Hey Steve Ash

Mark Cothren

Member
Messages
271
Location
Pickles Gap, Arkansas
My son and I went to the kickoff for Hot Rod PowerTour 2008 in Little Rock, AR today. I saw a bunch of super nice cars and snapped a few pics - a couple I thought you might enjoy.

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I had a '64 SS Impala convertible....and a '72 Chevelle. I was married with 2 kids when we got the Chevelle so we didn't get an SS.:eek:

What years are those in the photos......late 60's ? They were of the muscle variety.
 
The green/blue one, the first pic, looks like a 1970 Chevelle SS, the second one, the Red one looks like a 1971, but I think it is a 72, because of there is no bar across the grill on the 71, I think :huh:

Been a while since I played "Guess the Muscle Car Year" used to do that all the time when I was a teenager :D :wave:

Love them all, but the twin headlight design was always cooler looking to me!

Cheers!

PS a buddy and I co-owned a 1967 Impala, convertible....... well it was a convertible when we were done with hot wrench and saws-all.......... :eek:

I had to go look...........

This is very similar to the 67 Impala we had, ours had not roof...... :D
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And when it comes to Chevelles, this is my favorite, the1969 Chevelle SS in Red and Black! :thumb:
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Cheers!
 
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Not sure on the years of those cars... I had a '71 Chevelle Malibu when I was a kid (first car) and sure wish I had it back today. I also had a '69 Camaro at one time. I used to could tell year model on Chevelles and Camaros at a quick glance, but no longer. My uncle has a '67 Camaro he's about to do a full restoration on... can't wait to see/drive it!!!

Here are a few more shots from the show:

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(Here's my '69 I wish I had back...:( )
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In the interest of being fair/balanced, for any Mopar fans in here... this was the only SuperBee I saw at the show.
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And the obligatory General Lee Charger...
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Nice old Goat...:D
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For any two-wheeler fans...
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Stu, you could probably sell these out of your store...:)
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...the Red one looks like a 1971, but I think it is a 72, because of there is no bar across the grill on the 71, I think :huh:

I'm pretty sure the red one is a '71... it had the 4 round tail lights on it, if I'm remembering correctly. I think the '72 went to the rectangular tail lights. I'm sure Steve can tell us for sure if he sees this thread...
 
Thanks Mark...now you got me thinkin of cleanin up my old grocery getter and go back into the car show circuit.....:eek: Gosh with gas the way it is and mine burns premium, I guess I'll just be content with it in the shop.

Nice looking cars, every one of em.

You guys got the '70 correct, the red one is a 72.

71 and 72 were almost identical, as was 64/65....66/67......68/69. You had to notice little differences to know the correct year.

Look at the red one again.....see the heavier horizontal bars above and below the SS badging?....a 71 only had one heavy bar in the center of the grille, whereas a 72 had two horizontal bars.

The 1970 was one year that had a look of it's own, even though the body was very close to the 71/72.....the headlights and grille were a one of a kind.

In the case of my 69 SS, it is close to a 68 except that the 68 had a "basket weave" metal grille and the 69 had a plastic one with one heavy horizontal barring. (picture of my old wreck shows it)


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Tailights are a bit different as well....except with the 71/72....they were virtually the same with only a stamping in the plastic lens that read 1971 or 1972.
 
Tailights are a bit different as well....except with the 71/72....they were virtually the same with only a stamping in the plastic lens that read 1971 or 1972.

'71 and '72 had the same tailights? Is that true for the Malibu as well as the SS? I sure thought they were different... but I'm gettin' old and so is my memory...:eek:
 
'71 and '72 had the same tailights? Is that true for the Malibu as well as the SS? I sure thought they were different... but I'm gettin' old and so is my memory...:eek:

Yep, same taillights.

The 70 Malibu/SS had the square taillights.

The 71/72 Malibu/SS had two circular taillights on each side.

....some of the things were used on both the Malibu and the Super Sport....

To authenticate a Malibu from a SS you need to know the VIN prefix, 1969 and on they did not differetiate from the two. It is easy therefore to clone a 1969-1974 Chevelle into a Super Sport because no difference in VIN tags.

A super sport (at least mine) had a 12 bolt rear end, heavy duty front sway bar, heavy duty rear sway bar, the obvious SS badging, twin dome hood scoops.....and the mighty mouse big block 396.

Mine also came with bucket seats, console, 4 speed muncie...these were optional, a friend of mine swears she bought a new 69 SS with a bench seat and automatic.

I am the second titled owner of my 69 SS. My son has a 69 Malibu...with a 383 stroker....dang thing is quick off the line, but he can't hang with ole pops at the end.....the ole 396 with 425 ponies, just keeps gaining on him.:rofl:

I've had a ton of good memories, car shows, cruises, with mine, she has served me well with around 10 or so trophies and awards, best paint, best 60's car, .....I drive here everywhere, well I use to, even to the grocery store. I never trailered it anywhere but the paint shop once, she is a driver.

Thanks for the thread Mark, brings back fond memories.:thumb:
 
I had a red '72 Chevelle that was the biggest piece of junk I ever owned. Everything on that car didn't work when it was brand new. The front and rear windshields both leaked, and the gas gauge didn't work right off the lot. I bought it new and it spent so much time in the shop they let me trade it in on a '73 Laguna with all the money I had spent applied to the new car. It was truly a lemon.

The Laguna was not much better and that was followed with a Monte Carlo in '76 which was the last American car I ever bought. I had no luck with GM products. I bought a Ford F100 pickup used and it gave me good service until I flipped it end for end and landed upside down in a drainage ditch after a woman ran a stop sign.

