Читать книгу Chevelle Restoration and Authenticity Guide 1970-1972 - Dale McIntosh - Страница 8

CHAPTER 1

ACQUISITION

When looking for a 1970–1972 Chevelle candidate to restore, you should have in mind what the finished product is going to be used for. Are you looking for a daily driver, a weekend family cruiser, something for the local car show crowd, or are you expecting to do a full concours restoration for perfection? Your expectations will dictate the amount of labor and money it will take to achieve your goal.

Whether you start with a running, driving car or a rolling shell, carefully inspect the Chevelle for what is present and what is missing. If you have doubts about it being a true SS Chevelle, get a professional inspection.

Determine Your Goals

With a straight body, good paint, and sound mechanicals to start with, your investment for a daily driver (okay, maybe an only-good-weather daily driver) can be kept to a minimum, and you can add dress-up and power options as time and your wallet permits. Something a bit nicer for family and friends cruises and competing at local car shows in a restored class can cost a bit more because you may need to do some bodywork, invest in a quality paint job, refresh the interior, and ensure original or original-type components are used. That can take a bit more time and money to accomplish.

If you are planning on a full, no-expenses-spared concours restoration, you will want to start with something as complete and original as possible. Maybe not so much the body, interior, and mechanicals condition, as those will be rebuilt and/or replaced anyway. But, if you are looking at a concours-quality L34, L78, LS5, or LS6 candidate, having original driveline components is paramount because some items can be expensive to obtain and it is difficult to locate correctly dated pieces.

Know What You Are Looking For

Nobody likes to get duped into buying a car that is not what it is represented to be, especially if you are looking for a true SS-optioned Chevelle. The 1964 model year is easy to determine as a Malibu SS: the vehicle identification number (VIN) will begin with 457 or 458; the 1965 Malibu SS VIN will begin with 13737/67 or 13837/67;1966 through 1968 SS396 VIN will begin with 13817/37/67/80, depending on the year. There is nothing in the VIN for 1969 through 1971 Chevelles that will tell you if one is a true SS-optioned Malibu (or 300 Deluxe in the 1969 model year only). It was fairly easy to clone/fake/recreate 1969–1972 Malibus. So, know what you are looking for.

The 1972 VIN will only be an aid in one case: in 1972, Chevrolet began putting the particular engine size in the VIN with a letter code in the fifth character position. If this fifth letter is the letter W, it indicates the LS5 454-ci engine was originally installed in the car, and the LS5 454-ci engine could only be ordered with the SS option. Basically, the same is true for 1970 and 1971 in regard to the 454-ci engine being SS-specific, but nothing in the 1970 or 1971 VIN indicates which original engine was installed in the car.

Protect-O-Plate

In 1971 and 1972, any optional V-8 engine could be ordered with the SS option. The problem here is these three optional V-8 engines could also be ordered without the SS option. So, documentation such as a warranty card (Protect-O-Plate) showing the original engine identification is of no help in determining if the SS option was also ordered, and a matching-numbers 350- or 402-ci engine cannot be used as a determining factor in 1971 or 1972 of the SS option.

Cowl Tag

The Fisher Body number plate—also known as a trim tag, cowl tag, or firewall tag—typically does not list options on a US-built Malibu. The Oshawa, Ontario, assembly plant did show RPO codes Z15 or Z25 on an SS454- and SS396-optioned Malibus in 1970. The practice did not continue in 1971 or 1972, making it much more difficult to visually identify an SS-optioned, Canadian-built Malibu. The Kansas City assembly plant is suspected to denote the SS option on its trim tags with the letter L stamped below the lower body color number. This is believed to mean a change in body trim from standard Malibu trim to SS trim, but while it is a popular belief, there is currently no published documentation to support this theory. Suffice it to say a Kansas City-built Malibu without this L is most likely not an SS-optioned Malibu but possibly is if the letter exists on the trim tag.

Beginning about February 1970, Kansas City-built Malibus began appearing with either the letters B or W stamped below the upper-body-color number/letter to indicate black or white sport stripes. The RPO D88 sport stripes could be ordered on any Malibu sport coupe, convertible, or El Camino without the SS option as well, so either B or W could be stamped without the L letter. While not definitive proof, it is something to look for.

