The Family Hauler – 1966 Chevelle

[pokey64]

Hey Guys!

I’m reemerging from lurker status to post some exciting news! We brought our second son into the world back in May. Between a new baby at home and a busy year for our business we’ve not had much time left over for our Camaro. We’ve only had it out on a couple 10-15 mile cruises this year. We would like to use it more but it’s just not a baby friendly car at this time. Our three year old loves the Camaro but we have him wear ear protection and mount his car seat in the center for more leg room. The exhaust is way too loud and the back seat is a bit cramped for 2 car seats…

We’ve often talked about our next car being a 66 Chevelle. So a couple weeks ago I’m perusing the net just seeing what was out there on Chevelles for sale. There were a few black, blue, and silver cars that caught my eye so I asked Beth “If we were to buy a 66 Chevelle, what color would you like it to be?”. She hits me with gunmetal gray…. I was like “come on, at least pick something I have a chance finding!”…. Well, this past week I stumbled across pretty much exactly what she described within driving distance. It took a bit of logistical gymnastics and one loooong day trip but we picked up a gunmetal gray 1966 Chevelle.

It has nice paint/body and a redone factory interior. There’s a few blemishes but they don’t bother us too much since we will be driving it. The engine is a 496 mated to a Muncie 4 speed with a 12 bolt out back and Wilwoods all around. The car has some get up and go but seems to be very streetable and the exhaust is 50% quieter than the Camaro. Between that and a larger back seat I think it will work well for our family hauler.

We plan to add a Vintage Air system and possibly a Dakota Digital gauge cluster. A winter project will be updating to a coilover suspension setup. We may also do a 5 or 6 speed swap but we’ll enjoy the car the rest of this season and see what it needs before tearing into it much.

We had hoped to get it outside yesterday afternoon to snap a few pics but the weather is not cooperating. For now some crappy cell phone pics will have to do.













Thanks for looking

[Sonar Chief]

That's a nice find right there! The paint looks to be in good shape, gunmetal grey is cool.

Nice driver fer sure!

[Che70velle]

Nice car! I'd LOVE to build a 66'!
Perfect color too!

[awr68]

Very nice! Sounds perfect for your family! Are you keeping the Camaro?

[pokey64]

Thanks guys! We are really excited to get out and start driving this car.

We are definitely keeping the Camaro. No way Beth will let that one go!

This weekend I need to reorganize our detached garage to make room for the Chevelle. Currently it's parked in our attached and my truck is outside. For now it's kind of fun to see it every time we come and go from the house.

[pro66tour]

Originally Posted by pokey64

Thanks guys! We are really excited to get out and start driving this car.

We are definitely keeping the Camaro. No way Beth will let that one go!

This weekend I need to reorganize our detached garage to make room for the Chevelle. Currently it's parked in our attached and my truck is outside. For now it's kind of fun to see it every time we come and go from the house.

Great looking car, but then again...I'm a little biased.
CONGRATS!

[syborg tt]

Originally Posted by Che70velle

Nice car! I'd LOVE to build a 66'!

Perfect color too!

Heck with building it I want to find one like this.


Marty-MJ
www.garagescene.net

[pokey64]

Originally Posted by pro66tour

Ed, I wish I was a 'rain away' from taking my kids out on a drive - haha. It will be sweet! Enjoy

The weekend is almost here!

[pro66tour]

Originally Posted by pokey64

The weekend is almost here!

Let us know how the family cruise went this weekend...

[pokey64]

Originally Posted by pro66tour

Let us know how the family cruise went this weekend...

We had absolutely beautiful weather yesterday for our maiden voyage. The sun was shining and it was 70 degrees. We got the car seats swapped over, loaded up the boys, and headed for the gas station. After filling up we spun around town for a few minutes and then hit the road to the next town where Beth’s mom lives. It’s about a 15 minute drive and both boys were out cold by the time we arrived at her house. (Who knew the 2500rpm drone of Flowmasters was the perfect nap time melody?) We visited for a while and she offered to watch our youngest while we took our 3 year old for a cruise. We drove around town for a while and got a lot of thumbs ups and smiles. One guy rolled his window down at a stop light to compliment us on the car. I figure if he liked the way it looked then we should let him hear it as well. So I got on it a bit and passed him on the way out of town. Now our 3 year old thinks the Chevelle is faster than mommy's Camaro! We then stopped at Dairy Queen for an ice cream treat. After that Beth took the wheel to get a feel for the car. We both had a blast driving it. We put 63 miles on it in total. There are things that we will work on to improve the car but we are extremely happy that we found it.

First impressions of the car:
It’s got a lot of torque which is a lot of fun for blasting around town.
We need overdrive. I kind of figured we’d eventually want to do a 5 or 6 speed swap from our previous experience with the Camrao. The hi-way miles yesterday confirmed it.
The suspension is pretty much stock so it floats down the road nice but there is a bit too much body roll for going around corners. I’m researching coilover setups. Feel free to post opinions if anyone has experience with the various brands.