Musclecarjohn's Magnificent Chevelle SS454

[olredalert]

-------Beautiful car, although I may be a bit biased. Please elaborate on the racing lug-nuts. I need a set of them for a current project. Found some shorter ones at Jegs but yours are definetly BAD!!!.......Bill S

[MosportGreen66]

great blend of new and old!
nice work...

[Z-11 396]

Fantastic car John, and the story that goes with it. 454, who could ask for anything MORE...!!!!!..Kasey..

[musclecarjohn]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the nice comments.
This car has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember...I have always wanted to own a Cranberry Red '70 SS454 so to have this one almost fall into my lap was almost unbelievable...and a local car to boot.I have tracked down two of the former owners and am trying to gather as much history on the car as I can.

The car is featured on the cover of the 2005 Muscle Cars calendar by Ron Kimball...when it was owned by the previous owner.A buddy called me last December when he got his copy and said I better check it out and sure enough...there was my car on the cover.It was a big deal for me at the time.

To answer the question about the 3" lugs,they were custom machined from bar stock locally by a machinist we know.The first set was expensive because of the set-up and these are the 2nd set that he made.They are stainless steel and I believe they run around $300-400/set.PM me anyone needs additional info and I will try to assist.I bought these wheels/tires from a buddy who bought them for his '69 Z/28 but they wouldn't fit due to the backspace.They work well on the Chevelle though and the guys over at www.chevelle.com have been very enthusiastic about the look.I have two sets of 14' rallys (the original ones that came with the car and a new set I purchased) and while I love the look of the original wheels,my car looks like everyone else's Red SS454 when I take it to shows.For example,I showed it twice at the PG Ralley (the last 2 years) which is a support event during the Pebble Beach weekend here on the Monterey Peninsula.The first year I showed it with the rallys I didn't get much attention.The next year I showed it with the new wheels and people were all over it.It took "outstanding muscle car" out of 300+ entries so I would like to think the wheels had something to do with that.These wheels really give it a racy look and follows my vintage Trans-Am look that all my other cars have.Phil Schmidt at PSE (310 534-4477) also does period-correct race wheels and he features the longer 3" lugs as well,but not in stainless steel.To me,this car has killer stance and photographs well.

Thank you Bruce for the great writeup.He's got my '70 Z/28 coming up next and then as soon as I get my new motor installed in the '69 (550 hp/383 stroker being built as we speak),I'll send along some pictures...you guys are in for a treat because I don't think you've seen another 1969 Z/28 quite like this one.

I'll just leave that for your imagination...

Thanks again guys and happy holidays,

John