Member: Réal Bolduc
Car: 1966 Chevelle SS
Car: 1966 Chevelle SS
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I have always dreamed of having a classic car but never did anything about it until October 2006 when my wife, Carol let me drag home a rusted out 62 Impala from Prince Albert. Not having worked on cars to any extent at this point, I did not have the courage to start this seemingly overwhelming project. So the car sat in my garage for a year while I pondered on whether or not I shouldn't have held out for something that was a little less of a challenge.
I put the Impala up for sale and was seriously considering the acquisition of a 1966 Malibu that my golfing buddy had up for sale. This car was primo and ready to roll and I new that this car would hold no surprises. Before my friend decided he was really ready to part with his car, an opportunity came up that I couldn't resist. This was a 1966 Chevelle SS396 with a fresh paint job and rebuilt numbers matching big block and it was in my price range. Needless to say, the rest is history. I picked up the car and spent the winter finishing it off in time to take it to a few car shows in the summer of 2008. The Impala never did sell, but with the help of many friends in getting my Chevelle out of the garage, I found the confidence to start in on the first car and a web site that will document my progress.
This is my 1966 Chevelle SS396. The motor is the 325hp version of the 396 and while the original transmission was a powerglide, it had a tired turbo 400 when I acquired the car. The car left the factory in Fremont, California in the last week of December, 1966 with the vinyl roof, a sandalwood tan paint job, air conditioning, power steering, power brakes (drum), tinted glass, AM/FM radio, bucket seats, black vinyl interior, seat belts (3 sets in the back), console, trunk light, quadrajet carburetor, 10 bolt positraction rear end and dual exhaust. It would have also had 14" tires on it, not the 15's you see here. I believe the car was sold new in Edmonton, AB and I seem to be the fifth owner, near as I can tell.
When I got the car, the interior looked pretty good except for the fact that almost all the plastic chrome parts had the chrome shine worn off due to years of cleaning and shining. The glove box was stained and broken, the clock wasn't working and there were wires running over the carpet from the dash to the console. The package tray was water stained, scratched and warped and the insulation was missing under the shelf and so was the divider and insulation between the back seat and the trunk. The sun visors wouldn't stay up The radio had an intermittent problem that was causing it to go on and off and the heater blower only had one speed.
The car came with new arm rest bases but I had to buy the chrome bezels around the speedo, radio and the one above the glove box, a new dome light base, vent window handles, inserts for the sun visors, a/c vent balls, package tray & insulation, seat divider & insulation, new clock, plastic transmission shift slider, new glove box, glove box latch, glove box light wiring harness and socket. When the parts for the dash came in, I discovered that it was easier to install them if the dash was taken out. With the dash out I discovered that there weren't any hoses connecting the blower and the vents so I installed some nice new plastic ones that have that "new" smell when you run the heater. There were a few other things missing under the dash that were in a parts box that came with the car, so I installed those as well and fixed the stiff heater controls at the same time. There were some new rubber bumpers for the bucket seat bottoms in the spare parts box which I installed and lastly, I sanded and re-painted the metal seat backs. I have finally picked up the "bullet" ends for the chrome trim on the seat perimeters and those were the last things I installed on the inside.
The first package tray that came in did not fit. Seems there was more than one type for this year and model that varied with the headliner type and whether the sail panels were attached to the headliner or separate. This car has part of the sail panels attached to the headliner and little "ear muff" panels that tuck in just in front of the rear window that are not attached to the headliner. Apparently this indicates that the car was made early in the model year which contradicts that date that the VIN number tells me. This was a good time to clean and repaint the speaker grill and screws. Not much left to do in the interior except change the carpet which is ok for now even though it's a little faded.
Some of the things I have done so far include: re-install factory a/c, re-install power steering, rebuild heater resistor, dress wires and conceal where possible, replace valve cover bolts, supply and install missing wire to the heater from front terminal block, replace all hoses (vacuum, rad, heater etc), re-from gas line to make room for a/c belt, replace decals on air cleaner (twice!), remove and re-paint rad and a/c condenser, replace front grill, straighten driver side bumper mount, rebuilt transmission (National Transmission), rebuilt carburetor (Les Hammerstein, local quadrajet guru), new alternator, replaced steering box, power steering pump, re-painted block and inner fenders, replaced "a" frame rubbers, replaced hood installation ( also twice!), installed kick down switch on fabricated bracket, installed choke coil and housing, replaced thermostat, installed radiator shroud, replaced all belts, supplied and installed window washer fluid container and new hoses. I have recently installed a new quadrajet and the weather strip that goes on the cowl under the hood, replaced the vacuum advance and changed the pawl and neutral safety switch in the console.
I would like to find a jack and wheel wrench for this car if anyone has any leads for me and would like to find a new windshield washer pump. Other than that, the rear bumper could stand to be re-chromed and I should probably change out the carpet. But I am currently doing a frame off on a 62 Impala 2 dr hard top so any further improvements to the Chevelle are going to have to wait a while.
I have a website at www.razecarz.com where I have documented the work on my cars to date. Please sign my guest book if you drop by.
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