I haven't even been on a American car lot since then. I hate to say that as I believe in buying American but crap is crap and I will not spend any more money on Detroit crap.
 
I had a red '72 Chevelle that was the biggest piece of junk I ever owned. Everything on that car didn't work when it was brand new. The front and rear windshields both leaked, and the gas gauge didn't work right off the lot.

Then why did you buy it?....there has to be a reasonable amount of time that if something didn't work the dealer would stand behind it.


Sorry Mike, I don't view it as Detroit crap....and my 69 SS is far from crap.
 
Steve, I am not suggesting that your car is not a fine piece of equipment. I am speaking of my personal history with three cars that I bought brand new.

The "72 Chevelle was the second car I ever bought new and all of the problems manifested after I bought it. I certainly would not have bought the car if I knew it was going to be so troublesome. Same thing for the Laguna and the Monte Carlo. I bought them because I thought they were beautiful cars. I didn't buy them expecting them to be trouble. That is just what they turned out to be. Thrice burned is enough for me.

If you recall the 1970's is when Japanese cars got their main foothold in the American market and with good reason. The quality of American made automobiles was not good during that era.

I apologize for saying what I did and perhaps casting aspersions on your car. I had no intent of doing that. I have such a bad taste in my mouth after having the problems I did that it is hard for me to remember anything but the problems. Detroit lost a customer permanently and I have never regretted it.
 
they were beautiful cars.


If you recall the 1970's is when Japanese cars got their main foothold in the American market and with good reason. The quality of American made automobiles was not good during that era.

I apologize for saying what I did and perhaps casting aspersions on your car. I had no intent of doing that.

No need for apology Mike, I didn't take it personal, just stating that "my" SS is far from crap....and in my view Detroit made good cars, far from crap. You obviously got a bad taste for American made cars. I have had good expieriences in almost all my cars.....I did have a Ford pickup or two that gave me troubles but they were self induced. You are not supposed to pull hay wagons and fertilizer spreaders with a 1/2 ton shortbox 6 cylinder and expect it to last.:rofl:

I guess I would have been more demanding of my dealer with a newly purchased car and having them fix the leaks and faulty gas guage, cause given a chice between a 1972 Honda.

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...and a 1972 chevelle.....

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I'd have my druthers.

Bet ya'll can tell my preference....eh?
 
Big Mike,

Interesting variance of experiences. We bought a gold with a gold vinyl top '72 Chevelle.....350 cu in, automatic transmisison, a/c loaded...even had an 8 track player in it. The wife and I still consider it one of the best if not the best car we ever owned. 18 mpg ....but in over 100,000 miles only replaced a water pump.

But you are right....the '70s weren't good for most US manufacturers.

I ordered a '83 full sized Chevy Blazer just after moving to Idaho. 4 1/2 years later after the 5th automatic transmission started having problems, we got rid of it. I haven't owned a Chevy since. Before that..I was a Chevy man......but 5 transmission in 41,000 miles.....it had brake problems but once it was off warrantee, I performed the brake maintenance and the brake problems were resolved.
 
I guess I would have been more demanding of my dealer with a newly purchased car and having them fix the leaks and faulty gas guage, cause given a chice between a 1972 Honda.

There were many more things wrong than just those few items. The 72 Chevelle was in the shop so much the dealer is the one who made the suggestion of trading it for a new car. He applied all my payments on the Chevelle to the Laguna when I got it and took the Chevelle back. The darn car was in the shop more than it was on the road. You have to understand I loved my red Chevelle until all the disappointments.

The Laguna was nice looking car that had a windshield that leaked despite numerous attempts to fix it. The car started to rust around the windshield in the first two years of ownership. There was wind roar on the driver's side window that they tried numerous times to fix by replacing the weatherstripping in toto. It also had a defective cruise control mechanism that ruined my gas mileage until it was diagnosed and even then it took several trips to the shop to fix it. The thermostat had to be replaced more than 4 times while we owned the car. The biggest problem with the Laguna was alignment problems. It ate front tires and I was not one who roared around corners burning rubber. Quite literally it would have to be aligned if you drove it. It would not stay aligned. This was over 30 years ago and I can't remember all the specifics.

Then the Monte Carlo we bought was my wife's car. The upholstery split at the seams within the first month we had it. They replaced it and it split again. Now I am a big fat man but then I was not and most of the time my wife was driving the car. The linkage on the stick shift was connected at the shifter with a cotter pin the size of a straight pin. Every few hundred miles the cotter pin would break. It happened so often my wife carried the tools she needed to remove the boot and install a new pin. Finally she used a paper clip and it outlasted all the pins. It had a leak around the trunk weatherstripping and that caused the floor of the trunk to rust. The left rear wheel well liner came loose while we were driving down the road and nearly wrecked us.

Enough was enough. We drove that car for over 5 years and watched the paint fail, we watched it leak, we watched the floor board rust. wiper motors had to be replaced, and we watched GM service. And this involved more than one dealer in more than one state so it was not just a one dealer problem.

A friend bought a Honda Accord late in '82. We loved it and bought one shortly thereafter. Since then I have owned Hondas and Toyotas and all of those cars put together over the last 30 years have not had as many trips to the shop as those three Chevrolet products. I am a guy who just wants dependable transportation. I am not a car enthusiast as all my enthusiasm for hot looking cars went out the window with my experiences with those Chevrolets.

I am not about to suggest my problems were typical. I do know they were not isolated as Consumer Reports magazine which I subscribed to in those days had many tales of similar problems with GM, Ford and Chrysler products.

The classic muscle car still is exciting to look at and I should have prefaced my comments by saying that. It is still hard to get the bad taste out of my mouth from my previous experiences.
 
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