The Chevelle Project

Besides family, I have two loves cars and surfing. This blog is really dedicated to surfing, but every once and a while I will write about cars. I have loved cars all my life and don't really have one particular collectible car type that I like best, but I have always had a certain affinity for Muscle cars of the late '60's. 1968 and 1969 are my favorite years for American Muscle. Three years ago I acquired a 1969 Chevelle 350 Malibu. I know, its not a SS, but "sleepers" are also very high on my list of what makes a Muscle car cool. Sure a Super Bee with its huge spoiler in Lime green is plenty cool, but remember in 1963 Pontiac dropped a 389 in their mild Tempest and they created the first Muscle Car. That car was a sleeper. Pulling up to a light and being able to destroy the guy next to you while driving a normal looking car is cool! The 396 is very cool too, but the 350 would be a sleeper the way I planned to make it.

I wanted this car to be totally original in form, but modernized. I didn't want some 396 Clone, so I am putting in a 350 crate motor that is stroked to 383. The interior is done to look completely original, but done in leather instead of vinyl. The stereo will be stock, with a iPod hook up hidden and the speakers hidden. Get it? Sleeper.

I had the motor done by the guys at Proformance Unlimited in new Jersey. They build unreal crate motors. This 383 is a full roller motor with 475hp and 465 lb/ft of torque.

Here is a shot of it still in NJ. I wanted it to look like a machine, so it is painted all silver. You can check out a video of my motor on their website here:

http://www.proformanceunlimited.com/specs/383_420drop.html

The body has been a real difficult undertaking. There was a decent amount of rust in the trunk area, so we had to replace a lot of metal.

It was not quite a frame off job, but it was taken down pretty far. Here is a shot of it with the fenders off primered.

I wanted to paint it black, so making sure that the body was straight was really important. I got the paint shop to agree to a single stage paint, which is not really allowed anymore, but it makes the paint look much deeper. The thing looks wet just sitting there. Here is a shot of it painted:

I don't have a picture of the interior, but it is done! The motor should be going in soon. I will make sure to post when it is complete.