Member: Maurice Chartrand

Car: 1976 Chevelle Laguna S3

Maurice Chartrand's '76 Chevelle Laguna S3

I fell in love with cars as a young boy riding around Oshawa, ON in my Dad’s gleaming white & black 1955 Chev Bel-Air 2 Dr Hdtp. I said to myself, when I get my driver’s license, I’m going to somehow own one these GM beauties. As luck would have it a super neighbour named Ron Roberts offered to sell me his very solid 55 Chevy 2 Dr Post 283 ci engine with a 3 speed Saginaw tranny for a respectable $550.00 when I was a seventeen year old grade 12 student. He used to see me admiring it almost everyday as he lovingly washed and polished it in his driveway. As fate would have it this beautiful rolling gem was totaled in the summer of 72 after I struck the back end of a new Ford T-Bird on the 401 highway near Bowmanville. The “t-bird” driver had lost control after a blow out and crossed the grassy median right into my path.

After collecting the $500.00 cheque from the T-bird insurance company I bought myself a few other cars made by the General, before the old Chevy fever took hold of me. In the summer of ‘75 I broke down and bought another ‘55 Chevy 2 dr post , but that’s another story!

I am a longtime employee of General Motors here in Oshawa, where my Dad and brother in law have also worked. I work with a lot of car guys which can really help to get you through a long day by trading stories or just commenting on the latest buzz; ie: the new Chevy Camaro that is going to be built in the new flex plant assembly operations here in Oshawa. No doubt many club members are well aware of this future product.

My first encounter with my ’76 Laguna S3 came on a chilly Wednesday evening , September 15/76. I can recall my Dad asking me what the heck I was doing leaving the house at 7:00 PM when all of Canada was glued to their colour TV’s getting ready to watch the famed Russian Red Army hockey team battle Team Canada at Maple Leaf Gardens. Car fever I responded; something my Dad just could not quite grasp! As I rolled into my local Chev-Olds dealership – “Ontario Motor Sales”, I couldn’t help notice how quiet everything was, even the main streets were empty of any traffic or people. I was, however, car hunting for a year end 1976 Olds Cutlass 442, since my old high school buddy Bob had picked up a cool 75 Olds 442, the year before at O.M.S. and needless to say I just loved it.

My trade in vehicle was a fully loaded 74 Pontiac Grand Prix with the 455. After 18 months of constant headaches with the Grand Prix (faulty radial Uniroyal tires, noisy rally wheels, broken water pump, blistering paint, water buildup inside the doors, etc. etc) the time had come to let it go. On the lot that evening, of the 6 Olds Cutlasses, only 2 were actual 442’s. Surprisingly enough both of these cars were packing GM’s all new 260 cid aluminum block along with a new manual transmission combo, something about improved gas mileage was how Robert the salesman explained it to me. I casually whispered in Robert’s ear that since my trade in vehicle came with a big block engine, I was not about to settle for a stretched Vega motor on steroids; stick shift or no stick shift! Therefore if he couldn’t set me up with at least a cast iron 350 motor in any of their cars I was going to head down the road to a dealer that could.

He paused for a minute and then he suddenly declared that back across Bond Street parked out back of the showroom sat a 76 Chevelle Laguna S3 demonstrator, which just happened to come equipped with the LM1 350 cast iron block. Robert grabbed the keys inside his office and we quickly took the gleaming white with gold stripes S3 out for a test drive. I was instantly hooked, as I recall, with that new car smell and the incredible nimble handling of the Laguna’s suspension. A deal was struck that evening! The car came equipped with swivel Bucket seats, which turned out to be a blessing. The following winter I fractured my left ankle and had to get around on crutches for 4 long months. The swivel buckets were amazing!

I often wondered if maybe I might have worked on the car since I worked in the Plant 2 Body Shop as a torch solderer at that time. My Chevelle Laguna apparently was one of the last to come off the line, as the summer plant shutdown was fast approaching and 1976 was the final year for the Laguna. A grand total of 9200 Chevelle Lagunas were built corporation wide for that last year. The one unique fact regarding these fairly rare vehicles is the NASCAR racing heritage that these mid 70’s cars brought to the track. Apparently Chevrolet claimed no factory support in racing, even though the 75 model Chevelle Laguna S3 with the one piece sloped front nose was designed specifically for racing.

