The story of my car...
I have owned this Super Sport since 2006 and it came with good documentation, but I hadn't talked to the original owner. I established a virtual relationship with him through mail, phone calls, and email and on St. Patrick's Day 2007 my son and I met with him at his home in Roanoke, Virginia.
It became very obvious to me from my earliest contact with Wayne that he really enjoys talking about his old ride. He was a wealth of information on the history of his old ride and always had a twinkle in his eye when he was reliving the adventures he had with his Chevelle.
Wayne was twenty years old and living in Roanoke when he bought his first new car. He had a good job working in the maintenance department at the local General Electric plant. He had been saving his money for some time to buy a high performance car so he could race at the local tracks and on the street. There were a lot of muscle cars in town and Wayne was itching' to become a part of the scene. To get the best deal on his Chevelle he traveled 30 minutes south of home to the small town of Rocky Mount, Virginia. Although Roanoke had a Chevy dealership, he made his best deal at Wickline Chevrolet Corp. in Rocky Mount. Wayne was very proud of the deal he struck: $3300.00 even, with no trade in. He placed his order on Saturday the 8th of March with his salesman, Hoover Potter. Prior to placing his order, Wayne considered the other HiPo offerings of the day from MoPar and Ford. He recalled that a Hemi Super Bee was in contention, but the best deal was $400 more than the Chevelle, and therefore, "no-go." A friend, who Wayne looked up to, was an avid bowtie racer and told him about the minimally advertised potent solid lifter Chevy "RAT" motors. That was all Wayne needed to know.
He ordered his car as follows:
* SS 396 Equipment
* "375
engine" (L78)
* 4-speed Transmission ("Close Ratio")
*
Positraction Axle
* 3.73 Rear Axle Ratio
* Special
Instrumentation
* Vinyl Trim
* Undercoat
* Tinted Glass
* Door Edge Guards
* Remote Control Side View Mirror
*
Rear Speaker
* AM Push Button Radio
He selected black
paint and a red vinyl bench seat interior. His father had a '66 Ford
Custom Cab pick up in the same color scheme and Wayne had always
liked it. Wayne's father also influenced him in selecting a remote
controlled side view mirror as he felt it was a practical safety
consideration.
Wayne has told me on more than one occasion
how the number "13" played a prominent role in the ownership of his
Chevelle.
* Down payment was $1300
* It took 13 weeks
from placing the order to delivery (remember there was a strike at
the Baltimore plant in '69)
* Wayne was 13 days shy of 21 years
old when he took delivery
* Last two digits of his license plate
were "13"
* The oil filter he used was a Fram PH-13
*
Chevelle was delivered to Wayne on Friday, June 13th.
I asked
Wayne with all the references to the number 13, did he have any bad
luck with the car. He laughed, "It was bad luck for everyone I
raced."
Speaking of racing, Wayne found plenty of time to
race both on and off road. He has plenty of street racing stories
he'll gladly tell you, including burying the needle "straight down"
in an extended race with a '70 Hemi Charger when he still was still
running his "3.73s". Off road he raced at tracks in Virginia
including Elk Creek, Waynesboro, and his favorite, New London Drag
Strip and in North Carolina at Piedmont. Wayne's best E/T was 12.83
seconds at 108 m.p.h. He accomplished this with Hedman headers, 4.88
gears, and 29.5 tall M&H Racemaster slicks (9 or 10 wide) mounted on
8x15" steel rims. He made no mods to the suspension, but was very
careful in monitoring and adjusting tire pressure. He was very
particular with regard to tuning too. One thing Wayne recalls is
setting the total advance to 48 degrees. He also performed some
minor mods to the engine including a 3-angle valve job on the heads,
adding extra valve springs and equalizing spring pressure with
shims. Wayne really liked the 4.88 gears and was devout about
shifting at 6,000 rpm. He felt it was the right gear for the taller
tires. He recalled that the 4.88s resulted in 6200 rpm through the
lights. Wayne can remember being told off by a few race fans for not
running his car harder. Wayne had seen too many guys "blow their
engines" because of undisciplined driving practices. He stuck to his
guns, still had impressive E/Ts, AND managed to hold onto the
original engine and drivetrain.
Wayne remembers one race
event in particular. His first cousin and her boyfriend joined him
and his wife at the New London Drag Strip. Just prior to the
beginning of eliminations, his cousin came up to Wayne in his
Chevelle and said, I have two nickels. Put them in your pocket for
good luck . Wayne tucked them in his pocket. He went on to win his
class at the event. He knew he had to commemorate the event so he
glued the nickels to the top of the Class Winner trophy (Note: coins
on the trophy have been inspected and are validated as original and
application/date code correct. The coin on the left is dated 1965
and the one on the right is 1963 ).
This 06A Baltimore built
Super Sport has 31,800 original miles and still wears its original
lacquer paint on its original sheet metal. It retains its original
engine, transmission, and rear axle. The trunk and interior are
original. The exhaust pipes and mufflers are also original to this
car. Original documentation includes the Protect-O-Plate, dealer
invoice, dealer order form, dealer sales receipt, initial title,
cancelled check for original purchase, two IBM trim cards, first
state registration, sales brochure, first and second vehicle safety
inspection certificates, first license plates, keys, multiple
photographs and slides, time slips, drag racing trophies, and
various other paperwork. Wayne has an extensive collection of over
300 original slides of his old ride. His father was a serious
amateur photographer and saw the benefit of shooting most of his
pictures with slide film and using a decent camera. For the day, the
resolution of slide negatives was superior to standard photograph
negatives. Standby for more vintage photos within the next couple
months as Wayne continues to sift through his collection. One of
them is a picture of his salesman, Hoover Potter, shaking his hand
while handing him the keys on the day he took delivery of his new
Chevelle.
When I asked Wayne what his fondest memory of his car was he had
two answers. The first answer, he said while laughing, had to do
with the "fun" he had with his wife in the back seat. The second
answer was the pride he took in snagging the "Class Winner" trophy
at New London in a hard fought victory with his wife and cousin
cheering him on.