Very sorry to hear about the loss of your son, I can certainly understand how something like that can rearrange your priorities in a hurry. Thanks for posting the requested pics too.
Concerning the car and it's "SS427" status, it's tough to tell from such a distant shot, but it looks to be a legit X22 SS396 car. Big block heater box is still present, power brake booster has been sixed, probably in favor of those tall valve covers. A cool car for sure, but there is lots going on under there that isn't "original." Probably more so than not actually as far as the engine bay is concerned. I can see that someone "blacked out" the firewall and inside the fender flanges, probably burying otherwise distinguishable factory markings in the process. I wouldn't worry too much about it though, as it's happened to more cars than not over the years, and a careful restorer could probably bring alot of them to the surface for documentation prior to restoration. I can honestly say that this car will certainly draw some interest if put up for sale at a reasonable price, however I think it's been gone over a bit too much to call it a true "original" car. Looks more like an early 80's "restification" to me. Do you have any more pics of the car in it's panel painted scheme? I know you think it looked horrible, but some of us around here can dig on that kind of thing. Thanks for sharing.
