Dale McIntosh's 1967 Chevelle SS396 - The GR8PMKN
(An old car to many of you but it is set up here as an example of what we are looking for.)
As
purchased in 1986 the car featured a black paint job with flames, pretty
sad flames too. The car was a factory SS with bench seats and 4-speed which
was just what I'd been looking for for quite a few years. The asking price
of $1750 didn't seem too bad. When purchased, the clutch was almost gone
and the shifter was so sloppy that I had a choice between 1st & 2nd gear
or 3rd & 4th to make the 150+ mile trip home from Dallas. Considering
the trip was mostly highway miles I opted for the 3rd & 4th gear choice.
Getting out of Dallas and onto the highway was challenging and aside from
a couple of toll booth stops, the drive wasn't bad. Whatever was left of
the clutch facing was completely gone by the time I arrived home. So the
first chore was to drop the transmission and replace the clutch and cover.
Replacing the old Muncie linkage was done at the same time with a new Hurst
Competition Plus.
The first rebuild was done by the next summer and the car pretty much stayed
this way from 1986 through 1998. Interior was redone in silver & black much
like the 1965 Buick GN I also had at the time. A 396 engine from a 69 Chevelle
was used for motivation with a fresh rebuild and some dress-up items.
The car was driven everyday to work, play and numerous car shows in the
Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas area.
In 1998 the car was beginning to show its age so it once again went back in the shop for a makeover. This time, caution was thrown to the wind (at least in my mind) and the Chevelle was treated to a custom Orange Pearl paint with ghost flames (hence the moniker "Great Pumpkin" and license plate GR8PMKN), a major makeover of the interior featuring a custom dash, full-length center console & 4 bucket seats, and eventually an Accel/DFI fuel injection unit on top of the engine.
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Small changes like updated wheels & tires, 13" Baer brakes & Vintage Air saw the light over the next 6 years. The car was still driven regularly as weather permitted and to quite a few car shows making 3 trips to Nashville for the ACES Chevell~abration show as well as numerous Midwest Chevelle Regional shows in Kansas City, Wichita & Tulsa and even a couple of Good-Guys events in Kansas City & Ft. Worth. The car was eventually sold in 2004 after almost 18 years of service.
More history & photos of the car can be seen at http://dalesplace.com/others/67chevelle/index.htm