None of the other 1970–1972 assembly plants put any identifying codes on their trim tags that might help.

Hire a Professional

If you are not well versed with how to determine if your candidate is a legitimate car, it is worth a few thousand dollars to have the car inspected by someone who does concours restorations for a living and get their well-respected and expert advice before the purchase. This could save you thousands of dollars in the end by not paying a premium for a, shall we say, highly suspect or fake car to begin with. This inspection can also determine what original and correct parts are on the car now and what is needed to be purchased or rebuilt. The inspector can also look for overall signs of previous restorations to determine how much labor might be involved to bring the car up to quality standards.

The inspection can also determine if the correct and original driveline is intact or if the car has been rebodied or the engine ID stamp and partial VIN stamps are legitimate. All of these factors will then give you a good feeling about proceeding with the car or turning it down and continuing your search for a better candidate.

Always use an inspector who is an expert on the type of car you are interested in purchasing. Do not use a generic classic car inspector, as they will not know any of the nuances that an expert in a specific car will know. Ask for a detailed inspection report. More often than not, the inspection report can be used as a bargaining tool to negotiate the price of the car. In almost all cases, the lowered price will cover the entire cost of the inspection, so in essence, it cost you nothing and gives you peace of mind as well as a valuable report to keep with the car.

I’m not suggesting that car appraisers cannot be helpful as well, but often they do not know what to look for in determining a true SS-optioned Chevelle and may be biased toward the person paying for the appraisal.

How Do I Know the Car Is What It Is Claimed to Be?

Documentation for a car is always good and can give you peace of mind on an initial purchase. This is particularly true in the case of 1970–1972 Chevelles and their assembly plant broadcast sheets, commonly called build sheets. These build sheets will show when the car was built and what options it was built with. Assuming the build sheet is authentic, it can go a long way in determining just how real the car you are buying and/or restoring truly is. A build sheet will also give you the car’s original exterior color, interior color, and seat type.

Be careful with build sheets. There are a lot of unscrupulous people out there who will create a fake build sheet for a car and even age it to look authentic, plus charge several hundred dollars for their work. Luckily, these build sheet creators have not perfected their art yet and often use broadcast codes or verbiage from a different plant, making them fairly easy to spot as being fakes. Some assembly plants put some numbers on the Fisher Body Number Plate from the build sheet, so this is one method of checking a build sheet against a particular car.

Body Broadcast and Chassis Broadcast Build Sheets

Prior to late 1969, only the Fremont, California, and the Framingham, Massachusetts, assembly plants used the build sheet form. Other plants have two forms of paperwork used to build Chevelles: a body broadcast copy sheet and a chassis broadcast copy sheet. The former was used on the Fisher Body side of the plant and the latter by the final assembly side of the plant.

In 1970, the Baltimore build sheet showed the Z15 SS 454 CONVER option verbiage for the SS454 option along with the optional LS6 V-8 454 CI 4 B verbiage for the LS6 engine. A build sheet such as this is invaluable in documenting your Chevelle. (Photo Courtesy LS6 Registry)

While the SS396 option is not specifically noted, there are several clues in this 1969 Chevelle body broadcast copy sheet. First is the model at the beginning of line 2: 13639 is a Malibu sport sedan, so it is automatically disqualified as an SS396-optioned Chevelle. The engine option code entry in line 2, box 11 has a single dot where an internal RPO code would be used for an optional engine. The dot indicates the standard V-8, or 307-ci engine in this case, was to be installed. (Photo Courtesy ChevelleStuff.net)

Where the body broadcast copy sheet was used on the Fisher Body side of the assembly plant, the chassis broadcast copy sheet was used on the final assembly side. The car’s model, engine type, and several other pieces of information match the body broadcast copy information. In addition, the chassis broadcast copy sheet has the engine identification code on line 3, box 172: DC is for the base 307-2 engine.

Typically, a body broadcast copy sheet will show the series/bodystyle along with the build sequence number. The series/bodystyle, model year, plant designator, and sequence number make up the VIN. The chassis broadcast copy sheet will show the same VIN information along with the engine code.

