This Chevelle almost seems too good to be true. The seller purchased it from the original owner’s widow in 2015. She was 102 years old at the time! With only 87k miles on the odometer, the fuel was drained and the car was parked in 1986. After pouring new fluids in and installing a battery, the engine roared back to life. The body is solid and the paint is original. The best part though… This is a real SS 396 with a four on the floor. For bowtie fans, things don’t get much better than this! Find it here on eBay where bidding is really starting to heat up.
Here’s a shot of what makes this car so special. Unfortunately, the original 396 block was swapped out in 1969. There’s a possibility it was replaced under warranty though because the heads, manifolds, etc are original to the car. The seller doesn’t mention if there is any paperwork to explain what happened, but with a date give I cant help but wonder if there’s some documentation included in the sale.
The inside sure looks great! Well, that could be because the carpet and seat covers have been replaced. The bench seat and eight-track player are nice options to have and the shiny shift knob sticking out of the transmission is a welcome sight.
This car still needs some work before it’s going to be a safe driver, but you have to give the seller credit for cleaning it up well. Most of the improvements done were purely cosmetic and that makes sense considering how much emphasis most people put on appearance. Let’s just hope they were fair with granny and have a realistic reserve set. Either way, they are sure to make out like a bandit with this Super Sport Survivor!
When you use the term “Barn Find” this is what you imagine but very rarely actually get — a truly rare muscle car that was stored correctly with full owner’s history and just the right amount of patina. I’m interested to see where the bidding goes — $100K+ would not surprise me.
We’ll see. Approaching $30K with 2 days left. It only takes 2 Barrett-Jackson wannabees to make it go to the stratosphere.
He will make a nice profit. I’m sure he only gave her $1000 for it. Nice car but I would never spent that kind of money on a car like this. It’s a little to new for my taste.
I remember as a kid, one street over my friend’s dad owned two cars: this one (burgandy with black vinyl top) and a white ’67 Mustang Fastback with a 289 Hi-Po. Took meticulous care of them. Had to be the coolest dad around.
Only driven to church by little old lady.
The church just happened to be 1/4 mile away. One stop light at the end of her driveway.
Squirrels be ware.
I do not recall seeing a pipe plug in a thermostat housing before. For flushing the radiator? Stock or JC Whitney?
stock, I have seen many of them!!
the thermo housing is from the wrong era period. the place where the plug is is where a vacuum hose thermostat switch for some egr associated equipment went. Also a 69 block would be the 402/396 and not a real 396 block which is where the big money would be. And, to add to the problems, the intake should be unpainted aluminum
I’m pretty sure, only the 375HP 396’s had aluminum high rise intakes(the ad said it’s a 325HP car). I remember the 325HP, 350HP, had cast iron with a quadrajet carb. The 360HP eng. had a cast iron intake with a Holley(can’t remember the cfm rating) from the factory. The 375HP’s had the alumimnum intake with a 780cfm Holley.
Go granny. Go granny. Go granny, go! Okay, so it’s not a Super Stock Dodge, but it is an SS! Bought new, she would have been around 43.
Not a big GM fan anymore but this is a pretty nice car, typical flipper with the Patina term thrown in but hey everyone has to make money or it’s not worth doing just don’t rape me while your doing it. Great Find !!!
Great find Jesse. Should this be the real deal, this car will bring a healthy profit to the flipper that no doubt ripped off the 102-year old widow. Nice ride back in the day, great cruiser today.
Glad to see something with hp. A lot better than a 10 hp VW. Nice car!
Blast from the past, great article really enjoyed.
Love the car. I would sell my home for it ,but it will sell way before I could get my end done. Good for me, got devoriced and paid the x off to keep the house. I,M going to sell and move closer to my daughter and 2 grands. I will get just a few acres and have a big shop to start and would love to have a car like the ss here. I do have a 71 purple 340 duster so that will get done. Best part is there should be enough $ to do this and its all paid for. might be enough $left to buy something to keep the duster company
As a Blue Oval Guy, I have to admit that this BowTie, with it’s idiosyncrasies is a very nice, solid find. Just recently, a wrecking yard near Me put out a 66 four door small block car for sale, supposedly from the south for $5500. The right fender is from another car but as a whole, it is in really nice condition with the driver’s side of the bench seat not all torn up like most. I wouldn’t consider it a Barn Find, but a discovery. It is definitely a strong, original survivor (sans the reclaimed fender). I’m seriously considering making the yard owner an offer, as it would make a very cool daily driver.
What a great find. I hope the original owner’s widow received a fair price for the car.
What – no pic of the old lady and as found ? Okay – area’s I look at and from the pictures provided – I look at the color of the body from fender to tail panel – both sides – not sure about the doors…..and I look at door jams especially where the quarter panel attaches….hummm….and I look at that fender tag and the area around it….hummm…and the carpet is just so nice for an original car….hummm….but nice car and is that really an original shiftier and 4 speed knob ?
The ad say’s the carpet and seats were replaced. The part I don’t like is where the rear quarter panels look like they’re rusted through near the rear bumper where the quarters end (the vertical rust spots on both sides).
One of my favorites from the ’60’s.
35.000