How cool would it be to find a real Chevelle SS 396 L78 parked in a barn? Would you still be excited about the find if the 396 V8 was missing? Well, if you are alright with tracking down a replacement engine, this Daytona Yellow Chevelle is said to be a real L78 4-speed car. There’s a lot of rust to be repaired as well, so this won’t be a project for the faint of heart or wallet. If you think you are up for the tast, you can find this project here on eBay in Elmhurst, Illinois with a BIN of $9,500 and a current bid of $3,700.
While I agree with the seller that you don’t find real L78 projects that often, I can’t help but wonder if you wouldn’t be better off just buying one that’s already done. Or even buying a none SS 396 car and just upgrading it to your liking. It wouldn’t be worth as much, but it also wouldn’t cost as much. Finding the correct 396 V8 alone would buy just about every Chevelle upgrade you could ever want.
And after you do find an engine for it, you still have the cost and headache of repairing all the rust. Just about everywhere you look, there’s rust. Some of it is just on the surface, but there appears to be lots of holes that need to be fixed. And once you have patched all of it, your going to have to repaint it, which means the original Daytona Yellow paint will be lost forever. It really is too bad that someone let this car get to this point.
Chances are anyone that is willing to pay $9,500 for this much rust already knows that this is going to be an expensive project. They probably also know that a well done Chevelle SS 396 L78 (or L89 if you happen to have a set of aluminum heads) can fetch well into the six figures. Getting it to that point will cost nearly that much, but you never know where values will go. So do you see the values of Chevelle SS 396s going up even more or have they already hit their peak?
I know of a 1969 396 out of a 300deluxe SS396 with a 3 speed. Car was dismantled years ago and the owner passed away.
“Unmolested”!!!
With the engine, transmission and, most of the interior missing?… I’d call that pretty molested”!
That’s one expensive VIN plate!
I have a date matching, warrantee stamped 435 horse 427 that would fit right in there.
What’s your asking price for the 427?
The listing states
“I have a running and ready-to-drop-in original L78 motor with a D 8 9 casting date, which is perfect for the Chevelle’s 04D build date. This motor is NOT included in the auction, but I will consider selling it to the successful purchaser of the Chevelle.”
Rare color….and a tilt wheel ?
Would be more interesting if it had that 375 horsepower mill under the hood, that’s the big deal about these anyways. But I really like the idea of dropping that tri power 427 in there, would be an absolute screamer of a car.
502/502 crate motor painted orange and sporting chrome valve covers. That’s the way to go.
Looks like the rust is so bad it even extends itself to the right front tire!!!!!!!!!
Rusty junk. Not worth restoring. Whats the term for worse than molested. That would be this car. Maybe it was Weinsteined? A nice car with the 427 would be cool. I had a friend in the 80’s that had a near mint 69 SS he put a built roller cam 427 in it. I drove it once, it was amazing.
Oh…..well… he’s throwing in the floor pan, I’m in. NOT! These are great cars and even though there is strong evidence that this is the real deal I would never pay big money for a car like this without an extensive paper trail.
“So do you see the values of Chevelle SS 396s going up even more or have they already hit their peak?”
My money is on peak. The Baby Boomers, no offence to anybody, are getting very old (we all are) and they’ve always been able to keep these cars just out of the financial reach of the generations before them.
As a result of that, Generation X and Millennials never developed a bond with these vehicles. Plus, these generations are really not into cars as much in general as their predecessors were. Most of them can’t even drive a manual, LOL! Much less wrench on one of these. And they are less affluent, meaning extraneous purchases may be more limited.
Putting those factors together, I just cannot see the current 401k-raiding values holding up. I think they’ll still have a market, but it will be smaller, meaning the prices will drop.
So back to this listing, I absolutely would not invest the $50-70k it would take to bring this back to glory, even if you could do it. A real shame someone let it get to this point. I mean WTH?
Also, I like the seller’s description. Very detailed. But how did this thing get so rusty being in Arizona and Georgia most of its life? The rust is more consistent with a car that spent its life in a salt state like IL or WI. So either that isn’t true or this thing was stored outside on very damp ground.
Hey…. you only go around once and can anybody predict any market??… let alone the classic car market
Go for it!
Makes me sick every time I see a car like this that some clown lets sit around and disintigrate. Most of us would give our proverbial left nut for one.
