As the muscle car market of the mid-1960s was heating up, Chevrolet promoted the Super Sport 396 (or SS 396) from a Malibu option to a series of its own. For the three years it held this status (1966-68), the SS 396 rewarded Chevy with sales of nearly 182,000 copies. This ’67 Chevelle is a genuine Super Sport but has lost its engine and transmission, had a color change, and has been invaded by rust. Located in Hooper, Nebraska, this roller is available for restoration here on eBay. The current bid is $7,700 but the reserve has yet to be met.
When it was new, this Chevelle must have been quite the looker. The cowl tag is missing to verify this, but we’re told the factory paint was Royal Plum flanked by a black interior. It was one of 60,000 copies made in 1967 and had a 4-speed manual transmission paired with the missing V8. It looks like it’s wearing some form of green paint now and corrosion has invaded parts of the car, particularly the floors and the driver’s side rear quarter panel. The interior is no longer black and has a bench seat where you would normally expect to find bucket seats with a console.
We’re told the seller received the Chevrolet here from a friend before that owner passing away. It had been in storage (inside or outside?) for several years. The odometer reads 54,000 miles, but that could easily be 154,000 or some other number altogether. The auto sports 1970s era “mag” wheels on tires that may be suspect due to their age.
Chevrolet continued to successfully market the SS 396 for many more years, even after 1970 when the displacement expanded to 402 cubic inches. That may have been in an attempt to confuse the insurance industry that was slapping high premiums on cars like the SS 396. This example will be an ambitious project, but at least you’d be restoring the genuine article rather than creating yet another clone or tribute.
Real deal and no real engine means no collector car.
Real rust though.
Could make a nice clone or convertible conversion with the center balast and repo parts.
The bottom line not a real deal minus running gear.
The price needs to drop 5 grandcwith rust
It’s an auction, meaning people are willing to part with $7,900 with a few days to go for this rust bucket.
The only logical explanation I can think of is that cars after the mid-1980s or so are much more rust resistant, and people do not keep cars as long as they did 50 years ago. So few people are simply not familiar with how bad and how difficult rust is to deal with. They watch Graveyard Carz and think it’s easy to fix
Body shops are very familiar with it though, so they will practically physically throw you out into the parking lot on your keister if you bring them a car with any rust on it. Good luck to the buyers. They’ll need it here.
“Well, you just weld in new floor plans like on television”. Um sure, weld them to what? “All the good metal”. Oh, you mean the “good metal” I just put my finger through.
I agree, without the original engine and drivetrain, missing the bucket seats, and who knows what else, this is definitely not a real deal. If it had all of the above, then, yes, it would be considered a real deal.
Now, however, it will be nothing more than a wanna be …
Truly a rare find. As a so called muscle car, it was just that. Meaning it was an over powered high horsepower redlines at a low RPM, creature with a 4 speed manual stone-crusher Muncie transmission & a bullet proof 12 bolt positrak differential that was guaranteed to tear up asphalt and burn tires down to the ground!!!
“Coolest, Meanest hot one you’ve ever seen My SS396!” Quote from the original Beach Boys 🎶 Song.
Rev it up, Burn it out, SS396!
It was the decade that will never repeat!
It holds an era of automobile dynasty at its peak of performance and is worth its weight in gold to those people who lived and witnessed the crazy years of excessive power under the hood!
Now I wonder who wrote that comment for Mr. Travers 🧐
Mrs Travers
I don’t want to put the car down, but at $7,900 I have to speak up, I have been blessed in my time as far as it is the mid to late seventies, these cars, ’55-’70 Muscle”, were a dime a dozen, maybe it was dumb luck, whatever, I bought my first car, ’66 SS396 Chevelle, for $250 with 55 miles on it, it was sitting in a friends neighbors yard, the owner sadly was killed in Vietnam, it had weeds growing up through the floorboards, 4 flats, Engine was frozen, pulled plugs, oz tranny fluid in each cylinder, new plugs, she fired right up, allotof tranny fluid smoke, Factory 350hp, M-21, 4.10 Dana, I traded it for a 69 SS396 that was painted using white house paint, carpet was a Light Blue shag lol, I took her apart, WHAT, Aluminum Rectangular Intake’s, 4-bolt mains, 11.5 compression, factory hi-rise Al intake manifold, I added my favorite Shifter, Hurst Short Throw Super-Shifter, checked the #’s and it turned out be an L-79, 375hp, M-22 Rock Crusher, $.10 Dana, huge front disc brakes, at 375hp, my baby came stock with a Quadrajet spread bore, I hated it, bought a brand new 750 Holley Double-Pumper, OMG, 50 more HP at least.
I regret nothing more than selling that car.
This is a 138 car so it can be restored but as others have stated not #’s matching; however that doesn’t matter to everyone.
In its current state it’s something of a hodgepodge, wrong grill and sporting a 66 bumper just for starters.
I agree it has some value being a 138 car. If I didn’t have a couple projects already and the price was right, I’d be interested.
I’d restore it to look like it did originally but install a 496 (stroker 454) dressed to look like the original 396. Also it’d need a TKX 5 speed (with stock looking shifter stick poking through the console) for overdrive and Vintage Air AC. Heck I might even put a cruise control on it for the Hot Rod Power Tour, Woodward Dream Cruise, Vintage Air tours, etc.
Not having the numbers matching engine/trans wouldn’t really be a problem for me. I still like the original/day 2 look, but also like the things that make these cars more usable, YMMV :^)
These and Chargers are always going to bring the money today, stripped out rust bucket or not. There is still plenty of interest in them, despite the fact that they made thousands and thousands of them. Most were used up and crushed and now the ones that were stripped and left to return to the earth are being hauled out by sellers who know there will be a buyer.
It may not have the original engine or trans, but definitely a very desireable car. You have a Legit SS 138 car, does not need a build sheet to document its true origin! Based on that news, the car is very valuable in today’s market. You do have a market within this current market, where even if you had the matching engine and transmission, it would be removed for an updated/up graded engine and trans and would go for big dollars! The true value again is in that magic number 138!
$7,000 and the reserve not met……HA, good luck with that ! That thing is a beast and not in a good way !
Meet The Flintstones.
Not even a parts car. There aren’t any parts left. Even the motor mount stands are gone.
I grew up in the 60’s and loved the 66 and 67 Chevelle SS 396, I had a 66 Nova SS, wish I still had it.
Some of the comments above about the seats are inaccurate. After 1965 model year, a Chevelle SS came standard with a bench seat. Buckets were an extra-cost option. And the console was an additional extra-cost option (obviously available only if you got the optional bucket seats).
The rust is not as bad as many others that have been restored. The biggest negative IMO is the missing trim tag. An SS396 in Plum with a black vinyl top, black bench guts, and a 4-speed, would be a desirable finished product, but you need the original tag to prove it originally came that way.
Right on Jeff. The stock SS396 was the bench seats and dash lights, no gauges. You had to order up those buckets & SS anything as optional