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Trailer Park Find: 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396

Update 1/12/22 – This Chevelle has been relisted here on eBay with no reserve. Will it end up going for more than the seller’s original asking price?

From 12/9/21 – The 1970 model year was probably the peak of the mid-size muscle car movement. Though an optional package by then, the Chevelle SS 396 still saw the production of 50,000 units, and the detuning process for improved emissions wouldn’t start until 1971. This ’70 SS 396 had the same owner for 45 years before being acquired by the seller and hadn’t moved in some 20 years. It’s going to require a thorough restoration to bring this car back up to the way it was more than 50 years ago. Located in Conway, South Carolina, this Chevelle has been bid to $11,300 here on eBay and the reserve is unmet, but it can be taken home for $20,000 (Buy It Now).

In 1970, when you ordered a Chevelle Super Sport, you went for either the 396 or the new 454. The SS 396 option package came with a 350 hp 402 cubic-inch V8, power front disc brakes, F41 heavy-duty suspension package, wide lettered tires, and a hood with a large bulge in the center that could accommodate cowl induction, if also ordered. The seller’s car may have had it at some point. With induction, the 402 would be good for 375 horses. If original, the motor here would have been paired with a Muncie 4-speed manual transmission. A 12-bolt rear axle was standard with the SS cars.

This auto left the factory with Cortez Silver paint and a black vinyl top. Sometime in the 1980s, it received a color change and a repaint to what you see now. Time and exposure to the elements have not been kind to this Chevy, so it’s going to need a lot of sheet metal work, including the roof skin, rear quarter panels, fenders, and the trunk pan. The interior is far from complete and will need a thorough rebuild except for the console as this Chevelle was ordered without one.

We’re told the motor was rebuilt in 1994 and has seen just 13,000 miles since then (the current total mileage on the car is 222,000). The seller says the engine turns free, but obviously, the car won’t run in its current condition and will have to be towed just as you see in the seller’s photos. A 1970 SS 396 can fetch some serious coin when restored, but this one may have a cost of $20,000 just to have a blank canvas to work with. This won’t be a project for the fainthearted or those with a limited budget.

Comments

  1. Avatar GP Member

    It’s a little hard to believe that someone changed the color in the 80’s and even removed the carpet to paint the floor pans red. These are really nice cars all the way around, I hope someone will put it back to the road. Good find.

    Like 28
  2. Avatar Terrry

    This car looks like it’s been underwater or siting in blackberry bushes for years.

    Like 36
    • Avatar Dave

      You’re close…Conway is about a half hour drive from Myrtle Beach, so this puppy has been basking in salty air all these years. Not good.

      Like 25
    • Avatar Mike

      If they posted this on FB, the car will be photographed in the blackberry bushes. Since it’s on E-Bay, they had to make an effort to pull it out and take better pics.

      Like 3
  3. Avatar Melton Mooney

    Every cowl induction car was 375 hp? Is that what I read?

    Like 1
    • Avatar JeffD

      Cowl Induction was an option on both 350HP and 375 HP engines. The difference in the two was vast. The 350hp was an oval port, hydraulic cam, two bolt main motor with a cast iron intake and qjet carb. The 375hp was rectangular port, solid cam, four bolt main, aluminum intake, and Holley carb. It was underated at that figure for sure. Cowl Induction was optional on all 1970 Super Sports, and had no effect on the horsepower rating.

      Like 29
  4. Avatar PaulG

    Agree w/ GP; odd that a color change would include the floor unless it wa a complete restoration…highly unlikely.
    That said, no. This would be a 20k car with 15k in the glove compartment.
    Just plain no…

    Like 48
  5. Avatar Anthony M.

    I think Joe Dirt has been hitting the crack pipe a little hard with that buy-it-now pricing… But that said, I never fault anybody for that post-and-hope effort.

    Like 16
  6. Avatar gaspumpchas

    Shame to see in this condition. Know what you are buying. Good luck and happy motoring.
    Cheers
    GPC

    Like 8
  7. Avatar Wooky

    Someone just let this car sit and rot. Atlantic Ocean isn’t far away and the SC climate has done it’s damage. As others have pointed out, a repaint / color change including the interior, really ??? IMHO too much coin being asked for what is there and what will need replacing

    Like 11
  8. Avatar Tooyoung4heyday Member

    This may be a case of…. I want that thing out of the yard, scrap it or sell it! Ok ill put it for sale…. Why is that still here? Im trying to sell it but nobodys interested….. LOL….

    Like 16
    • Avatar robert semrad

      If that was my wife telling me that, I would have simply packed her bags and called her a taxi…..no woman who loves her husband would pull that insulting command on him…..unbelievable….actually, incredible. Where have the men gone? They used to be the king of the house.

      Like 5
  9. Avatar JeffD

    To know these cars well explains some things. Red colored primer was used on the body at some plants, so what you are seeing on the floors is not red paint from the car, but is in fact the primer. There is silver all over the inside of the doors. If the code on the cowl was checked, that’s why the seller says it was silver, probably was. It will indeed bring the $20K, prices on these are way up lately. You may not think so, but condition of the floors looks real promising. If the numbers match on the block it will bring it, already over $15k as of this writing.

