'70 Chevelle SS L78 Convt.

[Mr70]

I've seen this very nice car upclose in person,and it is the real "BORN with" block.
The CON VIN is stamped down by the oil filter,(and done in typical Baltimore fashion),and the 2 buildsheets are authentic too.
This car originally was built with a red bench seat,incorrect 1969 SS396 interior door emblems as well as a 5500 dated redline tach.Chuck corrected the last two,and a later owner converted it to bucket seats & console.
Some other interesting details:
*It came with a manual top
*It's 3:55 but not a Positraction
*It's a non Flapper Cowl car,yet customer did opt for the RPO D-88 Hood & deck stripes so those are correct.

As ohhawk mentioned,the story of it's discovery & resto are documented in various past "Chevelle World" issues.
Chuck H. did a great job in documenting this resto,as well as showing it at past ACES events.

[redeuce]

This car has been around a long time. Chuck had it back when there were only 5 known- the black, white, and silver ones we had in the showroom, Mike Gabbard's blue one, and Chuck's. I had conversations with Chuck on this car back then. His ride back was one that will go down in Chevelle folklore. I still have copies of the build sheets on the first 5. I sold the white one to John- he re-restored it and sold it. The silver one went down south. The black one was sold to a young man in Chicago, who took it to a few Chevelle-a-brations. He then sold it. I sold all 3 in the same year. We found another blue one that sold at Mecum last spring. I think this red car was just sold recently at auction in Florida. I lost track of all of them over the years. Because of rarity and lack of info, I think these are the most underrated Chevelles ever. Seems to me in the late 80's rixls6 and I went to Volo to check one out that they had, was in pieces. Wasn't real.(maybe that was an LS6- too long ago to remember) It was gold Rick, remember? This one has more ink on it than any other one out there.

[Mr70]

Do you know where the silver one is today?
I saw it down south,before it was sold soon afterwards I was told.
I'm familiar with the ones you've mentioned and have located a total of 13 authentic/documented 1970 L-78 convertibles still standing.
Only one is a TH400.

[JIM]

The 69 SS396 door panel emblems have been noted on L-78's built at Baltimore plant for years the code shows on the build sheet as well, as does YA wheels. This car has more history and photo 's finding the car, the paper work, and its restoration than any other L-78 out there ,for some one to call it a Fake is a brave statement, however some of the now collectors were still in school when these cars came into there own. I've had many L-78's only 3 convert's including the 2 L-89 convert's I sold. All of my 70's had the B-22 SS396 emblems from day one as my LS-6 has Malibu's .

Jim

[Rixls6]

I have a question after reading some of the restoration article in the May/June 1996 issue of Chevelle World Magazine.

It states in the article, on page 4, that there was no ConVin found on the block anywhere. It says they checked by the oil filter and the front stamp pad.

Was it found later? Am I misreading something?

[Musclecarkid]

I know of one other very well known Fathom Blue 70 L78 Chevelle that had no VIN on the block. Car was one owner, 55K miles, with docs when we got it. All dates were Sept 69 with an early Dec build. Original owner verified motor was never changed. Had only Day 2 mods, Headers, Intake, Carb, M/T's etc.

[Late BrakeU2]

This one was an 11D,the latest sheet I have is a 12/8 car.Does anyone know what the earliest documented 70 L78 was?