The rumor mills had it that the low production figure was due to preparation priority for racing demand. The #11 Laguna S3 driven by Cale Yarborough won back-to-back Winston Cup Championships in 1976 and 1977. The Laguna was the superior car in those years and in the 1978 NASCAR imposed a restrictor plate on the carb. It seems that too many other teams complained of its superiority, especially Ford. Dale Earnhardt Sr. in his 1978 rookie year drove a Chevelle Laguna.

Probably the most memorable event that comes to mind with this car unfolded on a hot and sticky summer evening with my girlfriend Shelia beside me and her two younger brothers jammed in the back seat. The 4 of us had just left the 7:00 PM showing of that summer’s hottest flick, Smokey and the Bandit at the old Plaza Theatre, I remember checking out a brand new Pontiac Trans AM black and gold that a local dealer had conveniently parked out in front of the main entrance doors, in such a way that everyone entering the show that night could touch the car, the shaker hood scoop etc. I later read in some movie magazine that PMD sold a boatload of those black TA’s just because of it’s Hollywood magic up on the silver screen.

As I was whizzing down Simcoe Street with the 8 track player cranking out Emerson Lake and Palmer tunes we suddenly blew by a brown ‘77 Chev Belair with that unmistakable tiny chrome antennae perched on the centre of the deck lid. Suddenly I detected the headlights flash on and after they made their 180-degree turn in the road, the chase was on. Luckily we had a good head start on them and we somehow managed to elude them by quickly discovering a small circular court that was conveniently located behind a small strip mall. I shut off the lights and engine and stayed low for 2 hours; I really feel that I lost a good 5 pounds that night!

In the fall of ‘78 my older sister fell in love with the Laguna. This was also the time I was buying my first house so in November the car was sold to my sister. She quickly named the Chevelle “White Beauty”. In the spring of ‘85 my sister decided to sell the Laguna and buy Dad’s Chev Celebrity, since he was going down to Cliff Mills Motors to buy a new 85 Pontiac 6000, built right here in Oshawa. You guessed it; I bought back my old Chevelle Laguna from my sister; they had thankfully maintained the Chevelle with lots of TLC and kept it parked in an underground garage in Toronto.

Today my Chevelle is basically a 30-year-old survivor, having seen its fair share of rain, snow, salt. Ice, and road rash. I make sure that it receives a generous amount of TLC! The stock 350 engine with 145,000 miles has never been touched, neither has the turbo 350 transmission or the rear end with 2:73 gears. The Q-Jet carb, however, was rebuilt back in 1984. I still get respectable gas mileage and since it does not yet burn any amount of oil, I feel that this car has lived up to its proud Chevelle heritage. From 1985 on I have driven the car in fair weather only, storing it each winter and giving it a thorough oil spray treatment in the spring. In1989 the car received a much needed paint job and bodywork. I personally love the overall body design and also the simplicity and reliability of its power train. I enjoy taking it out to various local car shows in the summer, but prefer cruising in the evening since the car has no AC.

My latest challenge is to replace the main rubber cushions or body mounts with all new cushions and hardware. If only I had the use of a magic crystal ball when I first decided to purchase this car; the reason being that it took months of searching last year to actually locate these mounts. They were found from points all over Canada and the US, and let’s not forget the final price tag. OUCH !!. I bet I’ve hit a few raw nerves with some of the club members on that last sentence or two. However, whenever I get up close to it parked in a garage or when I am washing it or actually driving it, the car seems to cast a small spell on me. I’ll bet a large percentage of the guys and gals in the club can also relate well to that type of occurrence.

To sum up my story, the Chevelle Laguna is a numbers matching car with additional GM of Canada documentation. I also have numerous factory shop manuals, 30 years of maintenance and parts receipts, and numerous magazine articles and publications depicting the history and features of this forgotten car line in the low performance mid 70’s.

Maurice’s ’76 Chevelle is equipped with the following


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