04/01/2026
WARNING: There is a LOT of photos with this inspection.
You may remember me posting 3 teaser photos of this Chevelle back in October of 2025. This original owner, (originally) Uniroyal equipped 1970 LS6, Turbo 400, 4.10 Chevelle with only 21,359 miles was recently found in a non climate controlled tuck under garage (and the undercarriage shows it) in southern Illinois and still owned by the same family. The original owner bought the car brand new from the dealership that he worked at and for the purpose of drag and street racing. Shortly after buying the car, he purchased a crate LS6, pulled the original engine with only 200 miles on it and installed the crate LS6 engine to go racing. The car ran a best of 12.21 at 118.06 mph with only minor modifications made to the drivetrain such as slicks, super tune and a tuned over the counter Holley and headers. I did not find any internal modifications made to the crate engine or the assembly line engine from stock upon disassembly and both engines still retained their original bores and cams with only the intake, headers and carb being changed out from original. Fortunately, the family still had the original 4492 carb. Not sure how those ¼ mile numbers were possible but they are documented.
The family decided to let me take the car to my shop, research it, do a complete 15 page inspection, photo document it and get it thoroughly cleaned up and reinstall the original engine as they were thinking of maybe selling it to the next caretaker as Jim, the original owner had passed away some 18 years earlier. A thorough bath, interior shampooing and wiping down, window cleaning and a buffing were in order and the results were better than I had hoped.
The amount of paperwork that came with the car was amazing, 3 build sheets, one of which I located during the cleanup, POP, window sticker, original photos from when the car was first purchased, raced, run in parades, hundreds of time slips, dealer invoice, June 2005 Chevy Rumble magazine article, original email correspondences between the owner and Doug Marion in preparation for the magazine article, original title, appraisal from Barry Wallner from 5/16/89, original Illinois title, license applied for receipt from February 9, 1970, crate motor receipt from the dealer, any receipts for parts bought for the car and interestingly enough, a hand written map to where they drove out to the beer parties were with a notation that stated, “NOT FOR POLICE USE” was also in the binder with the car. This car is as real and as original as one would expect considering the fact that it was heavily raced and put away wet. Oddly enough, even the original F41 shocks are in place other than the right rear which was a Gabriel shock. Maybe the original was damaged or this was an old race trick.
I was able to find a new home for the car in Colorado with the new caretaker and only hours from the original owner’s daughter who will be staying in touch with the new owner. He contacted me immediately after I posted the original find and wanted this car depending on what the family decided. Talk about patience but it paid off for him as he just picked the car up from me last Sunday. I was hoping to buy this car but knew my many years of restoring cars would take hold of me and I would end up restoring it which would have been a shame. Thankfully the new owner wants to keep it as a survivor for now and plans on bringing it to MCACN to have it Vintage certified. Enjoy the car and the story.
