Hey Doc, I'll post more pictures in a few, so I'll start with the car.
I found it in the local trader after the '69 I went to look at fell through. The owner continued to drive it after I gave him a deposit and blew the engine up. Well, this guy turns out to be the guy that helps me put the engine and trans back in my Chevelle several months later.
So, after that deal fell through, I decided to get a '71 because that's the year I was born. I called several in the paper and this lady calls me back about this Chevelle. She tells me it's in the body shop in downtown Petersburg VA and they want $2500 for it. I was stationed in VA at the time and it wasn't too far from where I lived in; less than 10 miles in Prince George. I go to the body shop and this is what I see:
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But, here's the really cool parts. While I was talking with the Body Shop owner, he told me that whoever buys it, he's going to finish the body work, paint it and put it back together. I asked him what color and he said ZINC YELLOW. Well...I had a '01 Mustang GT at that time and it was Zinc Yellow too. I asked him if he could change the paint color and he said that if I wanted to pay extra for it he would...well, I didn't after a little thought. As we talk, he tells me that all it needs to start the work is a front passenger fender. We talk for a while and I told him that I was going to call the Chevelle owner and come right back in to see him. I called the owner and told him that I would give him $2200 and I would buy the front fender; Ausley's Chevelle $299 at the time. I go back in and tell the B.S. owner that I'm going to buy the Chevelle. He tells me to bring him the fender and they would get started. So, that was on Sept 11 that I agreed to buy the Chevelle. The next day, I meet the owner at the Credit Union and I pay the fees and I'm the proud owner of a 1971 Chevelle. The B.S. owner started the car shortly after I dropped off the fender. After the car was painted, I gave the owner a box of MRE's for putting the stripes on. He allowed me to clean the inside of the engine bay (best I could w/the engine in there) inside (no back seat or any interior other than the dash and two seats that didn't match). I undercoated the interior and cleaned and undercoated the whole under carriage. Once I got it home, turns out the engine was garbage. I put an add on here and Chuck Hanson emailed me and told me to come to TN, he had an engine for me. I drive down, pick it up, spend some time with him and come back home. The engine was taken to a builder outside of Hopewell VA and the '69 owner rebuilt the 400 and fatlip on here gave me a Torque Converter. A few months later, I got some bucket seats from Pep Boys and put them in the car. The back seat, I bought off a member here out of Chicago, sorry, I forget his name. But a fellow TC member, brought it to CHEVELLEABRATION for me...FREE OF CHARGE. I put the tires and wheels that are on the car now, on in October; SAME tires on the Chevelle now. I traded the Rally's on it to a buddy for his Corvair. He put all new brakes and brake lines on for them. Pretty much every gasket, light, bulb, bolt that I could take off (not a frame off), weatherstripping, door lock, trunk lock, steering wheel, radio, speakers, Alternator, Starter, belts and hoses were new. I took the gas tank off, had it dipped and I sanded it down, by hand, which is a pain in the a## and repainted and put back on by me. I learned a lot helping put this car back together.
The car has sense the "original" finish date, I had a new 400 turbo, front disc brakes w/slotted and drilled rotors, all new door panels, headliner and just two years ago, new FlowMasters put in/on. The car has less than 10,000 miles on it since I bought it on Sept 12th, 2001.
Here are a few pictures of the car:
Here's the link to the rest:
http://www.chevelles.com/forums/album.php?albumid=312
Future plans are a Big Block, possible mini-tub (if it needs it) and new windows and body work w/paint. Thinking of painting it Hugger orange w/black stripes. Or, Flat black across the top of the body line and keeping the Zinc Yellow on the bottom. I plan to do all the body work and paint myself on base at the base Body Shop. Well, obvious suspension upgrades if that BB pans out. Other than that...not much for future plans. Well, unless I have to trade it for a Corvette.
My dream Muscle car is a Chevelle.
