Living the dream one nightmare at a time

[ArmyScout]

For the longest time I wanted a 70 Chevelle, and the day had finally come. I was stationed at FOB Sykes in Tall'Afar Iraq but when I first saw it I was at a COP(combat out post) in Sinjar at the base of the mountains. It was a down day for us and the feel of a hot shower and food that didnt come out of a bag was amazing. As my food digested and I chatted with my wife I scrolled through the vintage cars on e bay. When I first saw it my heart raced because of how close it was to KS where I was stationed and the price. My wife and I had talked about getting me a Chevelle for when I got home as a project car to work on and the time had come to pounce. I sent her the link and we bid. Hours had passed and finally being able to sleep for a few hours, I woke up early as usual to get on messenger in order to talk with my wife and I had several off line messages from her. The final one read "You are now the proud owned of a 1970 Chevelle" I had the biggest s**t eating grin on my face till I got home for r&r. I looked at the pictures every day imagining the potential behind the car after I was done with it. My sanity besides talking to my wife which felt like my only connection to the real world was scanning the Summit catalog on line producing an ever growing build sheet for the car.
The day had come and I landed in Manhattan KS and got to see my family, then a few days later I got my car. It was advertised on line as no rust,hated cold weather and something was closed in the hood so it has a slight buckle in it. The vinyl top was listed as mostly new and the paint was fair. Once it rolled off the transport truck the driver told me it didnt like to run but it was manageable. After tweaking the carb some it kicked over and I drove it home. After inspection there are some pretty obvious rust spots on it , some pinholes in the trunk that wont be to hard to seal and the enging was a total mess. The man that owned it was a back yard mechanic that loved to jury rig things rather than putting actual work into them. There was more electrical tape,wire caps and splices under the hood than there was in a new home. He cut the cluster wires,the alternator had multiple wires coming off of it and there were others that led to hidden and tucked areas in the engine compartment connected to nothing at all. After taking a day to "weed out" the engine I pulled about 12 feet of crap I didnt need, bought new wires and built new harnesses for what was lacking. Half the carb was missing and the heat wrap on the headers was falling off exposing the holes he so desparatly tried to cover up. This was my new nightmare
Since then I have gotten a lot of boxes from Summit and Ecklers and made some progress. I have installed 2 4 barrel 500 cfm Edelbrock carbs along with a new intake. Performance headers a Hurst shifter and some other smaller things to make it mine. I'm thinking about taking the vinyl top off of it but still undecided. Eventually it will be black cherry metalic with ghosted silver stripes going down the center and have already gotten my Foose Nitrous rims and tires for it. I'm not gong to put those on till its painted almost like the final emblum that goes on a car where I can sit back and say ahhhhh as I stare in its glory. Its got a 383 under the hood and I'm not all to sure about the transmission just due to not having enough time and being out in the field for training. I leave in a year for Afghanistan and my goal is to have majority of the work done to it before I leave. The interior is black and all sorts of torn up which will be another task of its own but its not at the top of my priority list as of now.
So thats my story. I hope you made it this far and thanks for reading....Scouts Out

[Ms Grumpy]

Army,
First a foremost. Thank you for you service to our country ! Welcome, we are happy to have you here !

Boy it sounds like you have quite a project. But it sounds like you are making great progress. I love the color that you are planning to paint it. I can't wait to see some pics.

[Bdubya]

Almost every old car has hidden things that the seller neglected to tell. Nice to hear another one is gonna be saved. Stay safe, hurry home!

[flash]

Thanks for your service and welcome aboard .

[ArmyScout]

Thanks for the appreciation, I am currently home in KS and not set to deploy for another year so I will be home and safe for a while. @Bdubya I agree that there are some things that can be neglected but this was bordering on flagrantly hiding things for example the windshield was fine in the pics but when it showed up it was cracked, just little stuff like that. The way I see it is that its in better hands now and will be beautiful again soon

[grandsport]

Thanks for your service. Welcome from Latrobe Pa.

[Highway Star]

Thank you for your service. Welcome to the site. Post some pics of your car.

[Rank]

Hey man your words hit close to home. Being a half a world away and creating a goal to realize upon return stateside is old school. Congrats on living that goal.
Welcome home.
6/37 Arty 2ID Korea 70-71

BTW I also have a 70 chevelle in the stable!

[shadowgray396]

Welcome from a 70 owner and thanks for your service.

Sounds like a great project for you.

Ray

[ArmyScout]

I have posted pics on my profile, thanks and feel free to comment