    Like 7
    • Avatar bone

      The A posts are silver and the door jams are oversprayed red, so silver it definitely was. I never had one of these with any color primer on the floors though, usually it was a little of whatever the car was painted , basically what overspray hit it.

      Like 3
      • Avatar J.Max

        I work in a General Motors manufacturing plant now and I’ve seen red, green and black primer depending on car color.

        Like 3
  10. Avatar TurnbuckleTim Member

    Your looking at 30K on top of the 20K to complete. Then you have a 50K car. You can find that all day long at Classic Car Dealerships completely finished
    with lower mileage. Where I live in Texas, A/C would be a must.
    Good luck to the new buyer.

    Like 5
    • Avatar Bound4glory

      $30K, not quite, paint alone is $10K, save your money and buy a Danbury Mint car

      Like 3
  11. Avatar mainlymuscle

    PaulG stole my glove box quote , but it’s rarely been more accurate.My other line is “it’s a hundred thousand dollars away from being a sixty thousand dollar car ” (and the $100k is a lowball,minimum estimate)

    Like 11
  12. Avatar Russ Ashley

    It’s at $15,800 with 5 days left. I think it will go over the BIN figure. I copied this from the ad: “Trailer park find ! Real Deal 1970 Chevelle SS 396 4 speed . Same female owner 45 years . Hasn’t been modified or messed with other than 80 s repaint to current color . Original color Cortez silver . Engine overhauled in 1994 only 13,202 miles since overhauled.car has sat for 20 + years. NEEDS RESTORATION ! Engine is free DOES NOT RUN WILL NEED TOWED/hauled to its new home . Floors& rocker panels are SOLID , NICE FRAME . Top panels are South Carolina sun baked . Vinyl top car , will need roof skin , quarters , fenders ,trunk pan . Still has original exhaust manifolds on engine. original wheels , 12 bolt rear , disc brakes , factory tach ,console delete . Not many left like this … any questions just ask ..”

    Like 4
    • Avatar Bick Banter

      I predict 25k +/- 500.

      Like 0
  13. Avatar fran

    Something funny about the headline, Trailer park find…..LOL Trailer Trash? LOL…Sorry that is just funny!
    I am amazed when so many auctions on ebay have a BIN, and some jerk will bid on it, thinking it will go for less. Why would you bid when there is a BIN of 20K for a car that usually sells for much higher with bidding?

    Like 2
    • Avatar Russell Ashley

      Fran, the BIN price is not like the reserve. you can put a BIN price if you will sell the item for that price before waiting to see what it will bid up to. You can have a BIN price and a reserve also. In this case the high bidder would have saved money by buying it at the BIN price as it went $1500 over, but he might not have seen the auction until it was already over the BIN price.

      Like 0
  14. Avatar Big dan

    If he paid me for travel and expenses, I would take it off his hands.

    Like 1
  15. Avatar George Mattar

    Gonna fix it up some day. There are more people with money than brains today.

    Like 8
  16. Avatar Al

    You have at least another $40k to put in. Paint alone these Rembrandt’s out there want $10k alone on avg. And then there’s
    E V E R Y T H I N G else to get redone & that’s what makes this $20k a bit too much. Some sap will buy to start & never finish. Seen that dozens of times.

    Like 3
  17. Avatar karl

    Bids at nearly 16K with 5 days to go ! Where’s George crying about “Chevelle madness ” and Sam’s “just another rusty Chevelle quip” ? – Oh yeah,they only complain about Mopar prices and conditions .

    Like 7
  18. Avatar V12MECH

    The question is, by the time this car is restored, if it is, where will that ” hot” market price point be? The muscle car market is becoming fickle , more and more, The potential for a profit is questionable if that is what a buyer is hoping.

    Like 2
    • Avatar Michael Berkemeier

      Could have fooled me, lol!

      Like 1
  19. Avatar Mike1955

    Labor of Love only my friends. If it was Dad’s or Grandpa’s car…I’d tackle it, but its not so…….

    Like 3
  20. Avatar Michael Berkemeier

    Code 14 for the paint is right there on data plate…Cortez Silver.

    Like 2
  21. Avatar Steve Clinton

    What happens in the trailer park should stay in the trailer park.

    Like 7
  22. Avatar Robb

    Every body panel on this car is going to need to be replaced. Because of where this car has lived, would you really trust the floor boards or trunk pan? They may look nice right now, but, for the amount of money it is going to take to restore this car, you might as well go all the way.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Al

      Just don’t sand blast it, it’ll disappear. Like to see the backside of that rear bumper, just chrome foil left lol!

      Like 0
  23. Avatar Howie Mueler

    $16,302 now, looks like reserve was met. Mighty rough!!

    Like 0
  24. Avatar Greg Williams

    It’s a shame people buy these cars, then park them, unprotected, then think years down the road they can get a bundle for something that has turned in to a rust bucket. Only thing worth wild on this is the drivetrain. But not for that price !! At the most 1500.00

    Like 2
  25. Avatar Ray

    It sold, $21,500. $1,500.00 0ver BIN

    Like 0

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