Growing up in Chicago in the 60's

[kwhizz]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 66 L78 ragtop</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The similarities are almost beyond belief. Identical cars from Chicagoland and raced at the same track (US 30 Dragstrip)

What are the odds?

What was that Chevelle's VIN?

KWhizz, do you remember a Marina Blue 66 L78 Chevelle convertible in the chicagoland area? Also raced at Oswego. White convertible top, black interior? </div></div>


Yep!! When those Pic's of the Chevelle were first posted a while back....I had to do a double take and thought is was an early pic of Mighty High....

Vin #.....LOL......The day after I got my L-79 all the paper work was in the garbage....nobody was concerned or cared about that stuff back then......I'm sure Eddie wouldn't know either

Don't remember the convert....As I remember I was only at Oswego once....

[66 L78 ragtop]

Here is the 66 L78 Convertible. It was a barn find originally from Chicago. Last registered in 1977.

[kwhizz]

I grew up around Clybourn and Fullerton, &quot;And&quot;back then you had the &quot;SUNDAY&quot; radio ads about US 30 Dragstrip....LOL......that was cool...But.....some of the finest Drag Racing on Friday nights was right at the intersection of Racine and Clybourn......Man.....the racing would take place on Clybourn going north to the train tracks....at the time it was an Industrial area and was pretty much empty at night....but, Friday nights the crowds would show up and line the street....the crazy part was that this was just North from the Cabrini-Green housing projects.....now....lets be kind and say that you really didn't want to be in that area......(if you know what I mean)......But...On Friday &amp; Saturday nights it didn't matter, we were all there to watch, or Race and there was never a problem.........I remember one of the Black guy's that was unbeatable down there....his name was &quot;Big Ernie&quot; and he had a dark blue 55 Chevy with a 327-375 hp fuel injected Corvette engine..(probably a store bought crate engine......Right!!)
This was in 66 and Ernie had no fear of any car or anyone....I remember that car when it was running had that Hissing sound...crazy,but I can still hear that thing....he never opened the hood so I assumed the air cleaner set-up was not on it....he later sold the car to the son of the guy I worked for at night at a gas station....he had the car one day and wrapped it around a telephone pole.....(Never got to see the engine)........Everything was &quot;Crazy&quot; down there.....cars would just line up and go with all the money stuff figured out ahead of time......
It seemed the Police would leave us alone till the crowds really started spilling into the street and then they would come and open up the Fire Hydrants to flood and wet the street down...
In all that &quot;Stupidity&quot;...I don't have any recollection of any major accidents of people getting hurt......
To drive down in that area now, it has been &quot;Condoized&quot; and nobody that lives there now would ever Imagine the Mayhem that took place there........Good Times and we were Lucky to make it thru them........

[kwhizz]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 66 L78 ragtop</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Here is the 66 L78 Convertible. It was a barn find originally from Chicago. Last registered in 1977.






</div></div>

Do you have that car???Whats the story behind it.....How did you find it??

Here's my Convert I just sold last year....Always loved those cars





Ken

[John Tyson]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 66 L78 ragtop</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The similarities are almost beyond belief. Identical cars from Chicagoland and raced at the same track (US 30 Dragstrip)

What are the odds?</div></div>

I was sure it was the same car. Pretty unbelievable there were two of them, both in the same area. Still makes for a cool story.

John.

[markjohnson]

Wow, that '66 L-78 Convertible is a really rare car! Anyway, Ken . . . . . . thanks for taking the time to type out the history of your '66 L-79 &quot;Shivvy 2&quot;! That was a great read! Anyway, those were neat cars that were a big deal when they came out and I actually know of several fellows here in STL that bought them brand new and those cars didn't survive either past 4 or 5 years. They were referred to as the &quot;350-horse Shivvy 2&quot; or &quot;the little Nova with the Corvette engine&quot; in it. They were built with a purpose that they fulfilled in spades and created their own legend. It's the cars and owners (like you) that made those L-79's legendary! Keep those stories comin'!

[66 L78 ragtop]

Long story short, I found the car in Arizona. It had IL plates from 1977. The owner was originally from Chicago and found the car in a Chicago newspaper in 1968. I went to the Herald Washington Library in downtown Chicago and searched all the newspapers and found the advertisement. See below. I did a reverse directory search on the listed phone number and found the second owners, the family that listed the car in the Chicago Tribune. The original owner was drafted after the car was purchased and unfortunately died. The second owner, Arnie Borreson was also drafted. His father Edger Borreson listed the car in the tribune per Arnie's request. They lived in Lincoln Wood, just 10 miles from my house. Arnie is still alive and well. He is a pilot based in Idaho. He was best friends with the original owner and knows the cars history since day 1

[ed mac 70 ss]

Ken
I'm sure you remember this...... how about south on Clybourn at Diversey. Joe Catalano's street ram Coronet with Mario driving.His car is shown in the original link (black) mine was a light green matching Coronet.....Southbound on Clybourn using both lanes.Mario in the wrong lane and me in the(correct) lane. Fourth gear and a cop decides to pull out and block us from getting by. Mario see's a t-bone comming and swings left to graze a parked car to help slow down and avoid the head on. He held on to the wheel and opened the door as the car spun around. He wound up hitting the cop car mostly with the rear of Joes car. I squeezed by with two wheels on the curb. As I passed by all I saw was smoke and dust in the rear view mirror. My garage was only 2 blocks away. I put the car away and ran back to see if Mario was all right. Much to my surprise Mario was nowhere to be found. As soon as the car stopped moving he jumpped out and ran over the rairoad tracks.Upon impact Joe called the police and reported the car stolen.Later we cruised the hood only to find Mario limping around with a bruised leg.I think we were very lucky no one was realy hurt
ed

[ed mac 70 ss]

how about those prices!!!
ed

[kwhizz]

Orlando.....What's the status on the convert today?? Cool story......Did anyone notice the 60 Vette in the ad with the Hemi engine?? and the Hemi Coronet.......And.....LOL

Eddie, I forgot all about that incident....Yep!!....That could have been a bad one.......

Ken