Amen brother…
I’m doing my part trying to preserve
history with a 1972 340 Plymouth
Duster 4/sp
Everyday these classics get harder
find…
Thx
Sad but no one will care about these cars in 20 years
Maybe I’m a rare bird, but I’m a Gen X’er and my love is for the 60’s cars. I currently have a 62 Pontiac and a 62 Buick, and down the road would LOVE a Catalina 2+2 or a 65 Riviera GS. Bit of a GM nut, but did have a 66 Galaxie 390 convertible I sold last Spring. Anyway, I don’t think the 60’s muscle car passion will die with my generation. Although I don’t understand how 80’s Asian cars are considered classics, but that’s the way the trend is going……
I really don’t see that happening…
If that was the case, why is Barret Jackson and Mecum Auto turning over billions of dollars a year selling
cars? Why are all these new car
TV shows popping up…
Why is Summit Racing building new whare houses? Etc…
Howard has a good point there…
With the newer muscle cars of the 2010 era are a lot more powerful with the 500-600 HP rating are more desirable these days. HELLCAT. ZL1 CHEVY’S/GM. These are the new trend, the 60’s cars are losing their value over these new generation super mucle cars
For all you delusional Chevy lovers out there, the odds of this car being a “real”
L-78 are slim… “Correct” engine stampings and paperwork are easily faked these days … find yourself a nice ’69 Chevelle, buy a 396 and have it built to L-78 specs, including “correct” pad stamping and date codes … you will have a “real” L-78 to impress all your friends for around $50K….After enjoying the car for a few years, you can take it to a muscle car auction and hope you reap a real “matching numbers”L-78 money !!!
Yes, this sounds cruel, but reality in today’s world …. buyer beware !!!
Spending 50k for this heavy slow car is STUPID
John, these cars are being purchased by people who had one or always wanted. They aren’t as fast as the newer muscle, but are purchased for nostalgia, styling or memories. You build it or buy it for fun. Most of our builds never bring in the money we spent, but you can buy some great memories!
I see no 396 logos around the marker lites ?
This is a 1000 dollar parts car
There were no call outs around the marker lights in 69 like 1968. The call out on the 69 cars is in the SS396 on the fender.
Aint NO $1000 parts car 69 Chevelles out there, believe me and if you find one whip out your wallet toot suite!
Theres also the dumb notion that the modern retro styled muscle cars kills the market for these vintage ones, again WRONG WRONG WRONG.
If that was the case you wouldnt see all the old camaros, Mustangs and especially the Mopars with the prices going up and up all the time.
Neither my wife and I are mopar nuts, but man,, do we ever love the new Challengers! Best thing Chrysler ever did was bring back those bad boys
but if that dumb theory was valid why hasnt the market collapsed for those “USELESS” old Cudas, Challengers, Chargers etc etc?? Man, even clone cars, restomods anything within a mile of them have gone thru the roof price wise so that idea is just lame.
Then theres the old chestnut that young people dont care about these old cars and the wailing, gnashing of teeth, and rending of cloth that
“The hobby/market for these is dying with us! All is lost!”.. again, dumb! Sure, people covet what they grew up with and when they get a little income they will often invest more than even fair market value into them based on nostalgia. But if you track the markets for generations no one is scrapping Model A’s and Model Ts.. they are not as hot as they once were but still command $$$$$. I was in town yesterday and met some Millenials and well on their way to multimillionaire status. They are opening their 3rd store and more to come. They loved my old pickup and the issue was time, not money but they are the next market and believe me,, Corporations notice. I know a guy who runs a very cool retro scene show here and started in a old warehouse, now he has HD, Indian (Polaris), Pabst beer, BMW and other companies writing checks to sponsor,
See: http://the1moto.com/
While old farts like me dodder around, place is full of skinny jean hipsters and they got cash to spend, they love this stuff. Aint going away in my lifetime.
This car??? Maybe a bit aggressively priced, but it will find a buyer. Every part for them is made new in catalogs. And the companies making the parts for them see a very healthy future. We have a 69 chevelle Malibu as well, and no lack of offers on it. We could flip our project tomorrow but my wife would never forgive me.
Sorry guys… never won a spelling
bee contest…warehouse 😬
Thx
Welcome back Howard! We missed ya.
Looks to me like a Malibu. And it doesn’t look like an ss either. Looks like those badges were bought and installed. They may be old badges that were purchased circa 83 but they don’t have the correct placement. I could be wrong.
I was looking for a good example of the sort of sweet banana pudding color that daytona yellow fades down to and wow.
With that rust it looks like a banana! I hope she can be saved