My opinion on Chevelle..... I am a gearhead, I own a 2002 8.1 big block crew cab truck, I had a Olds Cutlass in high School, I had a Mustang, an F250, I have a few Mopars now. So, my opinion is not based on brand loyalty.
They made, if I remember the chart correctly, almost a half a million fast back malibu/Chevelle in 1970 alone. Add the sedan and convertibles and the number grows.
They are not special cars, because the Chevy guys made so many fake clones it will make your head spin. They certainly aren't some special body style, they made hundreds of thousands of them, in one year alone!
I go to Iola, there are at least 25 of them every year, and that is just what is parked while I walk around as they come and go during the day.
I normally beat up on the Ford zealots, you know the type- the guys eyes get really wide and they almost froth at the mouth telling you how whatever Ford thing is the best thing ever made. Well, for a Chevy guy, that is a Chevelle. They will gladly tell you the fake clone car they built is bone stock with 400hp even though it has a stroked 350 small block, and then try to sell it for $60k because they were the best cars on the street back then, according to them and their nostalgia.
I don't actually mind the car. But the owners are irritating, as a generalization. And the hype built around them makes them a dime a dozen, in my eyes. They all look the same, the vast majority have had the engines super worked over and/or swapped, and the majority of them started life as a cheap mass market 2 door with a sporty look. They get money spent on them and some badges applied and suddenly it is an SS.
If you want to mess with one, go for it! Just don;t expect the same looks from gear heads as you might get from a nice Mopar. Do NOT, under any circumstances, pay SS money for a car without proper documentation, and even then i would not buy it without going home to research it more.
If you want a fun car to drive and beat on that is "easy" (because chevy stuff is basically easy) to work on and find parts, it can be a blast.
So if you want one, do it for you, and do it to drive, and don;t expect to make money selling it later.
Personally, I would buy an Olds instead, because they are a similar car but started life as a better car and a rocket 350 is a rocket 350 no matter what yo put it in, or a 455 for that matter. But I do have a sweet spot for Olds, and especially the 455, so don;t take my word for it
To sum it up: from a pure gearhead point of view, while the Chevelle is certainly a capable fun car, it is also the least remarkable of basically anything GM built in the era, not to mention where it ranks when you add Ford and Chrysler to the mix. Still, with the right expectations and the right price on a car, you could do righteous burnouts in one all day.
