Chevelle Restoration and Authenticity Guide 1970-1972. Dale McIntosh

Dave Castine, Bill Garcia, David Hagan, Warren Leunig, Derek Love of Painless Performance Products, Ray McAvoy of Ray’s Chevy Restoration Site, Mark Redmon, Tom Rightler, Les Saville, Dominick Scorziello, Arne Skog, and Mark Wilson.

      A special thank you to Jamie Cooper. Jamie had his first experience in a body shop in 1988 as a freshman in high school. Gary Goss, owner of Goss Automotive and a member of a United Methodist Church where Jamie’s father was a pastor, hired Jamie to keep the shop clean and lend a hand where needed. A year later, Jamie purchased his first car, and with the help and supervision of Gary and fellow-employee Barry Smith, the learning of the trade began. After high school, Jamie attended Vale Technical Institution, graduating first in his class and receiving the directors award for maintaining a 3.5 GPA or higher. After working in three different body shops for the next 20 years, his dream of being a shop owner came true in 2014, when he and his partner Joe Griffith opened Super Car Restoration.

      ABOUT THE AUTHORS

       Rick Nelson

      Many people ask Rick when he became interested in cars, and the generic answer is the ever-commonly used “I was born with a wrench in my hand.” In this case, it is all but true. His father was a master sergeant in the US Air Force and was an Airframe and/or Powerplant (A&P) mechanic. Rick’s older brother also grew up loving cars and was a radar technician in the air force as well. His brother raced cars, so Rick was exposed to wrenching at a very early age when his brother would bring his car buddies home. Rick was often exposed to these cars in his driveway and taken for many rides.

      By the time Rick was 18, he had already owned several muscle cars, some of which included SS427 Impalas and a 1969 Chevelle SS with a transplanted 450-hp 427. His Chevelle was one of the fastest cars in town, and it became a car to watch out for at Friday and Saturday night street races. Shortly after that, Rick started bracket racing in earnest, and by 1981 he was wrenching on a Pro Stock team running a 1981 Camaro. After graduating from high school, Rick went to Dunwoody Industrial Institute with hopes of becoming a mechanic, but he realized shortly after joining the working ranks that wrenching was more of a hobby and not a career, at least from a repair standpoint. He did finally land a job with Corvette Specialties in Minnesota, and within a short period of time, Rick was restoring Bloomington Gold Corvettes for many customers. This was more in line with what he was looking for, and the future had been set.

      Not being happy working for someone else and not making enough as a restorer, Rick set his sights on a corporate job. He continued doing restorations on the side for customers. By the time he was in his mid-20s, he had restored several cars for friends and customers and was making a name for himself. In 1984, one of his cars was featured in three different car magazines, and that exposure started the blood flowing in earnest as well as the pay. Rick continued to restore many cars on the side.

      In 2001, one of his customer restorations, a 1970 LS6 Chevelle, scored as the second-highest scoring Chevelle in the country under the Diamond Certification process. From then on, the cars came to him with high demands and with enough requests that it was time to make a change. Rick started Musclecar Restoration and Design and worked out of his home shop. Then in 2008, Rick moved to a small town in central Illinois and opened a large shop where he was able to restore several cars at a time. Business boomed, and within a few short years Rick was overwhelmed with work. He hired on a full-time restorer to help.

      Though not a journalist by any stretch, Rick helped write several magazine feature articles and also provided several authors with information and photographs that were needed to write their books. This gave Rick an opportunity to see how things were done in automotive publications. Rick’s business is booming, and his restorations are some of the best in the country. It is not a job; it is an obsession.

      In addition to restorations and writing, Rick also travels the country inspecting LS6 Chevelles. He was instrumental in helping Lane Collectables build and design its first diecast LS6 Chevelle with Rick providing more than 600 photographs and technical information to make it one of the highest detailed diecasts available.

       Dale McIntosh

      Dale has always had an interest in cars, especially Chevelles. He purchased his first 1967 SS396 in the fall of 1967 while home in Overland Park, Kansas, on leave from US Army basic training. Dale’s Advanced Individual Training was done at Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma. Dale did not want to leave his new car at home, so he took it with him to Fort Sill. During his eight weeks of training, he would leave Saturday at noon and drive his Chevelle the seven-hour one-way trip to Overland Park to meet up with his friends and go out Saturday night. On Sunday around noon, he would make the seven-hour trek back to Fort Sill. When he learned that he would be leaving for a tour in Korea, it became obvious he could not take the car with him, so he enlisted his best friend to make the final trek from Overland Park to Fort Sill, and his friend drove the car back to Dale’s home. His parents cared for the car during his 16-month stint in Korea, keeping it registered and driving it occasionally to keep everything running in good order.

      As is often the case, life came along with responsibilities. After returning from Korea, Dale had several automotive mechanic jobs, worked the counter at numerous auto parts stores, and did a second stint in the army with a tour in Germany. After all of that, Dale decided it was time to really settle down and plant roots. As luck would have it, Dale was stationed again at Fort Sill after his tour of duty in Europe.

      Dale’s tour in Europe had introduced him to computers, and he put those skills to use. After leaving the military, Dale continued as a civil servant with those computer skills. Upon retiring from civil service, he combined those computer skills with his long love of and interest in Chevelles. Today, he has several Chevelle-related websites, including ChevelleStuff. net. Dale hosts several Chevelle car club websites and had a number of Chevelle-related registries; many are specialty registries such as 1970 Chevelles with the LS6 engine option, 1970–1972 Chevelles with the LS5 engine, SS396 series, and SS396-optioned Chevelles. One of Dale’s websites is ChevelleCD.net, where he offers signed copies of his books along with numerous Chevelle-related information CDs.

      In May 2015, Dale was approached by CarTech to write an information guide on 1964–1972 Chevelles. This effort, Chevelle Data and ID Guide, was introduced in August 2016. A second book, the first in a series by CarTech on muscle cars of the 1960s and 1970s called 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS quickly followed. A third book was released in 2018: The Definitive Chevelle SS Guide. Rick Nelson was a valuable asset with proofreading, photos, etc. for all three books along with many other Chevelle owners supplying photos of their cars and several proofreaders.

      This book is a collaborative effort between Rick and Dale with Rick supplying the majority of the photos and technical expertise and Dale handling the writing and editing chores. Other contributors of photo images and technical expertise, as in the past, will be noted where applicable.

      We both hope you find the information educational and a worthwhile addition to your reference material collection.

      INTRODUCTION

      In the 1960s, the Chevrolet division of General Motors saw the need to add a midsize model to its lineup—something between the Chevy II/Nova line and the full-size Chevrolet. The design and engineering departments set out to create such a car, and on September 26, 1963, the Chevelle family was introduced to the public. The Chevelle’s main competitor outside of General Motors was Ford’s midsize Fairlane. From inside the GM family, Buick redesigned the Buick Special from its previous unibody construction to the A-body form of body on frame. Oldsmobile followed suit with its F-85, and Pontiac joined in with its Tempest. Cadillac was GM’s luxury line and never felt the need to enter into the midsize market.

      The Chevelle would have multiple bodystyles, series names, creature comforts, and options over the years, much like its internal GM rivals of Buick, Oldsmobile,