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Sunday,
January 27, 2001. I scan the classified section
like I do every morning looking for a 70 Chevelle.
None. But, I do see a 69 listed as "one
owner"..."62K original
miles"..."call Mon thru Fri 8am to
5pm". I'm on the phone at 7:50am the next
day! The
phone was finally answered at precisely 8am.
I
began talking with the gentleman about the car and
told him I would like to come and see it. His
response was "Alright but its dirty. I
haven’t cleaned it up." The first thing I
thought of was a car out it the weather and
another wasted trip. I put the thoughts to rest
and headed for West Memphis. When I arrived at the
address the location turned out to be a mechanic
shop. The car was inside and stored on an old
front end alignment rack which was pretty nice
since the car was up off the ground making easy
access to see the bottom of the car. It was about
a half inch deep in dust and I could only see the
black paint on the lower body panels.
It
didn’t take me long to see that the car was
pretty straight and original. He took a battery
out of an old Dodge pickup and brought a bottle of
gas to start it for me. His mechanic stepped in
and informed us that it would start without a
prime. He was right. It fired right up but smoked
pretty bad and was running very rich. The mechanic
went on to tell me that he had worked there for
nine years and had only started the car four times
in that period. He also told me that the car was
previously stored in its own room in the back of
the shop for many years.
The
original owner, Mr. Earnest Rains’ version of
the cars life story is as follows. "My wife
drove our kids to school in that car until 1975.
That’s when I parked it". The car came with
the Chambered exhaust since it was an early
November 68 car. The chambered exhaust was removed
at 40K miles and replaced with a stock dual
exhaust set up. His explanation about why the
Chambered system was removed was "I was 29
years old, had a pocket full of tickets and those
darned things just attracted the law". Lucky
for me, he saved the chambered mufflers and the
complete smog system that was removed at the same
time the exhaust was swapped. Those parts were
included in the sale. Yes....I bought it. |
The car is
a triple black SS396 rated at 350 hp, has a turbo 400
transmission, p/s, p/b, a/c and a 3:31 posi rear-end. It
is 99% original with the exception of an 80's quicky
repaint. This was due to an employee turning over an
engine stand and damaging a door. Rains said he couldn’t
match the paint so he had the whole car re-painted. A quck
wash job once I had the car home revealed a real nice
Chevelle under all that dust!
In 2004 I
found the Team Chevelle website and was turned on to
Chevellabration. I brought the car to Nashville in 04 and
was really surprised at all of the attention that it got.
Especially with all of the fabulous Chevelles it was lined
up with. It wasn’t until then that I realized what an
unusual car I had come across. A true
"Survivor".
To this day
the car sports the original hoses, belts and almost every
other original part with the exception of the shocks. The
car also came with the original Window Sticker and was
purchased from Cliff Peck Chevrolet, 6700 New Benton
Highway, Little Rock, Arkansas, which is now Crain
Chevrolet. I also have the Protect O Plate and all other
new car paperwork from the day. One of the coolest things
about the car, in my opinion, is the original 1969
Arkansas Safety Inspection Sticker that’s still on the
front windshield.
My
plan for the car is to keep it as original as possible
with a repaint and an original set of exhaust tips planned
someday. Mostly, I plan to drive and enjoy it but I need
to replace some of those original hoses! I
started my jouney looking for a 70.....and ended up
falling in love with the 69's.
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