Unbiased views on Chevelle SS

[WileE]

I was just thinking the exact same thing. I personally appreciate all muscle cars and many unique or specialty cars. I have cars from all over the world in my collection, all were special for a reason and purpose. I enjoy and have enjoyed all of them. I like MOPAR’s but they definitely aren’t the only game in town. If you’re a car guy, appreciate cars. I’ve never found a perfect car for every application or use

My comment is based on actual experience with an objective viewpoint from real time back in the day.

 

[chargervert]

my first legal to drive car was a 68 chevelle, SS hood, 350 4 speed, aluminum "super trick" style wheels...... it had a "I brake for Pacman" bumper sticker...... I left it there, the chicks dug it

My friend had a 68 Chevelle with an L88 scoop on the hood and a bumper sticker that said "No Fat Chicks" lol

 

[WileE]

in the 70's, a friend had a 1970 Chevelle with a stroker 427/ 4 speed. It had ladder bars, hooked up like crazy and reved over 6K. Cool car

Yes, a drawback was the soft-ride coil spring suspension, which required ^ .

 

[chargervert]

My other friend had a 69 Chevelle and he replaced the glass washer bottle with a bottle of Southern Comfort and ran the washer hoses into the car. He had SoCo on tap!

 

[gtx6970]

If you venture into LS6 cars,Yenko and COPO Chevelles you are playing in the deep end of the pool moneywise! I would buy a Hemi Mopar first.

Agreed

 

[guy gadbois]

You asked for as unbiased opinion{s} as possible... Well, it depends on what you want to do with the car; if you are wanting to go street racing, getting that coil spring rear to hook up is difficult. If you just want a cruiser, then they are wonderful. Bodystyle is subjective as is colour. [ I think the 72 is the cleanest of that series myself...] Also, are you staying 100% 'original' or are modifications in your future?
Lets face it - and I will undoubtedly be excoriated severely here - but the build quality and ride is superior to our Plymouths. Not as good as Olds for example, but better than Mopar. When I say 'better' , I mean lower NVH, more damping and generally better materials. The [power] steering is more direct.
If you dont mind mods, power [and handling] are much easier and less expensive to make than your Plymouth. Parts are easier to source, etc.
BUT!!!! One must be VERY careful to not get 'taken' when buying one - SS cars are relatively easy to clone in the 68-72 years, and the prices are off the charts worse for real and rare/high horsepower cars. Of course, thats true for Plymouths too....
Anyway, my opinion is that if you want one, get it! You will find it to be an enjoyable car to drive and easy to work on should the need arise. They dont rust any worse than other cars of the era, and not as bad as some. Real SS cars especially have usually lived a hard life, but by now have probably been restored and should be good. Of course, that is VERY dependent upon quality of restoration...because of the ease of working on them and the plethora of parts available, there are LOTS of very poorly done examples out there. caveat emptor.
Basically, they are neat old cars that held their own back in the day; the super fast guys usually had a Plymouth or a 55 Chevy, but any big block Chevelle will certainly keep up with traffic and be a joy to bury the loud pedal with occasionally.
best of luck in your search.

 

[XS22J8R]

My friend had a 68 Chevelle with an L88 scoop on the hood and a bumper sticker that said "No Fat Chicks" lol

All that’s missing is a chain steering wheel, one of those aftermarket accelerator pedals shaped like a cartoon foot, and a garter displayed on the rear view mirror stem, and then you got that cool dudes car in the mid to late 70s high school parking lot look down to a T!

 

[RSMS]

My comment is based on actual experience with an objective viewpoint from real time back in the day.

You may or may not have a couple of years on me but I assure you I’ve done my share of street racing, bracket racing, building hot rods and all out mudding trucks, restoring cars and buying and selling of these cars since when they were just used cars. Everything from a SBC front engine vintage rail, rear engine BBC rail to 6 didgit classics. I helped my dad restore a 62 vette he got as a trade in at a ford store he was managing that had slicks, one seat, dual quads over the fenders(didn’t have a hood). He got it for $200 in 1976 or 77 when I was 8, we worked on it nightly when I was a kid and returned it to pretty close to stock. I learned how to build engines and race from a neighbor while
I still was riding a bicycle. The 1st car I worked on with him was a pretty wicked early pinto with a 454 based BBC. We had a 428 cougar eliminator and a 6 pack cuda also in our neighborhood so lomg before I could even drive legally I was well corrupted with high performance cars. Growing up in the car business I got to experience all cars and was able to see what was special or unique about all of them. That being said, I still enjoy a high rpm SBC as a toy but a 67 GTX is one of my favorite cars of the era.

 

[eldubb440]

All that’s missing is a chain steering wheel, one of those aftermarket accelerator pedals shaped like a cartoon foot, and a garter displayed on the rear view mirror stem, and then you got that cool dudes car in the mid to late 70s high school parking lot look down to a T!

mine had a Cal Custom foot gas pedal.......it was there when I bought it, i felt it was a bit over the top so I ditched it

 

[QuickBpBp]

My cousin on my wife's side got her Uncle's 69 SS Chevelle 396 4 speed all original paint and still under 50,000 miles. It's light blue with some funky white pin stripes on it and aluminum slots from the back in the day. It has a tow hitch on it as he used to haul his blue Checkmate to the lakes with it and go water skiing. Cool survivor day 2 car and only gets driven to be inspected and still garaged to this day.

 

[hemi*guy]

70 454 SS on my bucket list! Black w/ red interior.

 

[chargervert]

When I was in high school my step sisters boyfriend had a primered grey 70 Chevelle SS 396 4 speed car. I was in the tenth grade and in the auto shop program. There were these two senior guys in the program that thought they were better than everyone else,and the teachers pretty much let them do whatever they wanted to in the shop. Well one morning these two douchebags were given the keys to Brads Chevelle to do some work to the car in the auto shop. Instead of giving the keys to the instructor,they took the car out to see what it could do,and blew the engine in the car. The car came back on a tow truck with a rod hanging out of the oil pan. This put the teacher in a spot. The two clowns tried to lie their way out of it by saying the car was knocking when they started it up,but Brad was able to find out from the towing company that the douchebags took the car off of school property and the teacher got them to admit that the test pilots took it on a joyride and blew it up. They had to pay to put another big block Chevy engine in the car,which they did in the shop. It was a low HP truck engine from a local junkyard and the car never ran the same again,not to mention not having the car for three weeks! The douchebag who blew it up went on and on about what a piece of **** the car was,after he destroyed it! Brad sold it soon after getting the car back. It was probably the matching numbers engine they destroyed too!