Photo credit: V8 Speed and Resto Shop

Al grew up in the late sixties and, like any red-blooded teenage boy, had a natural hankering for a big block muscle car. He committed himself to owning one eventually, but life eventually intervened on his dreams; once he scrimped enough to buy a Chevelle two decades later, he had become a family man and had to set his project car on the side. A familiar story for many of us. Fortunately, fatherhood didn’t sideline his teenage dreams of big block power.

The Chevelle was put away for what seemed like a century and a half. In reality, it took Al twenty-five years to return to the project he started in middle age. In late 2012, he swept the mountain of cobwebs aside, broke out the toolbox, and started this monumental project by first replacing the quarter panels. With a little bodywork done, Al saw what his elbow grease could give him, and with newfound ambition, started to restore the aging chassis himself.

The car had seen better days, clearly. Photo credit: V8 Speed & Resto Shop

Happy that his boyish enthusiasm hadn’t left him, he rung up a friend and swapped the dusty 307 motor for a truck-borne, mid-seventies 454. With a mild camshaft, an aluminum intake, a Holley carburetor, and MSD ignition, the combination of goodies provided him with a healthy 300 horsepower and 360 lb-ft at the wheels.

Photo credit: V8 Speed and Resto Shop

They were off to a good start, but Al recognized his limitations and started looking to a professional shop to do what he couldn’t. After stumbling upon the build videos of the SS496 Chevelle online, Al contacted V8 Speed & Resto Shop and handed off this dusty Chevelle for Kevin Oeste and crew to begin repairing the weathered body. New floors, doors, and window frames were the first assignments atop a long list of to-dos. Once they’d narrowed some of the fender gaps, added a solid cabin floor, put it on the rotisserie, and media blasted it, they addressed another critical factor: suspension and ride height.

As this Chevelle is supposed to be the epitome of a classic muscle car, V8 Speed & Resto Shop weren’t too concerned with giving the car outrageous levels of cornering grip, but felt that a little added agility would make sense. So, they added upgraded ball joints and bushings, a bigger front sway bar, and upgraded rear control arms. Where ride height was concerned, they added some new standard ride height replacement springs in the rear, and a set of cut springs up front for a little rake.

Photo credit: V8 Speed and Resto Shop

At this point, they took the opportunity to add a set of Rocket Racing Booster wheels, measuring 17 x 8″ in front and 17 x 9″ in the rear. With an upgraded 3.73, 12-bolt posi rear end, the motor’s 360 lb-ft is well-harnessed. Yet, the wave of torque gives Al the opportunity to “burn those tires all the way to the rim,” Oeste notes gleefully.

Photo credit: V8 Speed & Resto Shop

With a Turbo 400 transmission mating the 454 and the rear end, Al was satisfied with the amount of thrust and response available, but Kevin realized the untapped potential of this package.

Kevin, wanting this car to be a bonafide muscle car, suggested swapping in a manual gearbox. Al, nearing seventy at the time, balked at the idea—he was worried about clutch pedal pressure—and put up a predictable fight. Undeterred, Kevin enlightened him on soft, assisted, modern clutch pedals, which helped convince Al—though not entirely. There was another factor which persuaded Al to take the leap.

With the Turbo 400, the Chevelle would cruise at highway speeds with about 3,000 rpm on the tachometer. That made the experience loud and slightly uncomfortable, and also sucked down fuel. So, “what ultimately sold Al on the manual,” V8 Speed & Resto’s Trevor Spence recalls, “was the promise of lower cruising RPM.” With a smooth-shifting Tremek TKO600 5-speed in place, the Chevelle could travel at 60 MPH while spinning to a casual 2,000 rpm. Now, Al could row gears, make the most of his 454’s broad powerband, listen to the radio, and save his aching joints at the same time. Who needs chondroitin?

With the suspension, body, and powertrain dealt with, Kevin and company moved onto the paint—this car had to have curb appeal, after all. Al wanted something that looked period-correct, but he wasn’t terribly concerned with appeasing the die-hard traditionalists. Keeping it in the family, they went for a coat of GM Carbon Flash: a metallic black brightened by a layer of subtle blue flake. To add a little contrast and some classic style, they painted on SS side stripes completely accurate to GM specifications.

Photo credit: V8 Speed and Resto Shop

It was hard to argue with the timeless style that color combination offered. With the exterior sorted out, V8 Speed & Resto turned their attentions to the interior. Al wanted to keep the cabin period-correct, too, so they rebuilt the dash with factory parts, and added an unobtrusive, believable air conditioning unit from Vintage Air to make those long cruises more relaxed.

Continuing on an understated but purposeful theme, they did the same with the factory seats, but added a set of custom leather seat covers with integrated side bolsters. Though they looked subtle and OEM, they offered some needed lateral support.

Photo credit: V8 Speed & Resto Shop

A project some thirty years in the making, this Chevelle is a looker, but better yet—it can play the cruiser as well as the hooligan. Best of all, Al still drives the car regularly; blitzing to car shows and regularly wowing the judges. Al doesn’t break a sweat or suffer any discomfort on those long hauls to collect his trophies, either. It seems he was able to live out his dream which, though delayed, could not have been better.

Photo credit: V8 Speed & Resto Shop