I bought my 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle in 1997 after looking for more than a year for a good candidate. I found it for sale in LA and got a great deal for it at the time, $3,500. As you can see it looked pretty bad on the exterior, but actually had no rust, a straight body, and an almost completely rebuilt engine. It was running smooth, and left lots of room for work and improvements in other areas, which is exactly what I wanted for my new project.
After getting the Chevelle back to my house, I started planning on how I was going to resurrect it and restore it the way I wanted. The VIN, cowl, and door tags confirmed my new project was the 2-door Malibu Sport Coupe, a model of Chevelle just below the Super Sport, and this one came with a V8 engine, painted in Sandlewood Tan and with the Two-Tone Fawn interior trim, originally built in Fremont California (now the Tesla plant) and wasn't built with power steering nor air conditioning options. It was number 35,276 off the line of 130,540 like it, and of 447,364 total Chevelles built in 1966.
I thought briefly about restoring the car back to a completely stock look, but it already had a 350 Small Block Chevy engine from a different car, Hooker Competition Headers, and an Edelbrock 4-Barrel Carburetor, among other improvements. Besides, I really wanted to swap out the automatic "slush box" transmission for a manual Muncie 4-Speed 'cause I love to shift. I also wanted to upgrade the handling and braking systems for an all around better and safer ride, as well as add power steering and air conditioning eventually.
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