Editor’s Note: It is always cool when a BangShift Alumnus goes on to do something neat with cars and such is the case with Kaleb Kelley. A former contributor to the site, he’s now in the classic car business. Here’s the tale, we think it is pretty great – Brian

(Words and photos by Kaleb Kelley) –  Classic Car Liquidators is a high-volume classic car dealer in Sherman, TX that has been selling classic and collector cars for years. My name’s Kaleb and I’m the self-proclaimed Digital Prophet here at CCL. No really, it’s on my business card. Ken Kelley, automotive enthusiast who’s had multiple award-winning cars, finally got the chance to get involved and purchase Classic Car Liquidators with two of his lifelong friends. One of his partners, Robbie Trotter, is the “Financial Wizard” as we call him. He’s been in the car business for years and years as a finance manager. He’s setup in-house financing for us and is going to make it an easier process for our buyers. Todd Petelski, the other partner is the king of getting a deal. As a team, they plan to take it to the next level. Ken is the guy in charge and an automotive guru to the max. From racing the Texas Mile or Road America to winning first place at Autorama, he’s done it all. He envisions putting together nicer cars, growing inventory and becoming more involved in the car scene. We’re car guys at heart. If you’re looking to buy a classic, make sure to give us a call.

The general goal of CCL from its inception was to find classic cars for the common man and sell as many as we could. We occasionally have a few high-end cars such as the ’70 Challenger R/T with the matching-numbers 426 Hemi or the ’65 Corvette with the original L78 396, but our bread & butter are cars for the common man. Not everybody can afford an original LS6 ’70 Chevelle or a ProTouring first-gen Camaro. There seems to be a gap in the classic car market between project cars and high-end cars. We try to fill that gap. With the majority of our inventory being from $15,000 to $30,000, we can you get in your dream car reasonably.

Many people have questions of how we find our cars, what we do to them when they arrive, etc., so here’s a rundown of your typical check in. When we get a car in, our sales manager and service manager go over the car from top to bottom and figure out if it’s ready to sell or needs some maintenance. From a full paint job or just some detailing and seat covers, we get the cars freshened up and fix the little issues for the next owner. Our detailer goes under the cars, cleans them up, touches up the engine bay and makes them more presentable.

As we state on our website, not every car we sell is restored or matching numbers. They’re good drivable cars, which is why our pricing is where it’s at. We take a straight-forward approach to our sales to make sure our customers are happy with the car when it arrives. If you see any car you’re interested in, you can call our Clay or Aaron at the sales office and they’ll tell you everything about it, good or bad.

The new owners aren’t just business men, they’re car guys all the way through. Ken Kelley, the majority owner, has been on the Power Tour every year since 2012, races in Optima’s Search for the Ultimate Street Car series and always has a personal project going on. We don’t just sell cars. We live the classic car culture. Ken has quite the collection, including a 700+hp blown ’71 ‘Cuda with a 340 stroked & bored to 422ci, a Hellcat Charger on Forgeline GW3 wheels, an all-out ProTouring Dart and a ’71 C10 longbed.

This year for the Power Tour, he took his Dart and one of our other owners, Robbie, took the ’71 C10. Real Power Tour struggles set in when the Dart had issues and the C10’s crank broke before Austin. They got the Dart fixed, but the C10 is just finally getting reassembled with the new bottom end of its potent 383.

The Dart was recently finished for its 2016 update. Our friends at Fast Freddies Rod Shop in Eau Claire, Wisconsin originally built the car in 2008. After Ken bought it right before SEMA last year, we decided to update it with the newly available parts for A-body Mopars. We started off fuel-injecting the 512ci big-block with Holley’s multiport EFI system. We’ve done throttle-body injection in the past, but for the racing application, multiport is more precise. Our friends at Anything Automotive did the install and tune for us, including the Tanks Inc fuel-injection tank. Then, 3 weeks before the Power Tour, they tore out the entire suspension for a new setup from Reilly Motorsports, including their Mustang II style front end and triangulated 4-link rear end.

Of course we needed proper shocks to control the car, so our friends at RideTech supplied us with triple-adjustable coilovers to provide the proper adjustability for different tracks. Wilwood Disc Brakes were out first choice for stopping power. After recommendations from Jake Rozelle, we ordered 14” front and 12.8” rear GT rotors and their special nickel calipers, 6-piston front and 4-piston rear, to assure that it had no issue stopping. Since we went with big brakes, the 17” wheels wouldn’t work anymore. Boze Forged cut us a set of their 18” Victory forged wheels measuring 18×9” front and 18×10” rear. This lets us do a 275-series Nitto NT05 up front and a 295-series out back. We could’ve went a big wider in the rear, but we wanted to run a nearly square setup. It is finally ironed out and ready to roll. It made 477 horsepower and 550 lb-ft to the rear tires when we dyno’d it. This thing is no joke!

Stay tuned as we try to take CCL to the next level. We are doing more consignment as well. You can learn more about the process on our website. Nobody will advertise your car like we do. With our large social media following and high-traffic website, we can help you get your car sold. We have three really sweet cars that just came in on consignment. One is a rare 1970 Challenger R/T that was rotisserie restored by local Mopar guru Bob Romig with the matching-numbers 426 Hemi under the hood. It is as nice and correct as they get. He also sent in his 1971 AMC Javelin AMX which is a nice driving car. It’s silver with red interior, which is definitely different, but isn’t that what an AMX should be?

The other car that we just go in is a rare bird too. 1965 Corvette convertible with the rare L78 425-horsepower, 396 cubic-inch big block. Approximately 2,100 of these were made in both coupe and convertible in 1965. First year of the big-block Corvette and only real of the 425-horsepower 396. In the original Goldwood Yellow, this thing is just straight classy. Something about a big-block and 4-speed just doesn’t get old! Be sure to check out our website for our full inventory. We always have something new coming in and now offer in-house financing with low rates from 48 to 60 month notes. We buy cars as well. Don’t hesitate to give us a call and talk to our sales staff about buying your new car or help selling your classic!

www.ClassicCarLiquidators.com

We have to thank our friends at BangShift for letting us post this to let people know about the new ownership. A couple years back, I was a contributor on BangShift. I had a lot of free time and wanted to share my stuff from local shows. In the future, we hope to supply some extra content from CCL when we go to shows and races on BangShift. Chad and Brian are the truest car guys in the automotive aftermarket media and we’re glad to be connected with them! Stay tuned for more BS!

Check out photos of some our other inventory!