Hello All
 

Thought I should introduce myself, seeing how I've been a member here for a week (well almost).

I currently do not own a Chevelle, but did up until 1984. My first car was a 1971 Chevelle Malibu. 307, 2 Barrel, AT/PS/MB, plain Jane car. It was burnt orange in color. The car had around 49K on the clock when I bought it in July 1978. My Dad was a motor head and insisted that when I got a car I needed to pay cash for it and he needed to approve of the purchase. Him, being a motor head, the car needed to be a V-8 just in case I needed to get out of the way of another car :ntwrthy:

Well, Dad and I looked for a couple of weeks for my first car. We looked at Camaros, Monte Carlos (one I saw that I liked, but the paint was burnt by a buffer), a couple of Novas, one Plymouth (THANK GOD he didn't like it), one Monza with a V-8 ( :mad:), and then the Chevelle. Of course in the used car lot, it was parked next to a 1970 El Camino SS 4-spd that was bitched out to the max. If I remember correctly there were N50's tucked under the azz end of it. The tailgate had a grave yard muraled on it. I said "Dad, how about this.." and he gave me the eye. Well, he approved of the Chevelle.

I dropped my life svings on the car and the rest was history. The car ran great. I changed oil regularly (every 3000 miles or 3 months, which ever came first). One year I needed to cahnge the oil in pretty close to 30 days. I changed it Memorial Day weekend and then needed to cahnge it July 4th weekend. My Dad was confused as to why so soon. Well, in the day crusing was the thing and I had the ride.

I saved my $$ and put ET mags on it with some Dunlop skins. Dad said no air shocks so the tires needed to fit in the tubs. Therefore, F60's 14 in the rear it was.

I ran the piss out of her. In five years I put 90000 miles on her. I think I put four water pumps on her but nothing else. I did replace the distributor once. Turned out that the car wouldn't stay in time. I had that car down pat, that I could get the timing set by ear. We pulled the distributor and luckily dropped another in without needing to do anything else. I did repaint her once. Stayed the burnt orange color but did the late '70's Camaro ralley sport paint theme on it. Looked sharp for a while.

Well, in the winter of 1983, the heater core went out, I was engaged and had my first rteal job after college. It was a cold winter and the fiance wasn't real keen on wrapping in a blanket during the winter. So in April of 1984, I ordered a new Z-28. I looked and looked for a used car, but I couldn't get anything on trade. I was going to trade the Chevelle on a used Camaro, but they would only give me $500 for the car, but that was with my ET's and the Pioneer SuperTuner stereo setup I had.

Ended up junking the ride. The body rotted off of the car. I had hand moulded rear quarter panels for it, but alas, the rest rotted away.

Over the past 15 years I've gotten into Corvettes. I currently have two; a 1964 convertible that I have owned since August 1997. I've never driven the car. It has been a project. This should , OR WILL be completed inthe Spring of 2011. My other one is a 1993 ZR-1, which I have grown tired of and at my whits end with. The computer controllled cars are a PITA. Therefore, I'm thinking of selling the ZR-1 and getting either a Chevelle or a Camaro. I miss both of my original rides, so it will be one or the other. It will definitely be a bow-tie :D

Welcome man, nice story. That zr should be no problem pedaling , maybe a trade is in your future. Personally I like the computorsystems on the c-4s but the crossfire is a white elephant in my mind.

Dude, the problem is that they just now started repro-ing C-4 parts, and the ZR-1 parts are few and far between. My main issue has been fuel pumps (i.e. plural). It's a special unit. I've purchased two in the past year. First one was a used unit (< 10 hrs supposedly). Fried it in 3 months. Bought another one that was brand new (I'm thinking this is the current issue) is fried. I'm very tired of nothaving the tools in the garage to read a FREAKING car's brain. I own it! It doesn't own me! I'm about ready to take it out back, with a 5 gal jug of unleaded prem, & torch it.

I've never, ever had an issue with a non-smartcar. Ya know, my rant sounds pretty stupid....

Oh - and BTW, I've been fortunatre not to have to pay the orig price for fuel pumps...$2K

Oh - second edit - the Z is over 500hp, and still gets 26mpg on the highway when it's running right. And, if the ari temp is over 95 degrees and she ain't sittin still, she'll peel the cetner lines off the road... It IS THE FASTEST, MOST AGRESSSIVE car I have ever owned/driven.... Stained my shorts the day I bought her

Hi Grease monkey,welcome! Waving Carlisle is one of my favorite places.Can't wait until Spring.

Gary,
If you even need a place to stay let me know, as long as you can bring me an ORIGINAL case of cold ROLLING ROCK :ntwrthy: :ntwrthy::ntwrthy:

Actually, ping me, I may have room during one of the show weekends down here, if you don't mind 300 pounds of dogs (2 Great Danes) :D

Welcome Grease Money to the site.

Ray

Welcome GreaseMonkey ,you better be careful Gary wants a monkey .

Sadly,those days are gone. I don't mind dogs at all ,being we have 7.:p

He's safe. Maureen won't let me bring one home.

Some of us are actually old enough to know where the term "grease monkey" came from!! LOL

Im older than I care to think about .I always thought a grease monkey was the local mechanic ,we dont have them anymore .Im talking about the guy that could fix anything and didnt charge a war pension to do it .

I like all types of monkeys,but I don't want one on my back.:)

Yes that is what the term evolved into but its origins are in the factories wa-a-a-y back in the industrial revolution...

The saws, lathes, drill presses etc were all powered by one huge belt that ran around the whole shop at cieling heigth and was held up by a pulleys. The belt was sometimes powered by a water wheel or a steam engine.

