Mostly I haul Turds.....today was different.

[GWN7]

Mostly I haul Turds.....today was different.

Classic American Iron. 1973 Chevelle SS 454

It was my buddy's mom's car. Been sitting for quite awhile. Since she went into the home.

Slammed the door and it was like Pig Pen from Charlie Brown appeared.









Took my 5 year old grandson with me to haul the car. He had such a good time with Rick the owner of the car he wants me to adopt him.

[Steve Carlton]

You were supposed to be here an hour ago.

[fastfredracing]

Cool!, a friend in high school had a black one. Not my favorite iteration of Chevelle, but pretty unique . You do not see a lot of them

[Baz]

Pretty cool Mom to be driving one of these.......

[Steve Carlton]

What's going to happen with that car?

[masraum]

Very cool. Maybe not the coolest Chevelle possible, but still cooler than most of the crap since. And it's old enough, that a bunch of the power lost since the same motor just a few years prior could be easily regained.

[pavulon]

Each of those doors weighs about 200 lbs. ... maybe more. The Camaros of that time had the same problem resulting in hinge pins and bushings failing with oil change regularity.

[GWN7]

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

What's going to happen with that car?

The car was in his parents garage in a small town a couple hours West from here. The parents both passed within 6 months of each other. He sold the house and possession is today. Moved up from the end of the month. So the car went to a small (2 man operation) restoration shop where it will be first brought back to life (gas drained, all fluids replaced, lubed, ect) and then it will go into the queue of projects being done where it will be restored to new quality.

The owner told me today gas was $0.453 a gallon when his dad brought the car home.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

What's going to happen with that car?

+1

If I read correctly only 2,500 of the SS Chevelle's were built in 73. 600 with a manual 4 speed. That is a drop in the bucket for Chevy sales numbers. The below Hemmings article says trim parts are rare given low numbers. Not sure if that count is all SS's or just the 454. Regardless, not many.

245/375 performance figures and that is net hp not gross like before 72. 15.5 quarter. That's fast for 1973 and being an "old" full sized car @ 4,000 lbs.

The Trans Am 455 SD was 290/390 with 14.0-ish second quarters. Far more rare.

On a side note: 8.5 MPG for the Chevelle.

https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hmn/2007/07/1973-Chevrolet-Chevelle-SS-454/1483632.html

[GG Allin]

That car would be best left alone. It can always be restored. It can never be un-restored. I'd get the mechanicals sorted out and leave it alone. In a lot full of restored, more valuable cars, it would probably get the most attention.

[Manda Racing]

Thanks for sharing.

I had a 70 454 my senior year— won thirteen drag races the first Friday night after we overhauled top end and my wife had a red 73 454 Corvette. (Back in the 70’s)

I wouldn’t mind adding a Malibu of any type to my garage again.

[Steve Carlton]

Originally Posted by Bob Kontak

The Trans Am 455 SD was 290/390 with 14.0-ish second quarters. Far more rare.

The '73 SD 455 is my grail car...

[herr_oberst]

Why is the front license plate on backwards?

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Why is the front license plate on backwards?

So you can read it in your rear view mirror. Duh...

[speeder]

That car is a bit of a pink elephant, sort of a vestige of the last dying breaths of the muscle car era. All of the muscle had been removed by then but it still had the emblems and unfortunately ugly 100 lb. bumpers on each end.

I could see how it could have enormous sentimental value, however, if it had been in the family for decades. I would give anything to have any of my dad's cars from 1967-1976.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by speeder

That car is a bit of a pink elephant, sort of a vestige of the last dying breaths of the muscle car era. All of the muscle had been removed by then but it still had the emblems and unfortunately ugly 100 lb. bumpers on each end.

I could see how it could have enormous sentimental value, however, if it had been in the family for decades. I would give anything to have any of my dad's cars from 1967-1976.

Exactly. The "muscle car" era only ran for about six to eight years, and came to a crashing halt in about 1971. They still used the names, but performance had suffered mightily by then, as had styling.

My dad and my uncles had some amazing iron in those days. They were the ones that planted the seed for me, a decade later, to go search out what they were driving when I was a kid. As a result, my first car was a '67 GTO 400 four speed. After that came a bunch of 383 and 440 MOPARS, but none newer than 1969. Some of the 1970 models were still o.k., but definitely by 1971, they were just stickers on overweight, underpowered turds.

[MRM]

Originally Posted by GWN7

The car was in his parents garage in a small town a couple hours West from here. The parents both passed within 6 months of each other. He sold the house and possession is today. Moved up from the end of the month. So the car went to a small (2 man operation) restoration shop where it will be first brought back to life (gas drained, all fluids replaced, lubed, ect) and then it will go into the queue of projects being done where it will be restored to new quality.

The owner told me today gas was $0.453 a gallon when his dad brought the car home.

That’s about $2.50 in today’s dollars. And it got a lot worse in the late 70s before it got better. At 8 MPG I can just imagine the pain those gas fill ups caused.

[fintstone]

Never liked the '73. '72 was the last year I liked the body style.

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

Some of the 1970 models were still o.k., but definitely by 1971, they were just stickers on overweight, underpowered turds.

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

The '73 SD 455 is my grail car...

I agree with Steve. The SD 455 somehow got under the radar.

Edit adding YT video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4tV426_Ih8

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by GG Allin

That car would be best left alone. It can always be restored. It can never be un-restored. I'd get the mechanicals sorted out and leave it alone. In a lot full of restored, more valuable cars, it would probably get the most attention.

A lot of truth to that...

But if it were mine I would leave the body/interior stock, save all the parts and hotrod the crap outta it.

1973 the smog regulation killed the 454, save the OEM block, bump up the compression, headers, a nice intake setup and that thing could be... interesting.

Originally Posted by fintstone

Never liked the '73. '72 was the last year I liked the body style.

Zackly why I would make it into a hot rod.

YMMV