Unlike so many reports here on Barn Finds, this is not a critique of a car for sale but the story of two cars that were rescued, with one of them currently undergoing a complete restoration. First is a 1966 Chevelle SS396, which has an interesting background, and second a 1971 Malibu which has already moved on to another home. The story of these cars, which were found in Bradshaw, West Virginia, is available here on HotRod.com. Thanks, Larry D, for bringing this story of this find to our attention.

Fortunately for us and old cars, forgotten automobiles still pop up all the time. In barns, fields and junkyards, they are discovered after years and sometimes decades of hibernation, hopefully before Mother Nature hasn’t completely consumed them. A car enthusiast named Cody Belcher had his eyes set on a 1966 Chevelle that had been sitting idle for many years. As we understand it, the Chevy was owned by a gentleman who was involved in a serious crime and went to prison after his conviction.  The Chevy was fairly new then and was left to languish after the police picked him up. For years, Cody attempted to get the owner’s brother to sell him the car, but to no avail.

Persistence sometimes pays off and after about eight years of asking, the brother finally gave in and sold him the Chevelle, which turned out to be quite the find. It’s a numbers-matching Super Sport with the 396 cubic inch engine that produced 365 hp. It has a 3:31 posi-traction rear end with factory air conditioning. A bonus came with the SS in the form of a 1971 Malibu that had a small-block V8 under the hood with a 4-speed but was not a Super Sport

Both cars were in rough condition, but who doesn’t like a good challenge? Cody ended up flipping the ’71 car to provide funding for restoring the ’66. We’re told its currently undergoing a frame-off restoration which will include putting in a period-correct 4-speed tranny.  The SS will be painted in Butternut Yellow (which may be its original color under the current old orange or primer) with a black vinyl top and black interior. Given the dolly required in the rear of the SS, it looks as though the rear-end was removed at some point.

The ’66 was one of maybe 66,000 cars built that year (the SS was its own series by then) where the ’71 saw much wider production in the neighborhood of 196,000. We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for a reveal later on that enables us to see how the Super Sport turned out. There’s a lot of satisfaction in bringing one of these forgotten old cars back to life. And, with some luck, even two!