This is what happens when you leave Tony and Terry unsupervised. Memorial Day, 2019, was our Army Buddy Weekend and we got bored!
It’s like this; the 71 Chevelle was still waiting for its new block and rotating assembly to arrive—later than the vendor promised as usual—so we decided to
“Road Kill” the weekend. After passing on a basket case 1969 Mach I and an overpriced 1973 Camaro (11 Second Car) we found this baby sitting
in a guys garage where it had been for eleven years since being painted last. The trim was still in the trunk. It was a classic case of in too deep and
totally overwhelmed so we rescued her.
The body was redon and painted in 2008 as per the paperwork. The shop blacked out all the trim and we couldn’t find any signs of patching,
just a few imperfections in the clear coat. Sections of the trunk floor had been replaced and the only rust underneath the vehicle was in the two
front frame connector boxes which is easy stuff for me to do in my shop.
Under the hood is a very well running 302 backed by a recently built C4 Automatic. There are a number of good speed parts on her to include
a MSD solid state billet distributor, MSD 6AL spark box, Edelbrock aluminum intake and Holley 600 CFM carburetor.
The interior is pretty solid save for a few missing components like the front kickboards which most likely lost their way to some speakers that have
since been removed. The turn signal lever assembly needs replaced as does the console trim and headliner. We might change out the door
panels but aside from that it’s in decent shape.
Just about every part of the front suspension has been replaced. Note the new upper and lower control arms, ball joints, tie rods, springs, shocks,
idler arm, pitman arm, sway bar links and bushings…
Undenounced to us this car was an absolute “Death Trap” on the road! It was by far the scariest drive home I’ve ever had. Even the lightest pressure
on the brakes would send the car hard left to the point it was really hard to control and get stopped; often taking two lanes to do so. It was a white
knuckled drive all the way home. The first thing we did after nursing her home was get the front end up in the air and pull the brake drums off and as
suspected, the passenger’s side brake drum was totally soaked down with brake fluid. We had to pitch the pads, springs, tensioner and seals. After
honing the rough spots out of the brake cylinder (you can’t buy the fronts off the shelf anyplace) we cleaned up the drum, reassembled everything, and
bled the system of its water and air.