A guy or two was assigned the job of dancing from rafter to rafter with a oil can lubricating the pullys .... because of the appearance of monkeys jumbing from tree limb to tree limb they were given the term "grease money" .... it later applied to the oilers on the trains who kept the train lubed up .... and refers to a mechanic today.

I didn't know that. I knew the mechanics version. Thanks for the history lesson. And my wife says car forums are a waste of time :(

Welcome GreaseMonkey.

It was really cool reading your story. I loved it. I think that we would all agree that it doesn't matter what you drive as long as you enjoy it. Yes a lot of us own Chevelles, but we also own a lot of other cars. And we love to hear about every one.

I would love to see some pics of your cars, past or present, finished or projects, it does not matter, we love 'em all.

Again, glad you are here.
Nancy

You asked Nancy, here they are. This is my 1993 ZR-1, which I'm thinking about selling next year to pickup either a Chevelle or a Camaro. I've had this car since 2002, I bought her with 32K on the clock. The car is over 500hp when she's running right and gets26 mpg. Bit of bad luck with her over the past two years. No timne to deal with the issues based on other things at the homestead. Currently it has 43K on the clock...

http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/w...ar2002Zoom.jpg

The next one is my 1964 Corvette convertible. I've had her since 1997 (OMG). She's been a time .vs. money sort of girl. When I have the time, I don't have the money.. When I have the money she sucks me dry
This is the day I brought her home:

http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/w...5641stShot.jpg

That's me on the right with hair :D

This is the way she looked in June/July of this year. I have more completed on her but any new pics you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. More internals than visuals. My goal was to have her done for my 50th, which was in September, but I missed the mark. Spring 2011 is the new date:

http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/w...3064vette1.jpg

http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/w...3064vette2.jpg

The mouse: 327ci Holley 650 dp

http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/w...3064vette4.jpg

Now, you may ask why I bought the '93 before I had the '64 completed. It's a long story. My first wife was diagnosed with breast cancer on our 9th anniversary, in 1995. We got through a few battles with it for the next couple of years. We were DINKWACS (Dual Incomes, No Kids, With a Cat) at the time. In 1997 I started getting the itch to do a car. She had her hobbies and at the time I was into woodworking(since I couldn't affored doing a car earlier). I've always loved cars and got that from my Dad (as mentioned earlier).

I wasn't particularly looking to get into vettes. Actually the first car I was really serious about was a 1972 Chevelle Malibu vert. A kid was going to college and needed a computer. He was asking $1,200 for the car. The engine was a wormed over 350 auto car. Mechanically sound, but the body was trashed. Floor pans gone, etc. I looked her over, and told him I'd get back to him. Went home, discussed with the wife and called him back w/i 2 hours. The car was gone.

Then I looked at other cars, and got hooked on getting a vette. Originally wanted a 1960 but the price of a complete car was too much and a project was too much as well. Looked at a bitched out '63 which I had my heart set on, but then backed off of it after realizing that there are lot of 1963 only vette parts, which runs into a TON of $$$$.

Found the '64 in July of '97. Went up to look at it, then took the wife up to look at it. She wasn't impressed. The guy I bought it off of is a Corvette guy. It is in his blood. His Dad bought and sold vettes and parts. Well, when we went to look at the car he had it in a barn with another vette under a cover. She said to me "I have no idea why you want this thing but if you want it, buy it, but when it is done, the car has to be red". (Hmmm... I was intending black, but, then again she didn't say it had to be an original red.)

After my wife's "I have no idea" comment, the guy I bought the car off of pulled the cover off of the one next to mine and said "Because he can have something like this..". It was a 1965 Corvette BB A.I.R. Coupe. The rest is history.

From August 1997 through January 2002 I worked on the car when I had the time and the money. At one point in time the car was in two states and then again in four garages. The frame was in North Carolina, the engine was in a shop, the body was in a shop, parts in my garage, and parts in a friends garage.

I finally, in early 2001 got the majority of the parts back together to send it to the body shop. Decided upon the 2001 C5 Magnetic Red paint for her. It was the closest I could get to candy apple red w/o dropping the dime for candy apple red. I brought the car home from the paint shop on 1/9/2002. My wife passed on 1/21/2002. At least she saw that I stuck to my part fo the deal for her.

My last thing to do when the car is finished is to have a pink ribbon muraled on the back of the car in memory of my first wife. If everyone in the world could have been blessed knowing her, there would be no turmoil in the world. She enjoyed life and gave it all to many.

I think of her daily....

"I finally, in early 2001 got the majority of the parts back together to send it to the body shop. Decided upon the 2001 C5 Magnetic Red paint for her. It was the closest I could get to candy apple red w/o dropping the dime for candy apple red. I brought the car home from the paint shop on 1/9/2002. My wife passed on 1/21/2002. At least she saw that I stuck to my part fo the deal for her.

My last thing to do when the car is finished is to have a pink ribbon muraled on the back of the car in memory of my first wife. If everyone in the world could have been blessed knowing her, there would be no turmoil in the world. She enjoyed life and gave it all to many.

I think of her daily.... "

Mike,
I know this is a car site, but this is one of the coolest posts that I have ever read. I am sorry for your loss, but it sounds like you are carrying her in your heart and remembering her and honoring her with the Vette. That is really cool.

I lost my dad when I was 9 years old. He was the one who got me into cars, I remember climbing under the car with him and spending a lot of time in the garage with him. I plan on having "this one's for you dad" put on my car, to honor my dad.

Thank you for your heart warming story. And definately the pics of your cars.