Fall of 2002 I thought this car was "done". It ran great, drove great, and I could see no reason to change it. Being completely satisfied and done with this car, I just knew I would have all sorts of free time, so I started looking for another project car to build.
I bought a '66 El Camino in late September.
One week later, my Chevelle was rear-ended at a stop light.
One week after that, I met my wife Jenna.
A week later, I took her on our first date in this car. She thought I was a dork, but liked the car enough to agree to a 2nd date.
Two weeks after that, the original 350 blew a head gasket or cracked a head (still haven't taken it apart to diagnose) on the way to meet her parents the first time.
So much for the free time and plans not to mess with it.
I bought a used, completely stock '77 400sbc with 200,000 miles on it, and cleaned and painted everything under the hood, and added some chrome. I had the TH350 rebuilt with a shift kit and a used 2400rpm B&M converter, and found a 3.08 posi rear out of a '66 4-4-2.
It was back on the road by July 2003, but the new quarter panel was in primer that whole summer. We repainted the back of the car some time during the winter of 03/04.
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