1965
L78
1966
L78
1967
L78
1968
L78
1969
L78
1970
L78The story of my car...
This Chevelle was sold new at Dunlap Chevrolet in Macon, Georgia
(taken over by Youmans Chevrolet in the early 1980’s) and spent most
of its life in Perry, Georgia where it was used as a weekend drag racer
for a period of time.
I spent a considerable amount of time and effort trying to track down
the previous owners and history. This included finding out the name
of the second owner in Georgia, but unfortunately he passed away before
I got a chance to talk to him in an effort to get the name of the original
owner.
I made a telephone call to Youmans Chevrolet in Macon, Georgia. As it
turns out, one of the original Dunlap family is still employed by this
dealership. Although there are no remnants of any kind of documentation
from the 60’s, they were kind enough to send me some Dunlap Memorabilia.
I was fortunate to have a lengthy discussion with the third owner of
this car. In his younger years he remembers seeing this “SS Sedan” on
the odd occasion out cruising around in 1969-70. His recollections were
“How great the car sounded
and how different it looked being a sedan”. He remembers saying to himself
“That is one cool car”. As fate would have it, he ended up purchasing
the car in 1988. By that time the original block was gone and what is
in it now was in it when he bought it. Over the next several years he
completed a frame-off restoration using
NOS parts as needed. He had the engine completely redone and put a lot
of effort into the heads. It apparently pulled some very serious numbers
on the dyno at that time. As mentioned, the engine block is not original
to the car and is marked “CE” with a casting date of August, 1969.
In the mid 1990’s the car was sold to a gentleman in Florida. This Chevelle
aficionado did a few things to the car including swapping out the 4.10:1
gears that were in it for the more drivable 3.73:1. Even though the engine
was redone a few years earlier, this new owner had the engine internals
checked and the assembly was balanced and blueprinted. I can confirm
it is definitely a strong runner. I purchased it from him in 2000 and
am the fifth owner. During the time it has been in my possession I have
enjoyed improving, detailing and maintaining this car. It has indeed
been a labor of love.
I have always been a fan of the “Day II” look on old Musclecars. Back
then when we were buying these things new it was very common for all
of us to add our personal touches from available aftermarket speed parts
and appearance items. As an example, I searched long and hard for about
two years to find an era correct set of Torque Thrust T70 Wheels which
have currently replaced the stock SS Wheels. There are also a few performance
modifications including aftermarket exhaust headers, aftermarket distributor
, roller valve train, rear SSM bars, Hurst Competition Plus shifter,
front sway bar upgraded to 1.25 inches and stiffer than normal springs
which give the car a slightly higher stance than stock.
Given the early drag heritage of this car, it can probably be assumed
some of the drive train components might have been broken/changed/updated
during those early years.
Knowledgeable people realize that 1969 was the only year Chevrolet made
the SS-396 option available on the bottom of the line 300 Deluxe Post
Coupe V8 model.
At the time of this writing I have owned the car for ten years. There
is no documentation to confirm it started life as an L78. However, based
on specific unique dated components, and other items, it would appear
it was. I don’t lose any sleep over the lack of documentation or replacement
block. I simply enjoy the car for what it is.
Update: The original warranty card (Protect-O-Plate) has surfaced
showing this is not only an original L78 Chevelle but optioned with
the L89 aluminum heads as well.
