1969 Chevelle SS 396

Dennis Patterson’s gorgeous ’69 Chevelle is an ongoing labor of love.

By Dennis Patterson, Knoxville, TN

Photography by Colin Date

What is it about these cars that creates such an obsession for each of us? Is it their stylish beauty, high horsepower engines, or just the nostalgic memories from our youthful experiences? You can certainly go out and purchase late model muscle cars that out perform these vehicles without investing the sweat, time, labor, and expense.

Many of us try to keep these machines completely original while others perform major modifications with all new drivetrains, etc. In my case, I attempted to create something that was at least a little more efficient and practical without taking away too much from the original appearance. I still have the original style SS wheels, but they are wrapped in BF Goodrich radial TAs instead of bias ply type tires.

The front brakes are the original style single piston calipers, but I am using ceramic brake pads along with stainless steel brake lines. The rear wheel cylinders are the original style but they have been bored out and re-sleeved with brass inserts by "White Post Restorations", which guarantees that they will never rust internally. The engine is not the original 396, but rather a 454– which was in the car when I purchased it.

Instead of investing even more funds on an engine with the correct date codes and size, I chose to work with what was on hand. After all, these big-blocks look pretty much the same. The engine was precision balanced after substituting forged pistons for the original cast items. An Edelbrock aluminum intake was added, which was topped off with a Holley Commander 950 throttle body.

I hid the ECU above the glove box, and it is fairly easy to access with a computer. There is a new stainless steel gas tank with internal electric fuel pump that feeds the system through all stainless steel fuel lines. MSD ignition system provides the fire. Just before the 2011 Chevellabration event, we pulled the engine and transmission together and replaced the TH400 with a 200-4R.

The first time I was able to drive this Chevelle was in the spring of 2009, and my goal was to take it to Chevellabration that year. After all, it would be 40 years old and I thought that would be a great way to celebrate four decades of existence after having been recently restored. As much as I wanted to drive it to the event, I continued to have problems with leaks from the transmission, engine, rear end, and the venting system for the fuel tank. As the time approached, I began to feel more and more uneasy about driving it all the way to Nashville from Knoxville.

Then it started pouring down rain and I felt that was a sign to not attempt the trek. I drove my Explorer instead. As it turned out, my hotel accommodations were one exit away from everyone else at the event and the security was not very good. I would not have been able to get any sleep while there, feeling like the car would have been the proverbial "sitting duck" in that parking lot. I enjoyed the event anyway.

The primary transmission leak from the TH400 was caused by the speedometer cable housing at the side of the tranny being worn out. I had a new crush sleeve installed in the rear end by a reputable transmission shop. The engine oil leak was caused by the rear main seal and I finally corrected that problem when I pulled everything out to install the new overdrive transmission in 2011.

Fixing the gas tank vent system required a redesign of the way it operated, and I pulled the gas tank out several times to finally correct the issue. The list goes on.... Had major shifting problems with the 200-4R, and ended up taking the Chevelle to a different transmission shop to solve those problems. Had electrical issues with the dashboard gauge cluster. Had to pull it all apart to get it repaired. Just prior to last year's fall cruise, I lost the bolt and washer to one of the upper A arms and had to drive my Jeep.

The last week of September, 2012, I had a mishap with the floor jack and crushed part of the oil pan. My fault on that one. I was determined to drive to the fall north Georgia mountains cruise with the club and ended up pulling the engine to replace the pan. Finally got all the issues worked out around 10:00 PM the night before the event! We made it but were tired due to lack of sleep that night and leaving early that morning.

We had a great time, but on the way home we kept hearing some kind of noise from the left front and discovered the wheel was ready to come loose! Tightening the lug nuts repeatedly would not solve the problem and we had to resort to using the spare and one good lug nut from each of the other wheels (since all the lug nuts from that wheel were ruined and the lug nut holes were so damaged the wheel was trashed!)

Why do we do it? The love for these cars exceeds our common sense and fiscal responsibility sometimes but it is still worth it all in the end.