF, for a little spin last night up to the local watering hole. We split a pitcher of beer and hung out. Got lots of looks and thumbs up. One of my favorite things with her. Next weekend, July 16-18, is my first “Big Show”. Street Machine Nationals at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. The gang from the Northstar Chevelle Club will be there. I’m taking my 74 year old dad with me. He‘ll get a kick out of it. Hell, I might even let him drive. Same specs as last month. Only change is a Bob’s Big Boy bobble head is on the package tray, pictures forthcoming.
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67 Chevelle Malibu (Convertible)
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1967 Chevelle Malibu Convertible
327/300 HP TH350 Midnight Blue with 17” Cragar SS. Motor rebuild and paint in 1994 garage kept with 70,000 miles. This was my wife’s high school car in 1986, bought by her Dad in 1979. Has a lot of family attachment, it was also my brother in laws high school car before that. In 1994 my father in law and I began the restoration that took about 6 months. Many modifications over the years, my wife says I am addicted to the car, I’m always in the garage adjusting something or ordering something online, and try to drive it as much as possible. She is a head turner where ever we go. I would appreciate your vote for July Chevelle Of The Month!😎

Charlie
Wheel Car Land vehicle Vehicle Tire
Wheel Tire Vehicle Car Land vehicle
Car Motor vehicle Vehicle Hood Automotive tire
 

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@ Billdini, Congrats I love that drop top of yours (y) (y)🍻:)
I'm not that much of a droptop guy, but I love any factory L79 car, and Bill's is a beaut.
 

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This is my 1968 el Camino SS 396 that I purchased from the original owner back in 1989 when I used to live in Northern California. I purchased it for $3,000 with 47,000 original miles on her. I believed the mileage to be true because of the condition of the brake pedal, it had almost no wear on it. With my experience, a break pedal with 147,000 miles on it would show quite a bit of wear. It had been sitting outside under a large tree on his property for quite some time not being driven. It had very minimal surface rust in the bed and the lower rear window channel. The body was very straight, never been in an accident. However, it did need to be repainted, it was beyond buffing out. I moved from California to Michigan in the summer of 2005 to be with the woman who I fell in love with over the phone. The company I worked for did business with the company where she worked and lived in Michigan and we would speak from time to time over the phone to conduct our business. One day I gave her my phone number and asked her to call me sometime to talk outside of work. Long story short, we have been happily married since 2007 here in Michigan where I landed a good job in the auto industry building engines. When I got to Michigan, I started to finish the restoration that I had started back home in California. When I purchased the car, it was pretty much a barn find. It was all original and had never been modified other than a trailer hitch, that was the first thing to go. The second thing to go was the dealer installed bed rails, I just thought that they made the muscle truck look lame in my opinion.

Shortly after purchasing the vehicle, I pulled the engine to do a rebuild. The SS ran and drove when I purchased it, but it definitely needed a rebuild. After I tore apart the engine, I found that the camshaft had worn lobes, some were pretty bad. I ended up having Rex Hutchinson Racing Engines in Orangevale CA build the engine for me, they did a fantastic job. While the engine was out I went through all of the suspension components myself. It ran a respectable 13.5 in the quarter mile with the TH400 and 3.90 gears. It was nothing to brag about, but it was a lot of fun to drive.

Over the last 32 years of ownership of this el Camino, it has gone through many changes. Engine builds for one reason or another, suspension changes, shifter location from the column to the floor and then back to the column, intake manifolds, carburetors, removal of stock exhaust manifolds to headers, back to stock manifolds, back to headers, mufflers, gear sets, torque converters, steering wheels, cooling systems and wheels. In the trucks current state, I have done all of the work myself except for the differential gear set, headliner and seat upholstery. I also did not do the body and paint which was re-sprayed in Ermine white the way it left the factory. I have either replaced, rebuilt or restored practically ever piece to this entire vehicle during the frame-on restoration over the years of this true 138 VIN SS el Camino.

