RogerD's 69 COPO/Dick Harrell Chevelle

[Ms Grumpy]

Roger you have my vote. And a link on the Chevelleforum facebook page for everyone to vote for you. Congratulations !

[RogerD]

THANKS for your vote Ms Grumpy!!

Hey Gang:


If you haven't commented on Jim's "coming soon" yet, now's your chance to sound off . . .

Originally Posted by RogerD

Hi Gang:

THANKS so much for your support!!!
Another new tidbit I found this morning . . .
Jim Campisano posted a 'coming soon' comment about a SuperChevy Article . . .

Check it out and comment HERE . . .

[Derek69SS]

I had missed step 2 the first time... just voted

[Ms Grumpy]

can we see how everyone is doing ? how many votes they have ? just curious.

[shadowgray396]

Got my vote

[SS Shaun]

got my vote

[RogerD]

Not sure on how to see the vote tally - most likely no way . . .

Trying to get comments on Jim Campisano's "coming soon" Facebook page from you guys, hopeful it might influence a decision to put our old Chevelle on the cover - that would be PRICELESS to Karen and me . . .

[RogerD]

A sincere and heartfelt THANK YOU
is inadequate to express Karen's and my apprecciation
for the support you guys have given . . .

[jfan68]

Roger and I were pretty good friends in high school and afterwards. We were most likely found head down and posterior up under the hood of some car we had stuck together. I’d built a ‘55 Chevy hardtop with the perquisite worked over 327 and had graduated to a used ’62 fuelie vette.

I lived in a typical small Midwestern town here in Missouri that at the time had a population of about 150 people. For any excitement we had to drive 25 miles south to Kansas City or the same distance north to St. Joseph. SO when Roger called me up one late afternoon and asked if I wanted to ride down to the city. I was all in. Not a word was mentioned about him getting a new car.

He showed up in the driveway in this shiny orange 69 Chevelle. As I came off the porch I noticed it was just a plain Jane Malibu, but still a beautiful car to my eyes. A few things stuck out like the funky "V8" flags on the fenders, black hood stripes, hood locks and it had an SS hood and SS wheels but no other SS markings - couldn't quite figure that out back in the day. But plain as it might have looked I’d been around enough motors in my short life to know that what was idling in my driveway had something very potent under the hood.

I climbed into the passenger’s seat and scoped the inside of the car out. The only thing that set the interior off was the required bug Sun Tack strapped to the steering column. At first I was a bit disappointed at the automatic transmission as “in the day” real hot rods had four speeds.

Roger backed out of the drive and headed up the main drag of my town ¼ of a mile to the turn that took you out to the highway. He was just idling down the street explaining that it was a car especially prepared by Dick Harrell’s shop and sold to him through the biggest Chevy dealer in K.C., Bill Allen Chevrolet. He turned left for the 2 blocks that took us out to the highway by the old tavern. He eased out to the south where the highway is looking down a ½ mile straight slightly down hill. I can remember it so clearly as he lined up on the highway and pulled the trigger. Holy Christ! The damn thing just exploded with power and pinned my young behind deep down in the upholstery. The motor wound up and it shifted well up in RPM. I thought Roger was running it manually through the gears but I looked over and it just shifted that way. I don’t know for a fact that the transmission had been worked over but it sure shifted like it had a kit from B&M or somebody in it.

What I can swear to is what it like riding in that beast. There are two memorable cars form my youth that came right out of the dealer with that kind of horsepower. My neighbor, who had been my Scoutmaster, bought a 67 Dodge station wagon with a 426 wedge and a 4 speed on the floor. The other was Roger’s DHCP Chevelle. If I can remember no other time in that car I most certainly remember quite well that first ride and can mentally picture that first walk around including the Dick Harrell sicker on it’s hind end. I was there and it was real enough that it stuck with me so vividly for 40 years.

KUDOS to Roger for tracking down and restoring his old Dick Harrell Chevelle - saw it when he brought it to the ACES event last September in Kansas City and the restoration was absolutely UNBELIEVABLE!


JFAN68

[Ms Grumpy]

CONGRATULATIONS Roger ! You have a beautiful car and you deserve this award. I am glad that we could help.