Charles and his wife have always loved GM muscle cars, especially 1966 Chevelles. Charles purchased her a 1971 Chevelle Coupe, bought online, that turned out to be a nice paint job wrapped around a lot of rust and poor welding techniques. He sold the car, against her wishes, because he was determined (to restore it right) that roughly half of the sheet metal would need to be replaced!!
She really missed having a Chevelle in the garage, so they searched for several months and found this true 1966 Chevelle Convertible in Rockford, Illinois! They couldn’t get there fast enough to pick up this 1966 Chevelle, which could only be trailered because the car had been garaged since 1992 when it was last driven and registered!! The previous owner painted the Chevelle in a Black Cherry 2 stage paint, dropped a 427 L88 H/O big block in it, and parked it for 24 years!! The odometer read 38000 miles when they bought it, which Charles has no way to verify, but the previous owners felt it was correct because the car wasn’t driven a lot since being in their family from the late 1970s until they bought it.
After getting the 1966 Chevelle home Charles and his wife decided to put a year correct 396 and date-coded Muncie 4 speed back in the car, both coming off fresh rebuilds. He completely went through the 12 bolt posi differential, balanced the driveshaft, and also went through the entire brake system. They replaced the old seat covers with black vinyl covers and replaced the carpet.
The 396 is a year-correct motor that came out of a 66 Chevelle that belonged to a speed shop in Kansas City, KS. They had machined the block and heads and sold me the long block kit in exchange for the 427 in our Chevelle. The pistons are Sealed Power .040 over, comp cams 279T (mild) camshaft, scat connecting rods, and a standard/standard crankshaft. We put a Holley 650 carburetor on it along with HEI ignition.
The transmission is a year correct; the date-coded Muncie 4 speed was completely rebuilt last year.
Only 5400 (approximately) SS Convertibles were built in 1966, this one has all its original sheet metal, which is hard to come by with a convertible that’s over 50 years old!!
Charles is taking the color back to Marina Blue, 4-wheel disc brakes, and electronic fuel injection.
