CustomRides.com is happy to present this pretty lady in the red dress as the first vehicle in the CustomRides Spotlight of 2008 (“In The Headlights” as it were). She belongs to Wes of Arlington, Texas. Actually, it is a 1971 Chevelle Malibu. As with most dreams, it started with a few dollars – 2,500 of them. We have asked Wes to tell us about it in his own words:

In early 2003, I decided to finally restore the Chevelle. A couple of reasons for this decision were my brother, as well as the fact that we had built a shed. A lot of stuff was transferred to the shed and a lot more to the curb, which gave me more than enough room to work. My 45-year-old brother did not have long to live and had always loved the Chevelle. My original goal was to have the Chevelle at least running while he was still alive. A few months into the build, during the rebuild of the engine, he passed away without getting to see it run. Soon later my friend Tom and I dropped the engine and transmission into the engine bay and got it all hooked up.

It wasn’t easy getting the car to start for the first time either. The motor mounts didn’t want to line up but after some finessing, finally got it into place. We fried an ancient starter and ended up having to buy another. After all of the years of sitting, the brake fluid in the brake cylinders were nearly a in a solid state rather than a liquid. We finally overcame all of that and about 9pm at night, the car fired up for the first time in nearly 20yrs. Believe it or not but all of the lights worked! We took the car out for a drive for the first time and ran out of gas.

I chose to keep this car fairly original, or as original as I can. It doesn’t have many modifications other than a few to the engine and a few cosmetic like the hood and the racing stripes. Actually, I would have preferred to remain with an original hood but mine was bent pretty badly from where the hinges locked up when the hood was pulled down. Unfortunately, the hood is one of those parts that General Motors no longer makes and can’t be purchased from after-market dealers.
There is no demand for original hoods with the SS hood being such a popular choice. Over the next few months, I purchased two or three original hoods to find that they all had been bent so I finally broke down and bought the SS-styled non-functional cowl hood that is currently on the car today. With that, I decided why not add black racing stripes because where there is a cowl hood, there are racing stripes.

The project snowballed from the engine to paint and body to a new interior and convertible top. It was one of those situations where you do one thing and it makes another thing look bad and so on. Then before you know it, everything has been done and the car is basically brand new. While at the body shop, I had a dealer installed body-side molding removed and had some very minor rust taken care of.

The car was stripped to the bare metal, sealed, primed, and painted with basecoat/clear coat. The wheels were sandblasted, primed, painted, and cleared by me. The interior was all ordered as a package from Original Parts Group. Before the interior was installed, Tom and I laid 20sqft of Dynamat to floor pans in order to deaden some of the road noise and reduce some of the heat from the engine bay. Convertibles only come with one speaker in the center of the dash. The dash pad was replaced for one with two speakers and we also wired up two speakers behind the rear seat. The convertible top is padded and has a glass rear window.

The project was finished up in late 2005 or early 2006. The project took about three years to complete but with all of the waiting, it seemed like an eternity. It is amazing to see a restoration go from beginning to end. There are still lots of plans for the car including new wheels, brakes, and exhaust.

Q & A

Major modifications: Bored .0030 over to 355 smallblock.

Minor modifications: Steel cowl hood, black racing stripes, Comp Cam, Edelbrock Torker Intake, Edelbrock 600cfm Carb, Edelbrock fuel pump.

Greatest challenges/headaches: Everything. Car sat for 20 years in the garage so rust wasn’t a problem but just dealing old worn out parts was a nightmare. Biggest headache was that the machine shop drilled through the water jackets in my heads and ruined them when installing screw-in studs. Took months to finally discover how coolant was getting in the oil (didn’t drive the car during that period to make sure my bearings didn’t get ruined).

Greatest joys/most exciting moment: When the car started for the first time after nearly 20 years. Believe it or not, every single light worked on the car after it came back to life. We were getting antsy when we got the battery hooked up and checked all the electrical out to see if there were any surprises lurking there, none found so we were using the starter to bump the engine around to bolt up the torque converter and it hit on the second crank. Scared the tar out of Tom who was laying under the car with no exhaust pipes on yet. Never seen a guy move that fast out from under a car!

Cost to restore/customize: $10k ++++

Who did the work? My friend Tom and I did most of the work ourselves with exception of the paint and body performed by Everman Paint and Body in Everman Texas. Bills Trimshop installed the convertible top, Tranny was rebuilt by Buck’s Transmissions. Dad helped with the interior trim since he used to build limos.

How did you finance/are you financing your custom ride? Lots and lots of cash. My dad and I both contributed thousands to fund this rebuild. A fair amount of trade equity with friends.

Sound system: Custom Autosound headunit, 3.5″ speakers in dash, 6×8s behind back seat.

Engine: 355 c.i Small block Chevy

Transmission: TH350

Exhaust: Factory single exhaust, generic Turbo muffler.

Wheels/rims: 14×6 Rally wheels painted Argent Silver

Tires: Arizonian 215/70/14

Other mechanical components: Axle: 2.73 GM 12 Bolt w/c-clips, control arm braces

Brakes: Stock GM 9.5″ manual drum brakes.

Paint: Cranberry Red w/ black racing stripes

Anything unique/unusual/extraordinary about your ride? This car has 87k original miles on it.
What do others say about your ride? Being that the car does not have a/c, the windows are down a lot and you hear, “nice car!” all the time when sitting at stoplights or even driving down the highway. Not only does this car get comments but it also get plenty of thumbs-ups. It has been photographed and even videotaped going down the road.

Your personal goals/objectives for your custom ride: To make it a nice driver. The brakes leave a lot to be desired for stopping at speed and while the car is geared to go 140+ mph it still needs a lot of work to make it safe for anything much over the speed limit. Lap belts and soft stock suspension coupled with lots of chassis flex limit anything safe over 80mph. Would like to take some of the roll out of the car so it doesn’t drag the door handles on the pavement.

Your future modifications for your custom ride: Some goals include front disc power brakes, Vintage Air Conditioning, Edelbrock Performer Dual plane intake, true-duel exhaust, and 15×7 American Racing Torq-Thrust D wheels.

What was your first car? 1987 Mazda 626 4cylinder 5speed.

If you could have any car, what would it be? 1968 L88 Corvette Stingray

Achievements? I have won numerous car shows in and around the DFW Metroplex. The car usually places in its class and has won Best in Show once. Learned how to really tweak points and carbs

 

 

 

3 Responses to “Sweet Seventy-one Chevelle”

1. Speedfreak02 Says:
   March 5th, 2008 at 12:26 pm

   Looking good Wes.

2. JDRaven Says:
   November 27th, 2008 at 12:37 am

   I’m restoring a ‘71 right now – thanks for some badly-needed inspiration. I’m impressed at how your project turned out.

   I’m surprised also at what works as I go around replacing and testing things – as with yours, all the lights still worked, even though the lamps are badly yellowed and they and every bit of the electrical system appear to be original equipment.

   Best of luck to you with the planned upgrades.

3. CustomRides.com Says:
   November 27th, 2008 at 3:37 am

   Sounds great JD!

   Get in touch with us if you would like to have your ‘71 being covered on CustomRides.com if it’s ready.

   Ed

   CustomRides.com Team Member

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