We had one as a family car. We traded a 1950 Chevy truck that had been hot-rodded up for it. The truck was a ripper, a four-speed screamer, but it had issues…the least of which were the plywood floors. So when the 1969 Chevelle Malibu showed up in fourteen layers of primer gray and one layer of teal, needing quarters badly and barely running right, the trade was made in a heartbeat. In short order the car was a monster, a 327-powered beast that went through a color change or two before winding up painted black. And it was a family car. In the 1990s, squatted down on Weld Draglites, with enough rear tire to almost look tubbed. The only thing that car needed was the chrome trim reinstalled. Ok, maybe actual rear quarters installed. I saw how those were fixed. I’m amazed they didn’t shake out for all the fun that car was put through.
Derek has history with 1969 Chevelles too. The last one I knew about he drove on Power Tour last year and proceeded to go nuclear option on the burnout with, but I haven’t seen much of it since. His other Chevelle, the one known as “Independence”, is a rot-box that’s going to be a skidpad-only thing once it’s done. So you have a too-rough car that’ll be feral, and one that may or may not be hidden in the mist like the guy acting like a plot device on an episode of the X-files. Well, that just means it’s time for another car, right? Do you see 1969 Chevelles just growing on trees, ready to be picked? They come in two flavors in 2020: nice and trashed. Derek found the very rare medium: pretty much done, but left alone for a while. This isn’t the fire-breathing SS396. This is the more run of the mill 307/Powerglide car, the everyday machine, the sensible choice. And it’s been loved…and then hidden. This isn’t so much a revival as it is a wake-up. Good score, Derek.
For every time you hear that old cars are picked over and gone, show the source of that line this video. They’re out there. Keep hunting.