A couple years ago I rebuilt the engine myself except for the machine shop work. It is a basically stock numbers matching L34 350 hp engine except for the Isky LS5 camshaft. I also had the heads worked to except the larger 2.19 / 1.94 valves and the valve pockets cleaned up in the heads. It has a completely rebuilt and re-colored Quadrajet from Quadrajet power, Hedman headers, Flowmaster mufflers and a numbers matching completely rebuilt and restored alternator from Ken Bruno Motorsports. I also had the block drilled for parallel cooling which has helped out quite a bit. After that, I got rid of my dual electric fan setup and went back to the stock shroud with the stock 7 blade fan and fan clutch, it now runs between 175* and 180* all day with the a/c blowing. I also rebuilt the TH400 myself the other year for the first time, that was fun and not too stressful at all. The original transmission is long gone but it still retains the original 12 bolt rear end.

The elky currently sits on 18" Coys wheels, 9.5" in the rear and 8" in the front with Nitto tires. It has Hotchkis 1.5" lowering springs front and rear, TRW ball joints, UMI performance upper and lower rear control arms and Energy suspension body bushings. I converted the front drum brakes to disc using Wilwood components and swapped out the power steering box to a new Lee power steering unit and upgraded the front sway bar to the larger size. It has a BTE 2800 stall converter that puts the power to a 3.55 Richmond gear set in the numbers matching completely rebuilt 12 posi rearend. While driving around in this beautiful 1968 el Camino SS, I am sitting on a newly upholstered seat that was covered using Legendary upholstery and staying cool with the factory air that I since converted to the R134 system. Some of the components had to be changed and were purchased from Classic Auto Air out of Florida. Those folks there that I spoke with were very helpful and did a great job restoring some of the factory a/c component needed to get the system up and running again.

All of the sheet metal is original to the vehicle except for the front fenders which I replaced shorty after I bought it. They had some rust at the lower portion of the fenders and I just decided to go to the local stealership and purchased two new GM fenders instead of try to repair them. I was young at the time and probably should have had the fenders repaired instead. It still retains the original dash pad and door panels. The pad is perfect while the panels show some minor wear at the bottom edge, but show very nice. All of the exterior trim pieces are original except for the front and rear badges on the grille and tailgate. Also, the upper tailgate trim is original and flawless which you don't see very often. This is a very solid mostly original 1968 SS el Camino that I keep stored in my climate controlled garage when I am not driving it.
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My favorite aspect of this vehicle is, besides it being a great looking muscle truck, is that you just don't see that many of them around. It's fun and comfortable to drive and I get the thumbs up every time I take it out. They only built 5,190 SS el Camino's 1968 and when you break it down even further, according to Dan Carr, they only built 288 1968 SS el Camino's with the L34 engine and air conditioning, which makes this vehicle pretty special.

Steve
 

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1966 138 car it is basically stock has the original 396 4 speed manual, it was restored in 2004. From the ground up, almost everything gone through. The only thing I did not touch was the Muncie and the 12 bolt, fresh oil and done. In hind sight I wish I would have installed an LS and an automatic but maybe the next one.

I changed the color from butternut yellow to this red you see today, it is a corvette red loved it then but today I wish I would have chosen a different color. I very much like the new modern colours the shiny dull look, I have yet to see a Chevelle with this. Changed the interior from white to black, do not regent that at all.

For the most part it sits in storage here in Canada snow on the ground seven months a year rain for three more months that only give me a couple months of decent weather to use it. We moved this last winter to a house with no garage, the car is in storage with a lot of other stuff. The garage is being built now ready for winter who knows. Probably will not get to use it this year, maybe this fall. But it is good when I can.

