Don's 1968 Chevelle

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These are pictures of the '68 Chevelle I used to own.
History:
    This was technically my fourth Chevelle (Malibu). My first one was a '68 Chevelle body I got for $100. I was planning to fix it but that never materialized. My second Chevelle was a 1969 Malibu I bought from my sister's ex-husband (financé and soon to be husband back then). I wrecked that one after spending all night at a bachelor party. I then bought another '68 Chevelle that was in good shape, but could use a new interior and new paint. Instead of spending $3000 to fix up that one, my wife found this car for me instead.
     I bought this one from a son of a body shop owner (for $2800.00) who bought it from an older woman who had it sitting in her garage for a long time because it was damaged in an accident and fixed it up and painted it. It had something like 80K original miles on it. It used to be a metallic gold judging from the trunk hinges that didn't get completely painted. It had a small block 307 with air conditioning and power steering, but no power brakes. . The side markers on the front fenders were not stock (I think they were recessed yellow reflectors from a Ranchero) and it had rally rims which I replaced with mag wheels (like the ones shown on the right, except the center caps were the knock-off style). I think it made the car look a lot better.  The interior was redone with nice velour in silver-gray and black. It had a center shifter console for a 3 speed automatic transmission.
    About two or three months after I bought it, I was taking a few co-workers out to lunch, and as we approached the off-ramp for our exit, the motor quit. We pushed it to the parking lot of the Carl's Jr. and called another co-worker to pick us up. I later towed it home. What I had thought turned into what was for sure. The timing gear had the nylon teeth that cracked, and slipped the chain so the pistons were smashing into the valves. I had purchased a 1968 or 1969 small block 327 engine out of a Camaro a while earlier that I was planning on rebuilding at my leisure, so instead of waiting, I started right away. After rebuilding the engine in my garage, it was swapped with the broken one. I found out that a Camaro oil pan doesn't fit in a Chevelle, so me and my friends (thanks Dan, Tom, Serge, and Jacques - sorry if I missed anyone) did a quick swap of the oil pan and bolted the rebuilt into the compartment. After running it for about 20 minutes to break in the new cam and adjusting the valves, I took it for a spin around the neighborhood. Ten minutes later, the transmission stopped working. Apparently, when you bolt the engine onto the transmission, you have to get all the splines on the shaft to engage, or you ruin the torque converter. Since I messed up, I decided to let a professional repair the transmission for $1500.00.
    After that, I pretty much had a new car. I didn't like the manual brakes, so I went to a 'Pick-A-Part' and got a power booster and proportional valve out of a 1968 Cutlass, or Nova (something GM) and installed that into my Chevelle. Ah, power brakes! It was too touchy though and I never did fix it right.
    One day, at the car wash, it was being pushed through the automatic car wash, and before my eyes, it jumped the rail and went sideways through the car wash, being scrapped by the side spray nozzles and soaping equipment. I almost had a heart attack. They finally stopped the conveyor and pushed the car back into the tracks. They said the tires were too wide and offered to repair the car at one of their 'sources'. I just let my insurance company handle it. It was fixed, but it was never the same. It still looked good, but up close, you could see where the damage was done, and the paint job hiding it all.
    NEVER park a classic car (or one that looks like this one did) at a park-n-ride. One day, I car-pooled with a co-worker, parking this car at a Park-n-ride lot. I even had a 'gorilla bar' on the steering wheel. When we came back , it was gone. I filed a report with the police, and waited. A couple of weeks later, I got a call from the Ontario Police Dept. saying they found my car and I could get it from the impound yard. They didn't say what shape it was in, but I was optimistic. After paying the impound charge (I think it was like $120.00) they let me see it. It was stripped. No engine, no transmission, no interior. The mag wheels were replaced with junk rims and bald tires. I was heart-broken. I rented a trailer and towed it home. I don't know why. There wasn't anything left. I guess I couldn't see just leaving it in a junk yard. I eventually sold the shell to a nephew of a friend. I don't know what happened to it after that.
    So now, I'm looking for another 1968 Chevelle to fix up or possible restore after I finish with the '66 Mustang.