Car: 1967 Chevelle SS 396
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This Chevelle was originally purchased in 1967 at Hallowell Chevrolet in Fresno, California and made its way up to the Edmonton area about 1990. The car was later purchased by a fellow in Edmonton who began a frame off restoration in 1995. He disassembled the body, sandblasted and painted the frame and had the original motor and original two speed power glide transmission rebuilt. The 396 325HP engine was rebuilt at Pro-Stock Automotive with all new parts. The engine was bored .040 over and domed pistons and stainless steel valves and seats were installed. A mild cam was also installed.
I came across the car in 1999 and purchased it in January 2000. This is when I started the assembly and restoration. The complete restoration was finished in January 2004, or I should say close to being finished as I have been told by others in this hobby that they are never quite complete. Over the next three years everything in the car was replaced, rebuilt or refinished. The body of the car was rust free and as the car had spent most of its life in the desert, the floor and trunk were in excellent condition. Even though everything was in good condition we did encounter some difficulty as we had not taken the car apart (the car came to its new home in parts and pieces and in lots of cardboard boxes). I spent many hours studying assembly manuals and received lots of help from members of our local car club, the Fort Sask. Street Runners.
I began by sanding the firewall as it had been painted white by the previous owner. The firewall was painted flat black as we have restored the car to original conditions. This car was built in Van Nuns, California. The American built GM cars had the firewall painted in flat black while the Canadian built cars had the firewall painted in the same color as the cars exterior.
The heater core was replaced and the heater and A/C plenum was cleaned, repainted and all the foam gaskets and seals were replaced. Next the body panels were sanded as they had been painted in white Endura enamel. All of the body panels were then sprayed with primer. The entire front end, steering, shocks and hoses were either rebuilt or replaced. The car originally had manual drum brakes. I decided to add power front disc brakes to improve the safety and drivability of the car, so I installed a Stainless Steel Brakes power front disc kit.
The rear end was rebuilt and an Auburn posi-traction unit was installed as the pin had fallen out of the yoke causing some damage. The original 3.07 gear was not changed. One of the axles, the rear drum brakes and shocks, as well as the u-joints were replaced. When Alberta Drive-Line was balancing the original drive shaft, they found a vibration and replaced the original drive shaft.
The motor and transmission were installed next. The starter, alternator, voltage regulator, spark plug wires and Pertronix electronic ignition were installed. The power steering pump, A/C compressor were rebuilt and all hoses replaced.
The car was then taken to Alberta Custom Exhaust where Flow Master mufflers and 2 ½” exhaust pipes was installed. I did have the original tail pipes to use as a pattern to bend the 2 ½” tail pipe drops in the correct place.
The next phase was the interior. The seats were recovered; carpet, headliner, new windshield and interior trim parts were installed. The interior and dash parts were repainted in the original 778 Turquoise color.
The distributor was re-curved as we had a pinging problem even when using premium fuel with octane booster. This was because of the 10.25:1 compression ratio pistons in the engine. The original Quadra-Jet carburetor was rebuilt and is now on the car and works well.
The gas tank was cleaned and painted. I had the radiator and A/C condenser rebuilt and painted at Hunter Radiator. All the hoses and o-rings were replaced as the A/C was converted to R134.
The final paint was done in PPG base clear coat in the original exterior color code CC Ermine White at Redline Custom Auto Body in St. Albert. The hood was replaced as it was damaged previously. Kevin and his crew at Redline did an excellent job of straightening and fitting everything perfectly. The car was also wet sanded and polished to give it a mirror like finish.
I spent many hours on eBay looking for parts and managed to find an original tilt steering wheel in Michigan. I thought this would be an excellent option to add as only 1008 were originally equipped with the ComforTilt Steering Wheel option.
I did manage to find a good many NOS parts on eBay and most of the other parts came from RPM in Saskatoon, Original Parts Group and Year-One.
Many thanks to those that helped, in particular Don Lawrence and Marc Normandeau from the local car club and Kevin Wouters from Redline Custom Auto Body.
We have made about 2500 miles in each of the last two years, attending local car shows, cruise nights and the 2003 Super Run that was held on the August long weekend in Red Deer, Alberta. The car has also been featured in the Edmonton Journal Drive section. I am looking forward to taking the car to Powerama in Edmonton at the end of April as well as to the Super Run being held this year in Saskatoon, Sask. As this is both Saskatchewan’s and Alberta’s centennials, there will be many events to attend this year. Hope we see you at one of them.
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