As lawn ornaments go, it’s hard to beat a sharply dressed, nearly all-original big block Chevelle. By 1968, America’s classic muscle car phenomenon reached a rolling boil, and Chevy’s hot Chevelle SS represents one of the best and most popular examples of that craze. This 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396 in Hopewell Junction, New York needs little more than a new owner and a new lawn to decorate. After serving car show and weekend duty for five years, the claimed 72,000 mile sport coupe heads to auction. The listing here on eBay describes a mostly original SS with a never-removed drivetrain and a still-glossy 1988 respray in dashing Sequoia Green. Bidding on the “great” running hardtop has topped $28,000 without hitting the seller’s Reserve.
The phase “big block” gets loosely (and some say wrongly) applied to large displacement motors even when their lower cube siblings utilize the same engine block. Not so at Chevrolet! Pop the hood and Chevy fans will immediately register a pulse increase upon spying the rain gutter-sized valve covers of the Mark IV Big Block. While the 396 cubic inch (6.5L) mill powered dump trucks and school buses in its day, this potent specimen is one of two tire-shredding performance versions installed in the SS 396. Reading the brochures at ChevelleStuff, this car’s automatic transmission only came with the stronger 350 HP version.
There’s no missing the prominent “SS” script interrupting the full-width trim out back. This car’s “138…” VIN pins it as an SS according to the decoder at ChevelleStuff, and an early unit at that, the 2515th Chevelle assembled in Framingham, Massachusetts.
Only the dollar store steering wheel wrap and fuzzy dice obviously deviate from stock, and neither is likely to draw complaints, except in localities where the dice are considered an illegal vision obstruction. The sweet stirrup shifter brings space craft styling to every gear selection. Would you change anything on this mostly-original SS?
Said it before here but I like the 68! I was about 16 when a gas station owner had a 68 bought it new and turned it into a crazy street strip car. White SS and maybe a year into the build had the lettering added to the rear quarters behind the rear window, The Animal in script black letters. Auto tranny, loud and fast. Got quite a reputation for being one of the quick ones. Anyhow enough rambling, someone should enjoy this beautiful car.
I agree with you 100%, and finally seeing a Chevelle S.S. the way it should be, bucket seats and a floor shifter !!!! Great find and writeup !!!
Look there’s those hubcaps that where recently featured on a 57 Chevy and alot of people where calling them cheap plastic,hum.
The mag covers were never as popular as the wire caps were, so a lot of guys have probably never seen them before and have no idea that they were ever a Chevy option. That’s the problem w/being ‘young-uns’!!
The only thing I want to change on this car is the name on the title!
“Highly original”, yet it has had a full repro trunk floor put in it? And done poorly to boot. No bother to cut the drain holes and install original plugs/covers. Or to install the brackets for spare tire and jack. Or to metal finish the outer perimeter of where the pan was installed. Wonder if the floor pans received similar poor treatment; and what other bodywork corners were cut underneath that repaint? Wrong air cleaner and lotsa back-yard rattle can under the hood too. It is a decent car, but needs a good bit of work, and probably needs a lot more than pictures alone would reveal. Bid is already past what it is worth, in my opinion.
Jeff is right!!! This car looks good in pictures, but is a rust belt car period, for $30K ,the buyer better have a pro look over very carefully, lot of BBC Chevelle’s for sale these days for $30-40 from car friendly climates, after 40 yrs of the resto biz, rust belt stuff has never failed to disappoint one of my customers ever.
It looks like a 325 horse breather to me. I would assume it is the wrong year? What is incorrect on the breather? Thanks.
Personally, I wouldn’t call this a “highly original” or “nearly all-original” car. It’s been repainted, the vinyl top has been replaced, the bumpers were either replaced or re-chromed, the carpet is too dark to be original, and it’s had sheetmetal work. Some components definitely appear to be original to the car, but enough has been replaced that it’s not close to original in my book.
If those were fake lug nuts, I imagine more than one tire changer took an impact wrench to those wheel covers back in the day.
I had a 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 back in 67. Put Cal Custom chrome lug nut covers on the wheel lug nuts for a little custom look. Also painted the blackwall tire lettering in white too. All I could afford as a 16 year old kid.
As Jeff Spicoli once said, “No stick, no dice!”…at least that’s how I remember it.