It is somewhat rare these days to find an original survivor car, but Chuck seems to have skirted that trend with this 1970 Chevelle.
“We all thought it was a good idea at the time to do that. Who knew?
-Chuck
Chuck refers to a time when muscle cars lurked the streets and everyone was into removing, changing, and modifying parts. Back then, people thought nothing of it because no one knew what a comeback these cars would make 30 years down the road.
Here is an example of a car that has, for the most part, survived that trend. Chuck explains that most of what we see here is original including the matching numbers 396/350 L34 engine and M22 4 speed transmission. He says,
“Some of the parts were hard to find but Ground Up helped me find what I needed and what was correct for the 1970 Chevelle. Over 90% of the parts came from Ground Up.”
– Chuck
After living in a barn for 23 years, a frame off restoration simply wasn’t necessary. Everything on the 1970 Chevelle was solid from front to back. Chuck would ask the previous owner (and good friend Kim) almost every day for 18 years to sell the car. One day he finally gave in and agreed to give up the car on one condition: Chuck would need to restore it to vintage 1970 as much as possible. And he did.
Chuck performed all of the mechanical work on the 1970 Chevelle himself and outsourced the body and paint work to his childhood friend Bruno at Joe’s Tires and Auto Body in Spring Valley, NY. Pictures do not do this car justice. According to the owner, “The body doesn’t have a single wave or imperfection”. Judging from the pictures, he’s not lying!
Hot rods and customs are always cool, but we all owe something to guys like Chuck that bring these cars back to their former glory just how they rolled off the assembly line over a quarter-century ago.