A typical chassis broadcast copy sheet shows parts to be used for final assembly. It will include an internal sequence number, body color, engine identification code, transmission type, various pulleys to be used on the engine, front suspension pieces, and various other parts used to complete the car.

Warranty Card

Another form of verification is the warranty card, or Protect-O-Plate, first used in 1965. This metal card was created at the assembly plant and lists the car’s VIN, original engine identification information (engine build date and identifying suffix code), transmission type and date, and rear end date and ratio code. Be aware these are now being reproduced as well, so again, buyer beware. The original warranty card will verify a 1970 SS-optioned Chevelle by the engine code for the L34 or L78 396-ci engine or the LS5 or LS6 454-ci engine. For 1971 and 1972, since both 350-ci engines and the 402-ci engine could be ordered with or without the Z15 SS option, the card will only verify the original engine, not whether it was ordered with the Z15 SS option or not. Only a warranty card for the LS5 454-ci engine will truly verify a 1971 Z15 SS-optioned Malibu.

The Protect-O-Plate was stamped by humans and often errors or variations did occur. For example, the engine identification code for the RPO L34 396-ci engine such as CTX may be stamped with just TX. This anomaly hasn’t been found (yet) on any 454-ci engines, but there may be some out there. The engine assembly plant and date portion never includes the year, only the month and day. The rear end identification code shows the ratio designation, the month, day, and assembly plant letter. The transmission is shown in several formats, depending on the transmission itself. This example is for a Muncie manual 4-speed as noted by the letter “P,” which is followed by the model year it was intended for (“0” for 1970 here) and the month and date it was built. E01 is May on this example. Plants varied in how the Muncie manual transmission is depicted beyond the P0E01 example. Some will add A, B, or C for the M20, M21, or M22, respectively. Some may add the broadcast code WB, WL, or WO as well. It should be noted again that these were stamped by humans and variations and mistakes occur.

The original buyer of the car received a metal card with warranty information, commonly called a POP (for Protect-O-Plate). This contained the car’s full VIN, carburetor type (R for Rochester), engine assembly date and identification code (T0616CRT), rear end type and date (CRV1215B), and transmission (P0E01) identification along with a code for the month the car was built (6). The label information has the original owner’s name and address along with the date the car was sold.

Although the warranty card was not intended to document a car, it has become a valuable tool in doing so. Typically, the major components such as engine, transmission, and rear end are dated fairly close to the car’s build date. But, as shown here, these major components can be dated well before the car’s final assembly. The warranty card becomes invaluable in proving a mid-December rear end is most likely original to the car.

Selected options are depicted on a warranty card with numbers in any one of seven positions, and the location of the numbers is critical. For the model years 1970 through 1972, there is only one number possible for each position: either the number 1 or the number 3. On earlier years there could be up to one of four numbers used in certain positions. Why only 1 or 3 for 1970 through 1972? You’d have to ask General Motors, that’s just the way it is.

A Kansas City car shipper invoice shows the Z15 SS 454 Equipment option verbiage with the optional LS6 450-HP Turbo-Jet 454 V-8 engine verbiage along with all other options and exterior color choice. (Photo Courtesy Warren Leunig)

This is an example of a 1970 Atlanta dealer invoice showing the SS 454 Equipment option verbiage. Since the LS5 454 engine was the base engine for the SS 454 Equipment option, it is not shown on the dealer invoice. (Photo Courtesy Warren Leunig)

The options in position order from left to right are:

1 = Power Steering

1 = Power Brakes

3 = Radio

3 = Disc Brakes

1 = Four Season Air-Conditioning

3 = Power Windows

3 = Four-way Power Seats

Only two of these options were standard equipment on any SS-optioned Malibu: power brakes and disc brakes. So those two should be present on any warranty card of an SS-optioned Malibu and must be in positions number-2 and number-4, other options may or may not be present on the warranty card. The same option numbers and their physical location are also shown on the build sheet in box number-108 and should match.

Often you can even score the original order form for the car, the car shipper, or even the dealer’s original invoice.