THE STORY OF A RESTOMODDED ’66 CHEVELLE WITH FAKE SS 396 STYLE

Editor’s note: Hemmings contributor John Gilbert built his dream Chevelle, so we asked him if he would tell us all about it!

Don’t worry folks, we know a 375-horse 396 is supposed to have a bare aluminum intake manifold, and thats okay, because it’s really a 475-horse ZZ454. If you are some kind of SS 396 Chevelle purist that’s easily upset, don’t read any further, it only gets worse. It’s Harold Clay’s fault that our ’66 Malibu turned out to be so over-the-top nice. If it wasn’t for Harold’s Hot Rod Shop and a list of good friends in the automotive aftermarket industry, this Chevelle wouldn’t have its excellent fit and finish and running the best aftermarket parts a person can buy.

My favorite Chevelle has always been the ’66 SS 396, ever since the day my dad and I visited Clippinger Chevrolet in Covina, California. I ran up and down the rows of brand-new ’66 Chevelles, looking to spot SS 396 hoods. Many years later I was hired by Super Chevy to work as a tech editor, then shortly afterward my duties were expanded to edit tech for Vette magazine… and soon after followed by taking over the editorship of Chevelle magazine.

When I was hired for Vette, I put together enough money to buy a 1990 Z51 Corvette for my daily driver, so when the editorship of Chevelle came along I was low on bucks. I told my CPA buddy Brian Shaw how I really wasn’t looking forward to having Chevelle magazine readers ask what year my Chevelle was, only to explain that I’d never owned a Chevelle – not counting numerous ’66 two-door Malibus my circle track-crazy friends and I hacked up to race at Speedway 605 in Irwindale, California, on Saturday nights.

Brian said he’d put up the money and we could partner to build a ’66 Chevelle I could use to generate tech features for Chevelle magazine. My first article for Chevelle was how to find and buy the right Chevelle. We found a 1966 Malibu for $9,000 a young lady in Bishop, California, had ordered brand new with a 220-horse Power Pack 283 and three-speed overdrive. At the get-go we agreed our Malibu was going to incorporate modern upgrades; options unheard of in 1966, yet it would maintain a deceptive factory-stock look.

The snowball really started to roll when I was on the phone discussing the Chevelle project with my friend Harold. He immediately took an interest and told me, “Bring me the Chevelle, I’ll throw a quick paint job on it.” We loaded up the crusty Chevelle onto a tandem trailer and met Harold and Tim halfway in Albuquerque, New Mexico. There’s no such thing as a “quick paint job” for Harold. Most of the vehicles in Harold’s shop are rare classics that are built to win at Pebble Beach or customized hot rods that are headed to the Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS) in Pomona, California. 

So much for a quick “splash job”. In no time at all Clay had the Chevelle off its chassis and on a rotisserie, installing a new AMD trunk floor. Nostalgia dictated choosing an AMD SS 396 hood and before long Carter Paint Company in Enid, Oklahoma, was dropping off PPG DTM primer and gallons of Tropic Turquoise. Harold tweaked the PPG Tropic Turquoise formula with a little pearl and buried it under PPG clear. The PPG clear came out of the booth slicked, but that wasn’t good enough for Harold, he spent another three weeks cutting and buffing the paint into a mirror flat finish. 

When Brian and I arrived in Enid with a truck and trailer the Chevelle was a completely restored car, with AMD glass and Steele Rubber weatherstripping — just sans running gear, suspension, brakes, and interior.

I said to Brian, “Man, Harold set the bar way too high, now the car is too nice for us to work on, we’re going to need to find some good help to finish it.” Our buddy Jason Baucher, a former Snap-on dealer, lent us his facilities at Specialty Stainless Installations in Chino and Brian’s friend Jay swung by Baucher’s shop to help with Brian assisting as an extra pair of hands. Shaw and Jay installed Detroit Speed suspension, Baer brakes, a Currie 9 crate rear axle, and dropped in the ZZ454, complete with a Silver Sport-sourced TREMEC six-speed.

The COVID-19 pandemic lockdown ramped up as the Chevelle was going together; some manufacturers were weeks out of inventory with no projected delivery date in sight. That put us on life support with Summit Racing Equipment and not once did Summit’s vast stockpiles let us down, getting large and small parts to us as fast as Brian could order them.

Constructing the Chevelle to resemble a stock 1966 SS 396 was an intentional act. Max Gilmore at Auto Addiction OC fitted original equipment A/C vents and painted the non-air dash Artesian Turquoise. Vintage Air offers a complete approach to air conditioning, so the cooling system features a Vintage Air Monster Fan and Front Runner serpentine engine accessory drive. Vintage Air SureFit air conditioning provides the ice-cold air, which is held in via Dynamat insulation products. The stock-appearance full instrumentation is a Classic Instruments DirectFit Chevelle package with a built-in tachometer.

We had a show date fast approaching, so Don Lindfors stepped in. With the 2022 GNRS only one month away, Lindfors hustled with finesse and finished installing the American Autowire harness, fired up the FiTech-injected ZZ454 for its first breath, and the Chevelle made it into Harold’s Hot Rod Shop’s GNRS booth in Building 4. I drove the Chevelle into Harold’s Building 4 spot without a completed interior or rear bumper. We requested the ’66 to be judged, but it was only there to show the public Harold’s Hot Rod Shop’s work. We were absolutely stunned when the Chevelle won 1st Place in Restored Class and that confirmed our goal to successfully make the ‘66 look as stock as possible. 

Recently, Brian and I reminisced about undertaking our ’66 Chevelle project and we agreed there was not one thing about the car where we compromised or would have done anything different—and completing it to show winning quality definitely was thanks to a community of great friends.

The post The Story Of A Restomodded ’66 Chevelle With Fake SS 396 Style appeared first on The Online Automotive Marketplace.

2024-08-29T13:30:51Z dg43tfdfdgfd