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Well, damnit Bill, I guess I need a small block to win. Here we are, entering this contest again. Again, this is Charlotte. Took my cousin Joe, retired Lt. Col. USAF, for a little spin last night up to the local watering hole. We split a pitcher of beer and hung out. Got lots of looks and thumbs up. One of my favorite things with her. Next weekend, July 16-18, is my first “Big Show”. Street Machine Nationals at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. The gang from the Northstar Chevelle Club will be there. I’m taking my 74 year old dad with me. He‘ll get a kick out of it. Hell, I might even let him drive. Same specs as last month. Only change is a Bob’s Big Boy bobble head is on the package tray, pictures forthcoming. View attachment 716234 View attachment 716235 View attachment 716236
Ghaasl your car is beautiful but most important as I have stated prior I like any car when the owner is proud of their ride and post it for all to see. Just that alone makes you a winner. Competition is pretty solid here with so many top cars. Keep the faith buddy and never quit. Good things happen to good people.
 

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1968 Chevelle Malibu, upgraded to a 396/TH400 from a 327/PG
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651 Posts
Ghaasl your car is beautiful but most important as I have stated prior I like any car when the owner is proud of their ride and post it for all to see. Just that alone makes you a winner. Competition is pretty solid here with so many top cars. Keep the faith buddy and never quit. Good things happen to good people.
I’ll never quit, Bill. I love that car and I’m very proud to be the current caretaker. She’s not perfect, but, I’m not either. Congratulation, fellow ‘68 owner. Your car is beautifu.
 
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1966 138 car it is basically stock has the original 396 4 speed manual, it was restored in 2004. From the ground up, almost everything gone through. The only thing I did not touch was the Muncie and the 12 bolt, fresh oil and done. In hind sight I wish I would have installed an LS and an automatic but maybe the next one.

I changed the color from butternut yellow to this red you see today, it is a corvette red loved it then but today I wish I would have chosen a different color. I very much like the new modern colours the shiny dull look, I have yet to see a Chevelle with this. Changed the interior from white to black, do not regent that at all.

For the most part it sits in storage here in Canada snow on the ground seven months a year rain for three more months that only give me a couple months of decent weather to use it. We moved this last winter to a house with no garage, the car is in storage with a lot of other stuff. The garage is being built now ready for winter who knows. Probably will not get to use it this year, maybe this fall. But it is good when I can.

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Please don't change this beautiful '66 SS over to an LS and automatic, Grock. If you do it will simply be another 4-wheeled computer, little different from a Toyota or a Honda, except for its appearance. These special cars were only built for a short period of time and will never be built again. It is a privilege to own one of them. Five or ten years from now it is my opinion that those who performed restomods on these cars will regret doing so. All the best to you.
 

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1972 Chevelle ss with a lsx 6.0 bored block with a brute speed blower cam, 2” American racing headers and a D1 pro charger made a little over 640hp on the dyno through 12 bolt. I’m new to this site but I bought this car as a project and my brother and I restored it completely. Huge fan of Chevelles and recently picked up a 1966 Malibu project
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Is this car being posted as a members car submitted to the ROTM or are you trying to sell it. If selling it it should be moved out of the contest area. Nice looking car, black rules:cool:
 

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Okay my new ride lol don't judge her too harshly... little elbow grease and some long nights in the shop... and well yep still be a rolling parts car... but she does have those Fibre optic light indicators on the fenders.
1968 Beaumont ...isn't she a peach?
Okay a rotten peach but even a rotten peach is sweet.
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67 Chevelle Malibu (Convertible)
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Okay my new ride lol don't judge her too harshly... little elbow grease and some long nights in the shop... and well yep still be a rolling parts car... but she does have those Fibre optic light indicators on the fenders.
1968 Beaumont ...isn't she a peach?
Okay a rotten peach but even a rotten peach is sweet.
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Okay my new ride lol don't judge her too harshly... little elbow grease and some long nights in the shop... and well yep still be a rolling parts car... but she does have those Fibre optic light indicators on the fenders.
1968 Beaumont ...isn't she a peach?
Okay a rotten peach but even a rotten peach is sweet.
View attachment 716710 View attachment 716713 View attachment 716712
Nice engine 👍🏻
 
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