Wow, such attention to detail...goggles

Yessir....

I rebuilt both of my wheel cylinders this week (thanks for pointing me in the right direction Woj) and so while I was back there I decided to mount the Lakewood lower control arms.

Man your car looks really clean underneath!

Yeah, I am very grateful for the overall condition of this Chevelle. That is a new Gardner exhaust with my car's original exhaust hangers that are nearly pristine. Eric Gardner was blown away by the hangers' condition (I'll post a photo later). Car was well cared for over the years and was not garaged for just its first year of life and has only accumulated 32K miles.

Did you think twice about making it a day 2 car? The reason I ask as I have a similar condition car that I have thought about dong the day 2 thing to!

Crush. I’ve been thinking about doing it for way too long and it is time to get it done! Everything is bolt on and reversible so it is a no-brainer! I found a couple photos of my original hangers by themselves…

Nice! Your inspiring me! I’ll start w Cragars!!

Glad to hear it Crush - others inspired me too. So, go start your own thread so we can follow along with you!!!

Vintage Gabriel HiJacker Air Shocks are next.....maybe some slicks too......

Love it, Sam!! Your car looks awesome! :biggthumpup: Will I see it this year at MCACN??:hmmm: Nice work. Amazing how those hangers look.

Cheers
Dave

“... this year at MCACN”. That has a nice ring to it Dave- its just ‘round the corner!!! YES, it will be there with bells on!

Just around the corner!?!? Crap!!! I gotta get busy too!!! Less postin’.....more doin’!!!!

Cheers

Dave

PS: Love the HiJackers!!!

New shoes! 9.00x15x29.5” tall M&H Cheater slicks on 15x7 steel wheels and 6.70-15 x 27.5” tall Firestones on Cragar SS 4.5” “skinnies”

Looking good Sam! :beers:

Love it!

Day2 Rocks!

Dan

Looks great Sam..

Rich

Sam, Are you sure those slicks were available in '69?

I'm not busting b*lls; I'm just asking.....

Verne

Fair question Verne. So, this is what I know. OO told me that when he had his car set up for its best results at the track for the quarter mile, he had M&H slicks that were 29.5" tall (on 15x7" wheels) and with such a tall tire he finally settled on 4.88 gears. He remembered the engine revving to 6200 rpm through the traps with this set up. This photo was taken in 1971 with the tall M&H's out back, so I can't tell you when he actually bought these, but maybe some others will have information on when they were debuted.

That's a cool picture. :burnout:

----Sam,,, Now you need the truck to complete the theme!........Bill S

Looks amazing.

Always get the truck!!!!

Ryan

Yeah, the truck. It’s a beaut. I’ll work on tracking it down - how hard could that be?

That was OO’s dad’s ‘66. That pick up is about 5 years old in that picture and looks to be in nice shape (for a rust prone Ford) despite the salty/wet southern VA winters. I think OO’s habits of taking care of his vehicles were picked up from his Dad. BTW, you might be able to see the red interior on the truck. That color scheme, of course, was OO’s inspiration for his Chevelle. Wayne and his Dad have always had a close relationship.

Love the look of the slicks on the 'velle.

Yes, they actually were available in 1968. I had the very same pair of cheaters on my 1st (ordered new) '68 L79 Malibu back then. This is a poor black and white Day 2 pic of that car taken with an old Polaroid camera in summer of '68.

Absolutely love this car Sam. The Day II touches are so well executed on this beauty that I'll have to wipe down my keyboard when I close this page! I'd keep it open but the drool is already running out the corner of my mouth.

Even the dogs looking at me here. ;)

Absolutely stunning love the look of the wheel combo! Sam do u happen to know the maker of those ladder bars I’d like to hunt down a set.

Thanks for your photo Augy - that clears things up - tuff looking ‘68!

Coming from you Norcam, that says a lot! Thanks - having a blast!!

Thanks Chevyman - those are Lakewood “traction bars’ (really they are replacements for stock lower control arms). Easy swap out and just bolt right in - no drilling required like Lakewood "Ladder Bars". I bought these at a garage sale awhile back and didn’t know their application but thot they were cool looking. This article (notice the author’s name!) helped to piece together what was going on - some kind sYcer provided this....

No problem.....just wish it was a better photo. Come to think of it, those cheaters were purchased early in 1967. Bought them for a '57 Chevy 150 2-door sedan that I raced during '67, then used the same tires and black steel wheels on that '68 Malibu the following year for trips to the drag strip.

A little off-topic, but I hope you guys don't mind a true story about cheater slicks and ice. Spring of 1968: a buddy also had a beautiful '57 Chevy, and he put his cheaters on, just for looks, one weekend when the snow was melting around here. He just couldn't wait. 6 am on the following Monday morning. 5 of us in his car on our way to work (we carpooled), we hit a patch of ice at about 50 mph and rolled the car 1.5 times. Car ended up upside down in the ditch. No seatbelts of course. 5 bodies and 5 lunch buckets flying around inside the car during the rollover. We crawled out through the back window which had popped out in one piece. None of us were seriously hurt, but the car was totalled. That was a very sad day and a hard lesson learned.

Funny (kind of) ending to the story. About 6 years later, 1974, I had just gotten married, and the new wife and I rented a house on the very same farm in front of which we had rolled that '57 Chevy. I told her the story and one day we walked the ditch where the car rolled. We found a Steppenwolf 8 track tape that flew out of the car 6 years earlier. I gave it back to my buddy and to this day it's the only thing he still has from that car.

BTW, I LOVE the Day 2 look of your '69! Think I'll do that with my '68 just for the memories! As you mentioned, it's all bolt-on and can be changed back to stock at any time.....

As I've told you previously Augy, you've led an interesting life!

Holy Cow Augy - that is an outrageous story! The 5 of you cheated death - how different things could have been. Love the Steppenwolf tape tidbit. Keep your "off-topic" stories coming! Start a new thread if you want. Thanks!

Yeah, interesting.....between surviving my teen and military years, hot rods and Harleys, wife says I should write a book.

Pretty boring now. Well, except for that John Deere incident last summer.....:wink:

Apologies for hijacking your '69 thread, but thought the "cheater slick" story was apropos. Since I'm new here, I just saw the Lounge forum. Maybe will start a new thread there for stories like this.

No apologies necessary Augy. We all eat that stuff up!!

Broke into the 50s yesterday so I changed the oil and decided to let her poke her head outside to see if she could see her shadow or not!

Man what a beauty!

Perfection!

That looks awesome.

Bad ASS :burnout:

Very nice Sam :-)

I use to Street Race my Chevelle with my hood off....great memories :)

Dan

Hey Mikey, does the color scheme and tire/wheel combo remind you of another Chebbie that ran/runs the streets of NEO? ;>))