My Daily Driver



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John's (not Quite stock) 1972 Chevelle Malibu. We'll let John tell the tale.

When I purchased this car 4 years ago, I thought a few repairs and minor changes would make it presentable. Well, you know how it is, in order to fix one thing you have to fix another. So I ended up with the body off the frame. I put new body mounts, KYB shocks, springs, tie rods, ball joints, and C E ladder bars to improve traction.

I chose PPG metalic silver is the color with black SS stripes. I painted it in my Cover-It tent garage. This project would have been done in half the time, but when the warm weather arrived in the spring I would slap it together and drive it until late fall.

I taught myself how to weld repairing the trunk and interior floor, but together with my friend Bill (a better welder than me) we installed new rear quarter skins on both sides, and removed a sunroof that did not belong on this car. The body and interior is mostly stock with the exception of the Harwood fiberglass hood.

The power comes from a 350 C.I. bored .030 over with TRW forged dome top pistons and a .501 lift hydraulic cam. Attached to it is a turbo 350 with a 2400-rpm stall converter and shift kit. On top I put a Weiand Stealth intake with a 750 Holly duel feed delivering the fuel, and a MSD 6AL to light the fuse. I sent the 202 heads to B&M Machine in Conn. where they were shaved, ported, polished, and stainless steel valves with a 3 angle grind, brunell guides, hardened seats, duel springs and 1.6 aluminum roller rockers installed. Dynamax Jet Hot headers connect to the 2 ½" Flowmaster exhaust system with 2 chamber mufflers. The 12 bolt posi was upgraded from 3:32's to 3:73's and all new axle bearings.

I did most of the work myself, but my friends Bill and Bob were there when I needed help. The vinyl top, seats, and headliner were installed by Fred Carello, and Dave from Buttonwoods Citco did the Rear end.

Although I don't drive this car to work, you can bet that from spring to late fall as soon as I get home I park my truck and hop in the Chevelle, and I'm off cruising. For a small block, this Chevelle can definitely burn up the asphalt, but I didn't build it for racing, although, someday I would like to take it to the dragstrip to see how it does.

So there you have it! This is one of our favorite Bowties! After reading this, you can see why this Chevelle is a absolutely a Silver Bullet!

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