1970 Chevelle Convertible - Project

Mod Edit: This started as a For Sale ad but has morphed so it's moved here as requested.


Hello - long time F-Chatter here but first time ever putting a car up for sale ...

This is an interesting project - this is one of only 7,522 - 1970 Chevelle/Malibu Convertibles made

It is a deep project - looks like a disaster - but ... I built a 1970 Chevelle Convertible Custom and sold it at Barrett Jackson about 5 years ago and it was special - LS9 Crate motor - it was quite incredible and it hammered at 200k - so for me, I spend a lot of time searching for projects that I can customize

I found this car originally on E-bay - then the ad disappeared but I e-mailed the poster - he got back to me and we started chatting - he like me, builds and restores Chevrolets - he was in Illinois and he had found the car in a small town a few hours from him and the man had the car for 30 years ...

So he like me has a lot of projects and he decided after having it for a while and realizing he wasn't getting it going - to sell it - I bought it and had it shipped to my shop in Van Nuys California where it lives today ...

I am asking 25k -

Sounds insane for a car that looks like it saw battle in WW2 - has no motor and no trans - and started life as a bench seat - column shift - 307

But for the few crazy builders out there like me - this is a very rare find - a treasure if you will

I am gonna post some pics and you guys are gonna roast me - I am ready

Important to note that the floors are very solid - and the frame is very solid - the chassis is sound - the car rolls and steers

every other panel however is a disaster - the doors could maybe be saved - but they make very good reproduction pieces for these cars

I have a clean California Title - and New California License plates that were issued with the title when I registered the car here ...

let the gallery launch peanuts ....

I only have a few started pics - and will get more when I can - thanks - John
Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Events/Event/Details/1970-CHEVROLET-CHEVELLE-CUSTOM-CONVERTIBLE-213677

 

my experience is that the car shown above does not exist

Hagerty can place a value on it - but you can't find it

very few are left in plain jane form

more later

take a look at the car I built and sold at Barrett - it started life as a car much like the one I am selling

 

I'm back - had to run a quick errand - but wanted to say with more context that Hagerty is not wrong

the valuation they put on that version of a 1970 malibu convertible is based on actual data

what I'm saying is that the buyer for a project like this would never restore this car to what it came to this earth as

it would cost a a lot of money to restore a car that would be worth half what you have in it

the car I have is for a small group of crazy people who will spend 150k at a minimum - more like 200k+ to chase custom awards and auction records

I did it once - was ready to do it again - but I have 2 other deep projects currently

but I did finally get it right last january at Barrett - where I sold my 1956 Cadillac Custom Convertible - I will post the link - it was actually an 8 year build and I bought a second non running but dry and complete car 2 years in to make the project work - sold for 412K

I have mentioned I'm crazy, right?

 

https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Events/Event/Details/1956-CADILLAC-SERIES-62-CUSTOM-CONVERTIBLE-251163

 

that cadillac build started with an -

$11k non running, no motor car out of Long Island NY

we took it completely apart and built a hand sculpted chassis to accommodate the LSA Cadillac fuel injected crate motor we were using

the body was so troubled that we got stalled - then I found a complete - non running but motor in it - all the trim - dry - gorgeous car at an auction and we kind of started over

again - it was nearly 10 years for the caddy build - they only made like 8200 of those cars and no one makes after market parts - you have to find everything original

 

D - all good questions / thoughts

Firstly - the market really has changed - Barrett Jackson has created a niche market for high end customs and specifically at their Scottsdale auction in January

The 70 Chevelle would bring close to double what I sold it for in today's market

And the first 3 times I did this (there is a 57 Bel Air and a 57 Vet that I customized) - I really just broke even

I did it as a hobby really - built the car I wanted, the color scheme and the options, power train I wanted to try and they took years ...

then the market really appeared where deep pocket collectors wanted them - so with the 56 Cadillac, altho it took 8-10 years and I don't count my hours as this is not really my day job ... I made actual money ... real money

lastly, I may well store it and wait - but I am having some space issues - so it's not really about the 25k - it's about rolling it around - I could ship it to NY as I have a big storage space at our house there - but we shall see ... maybe I will sell it - or I will build it ... or trade for something else

 

very true

with the gold car that I built - I replaced every panel - every one - we built custom seats - custom chassis - crate motor - custom gauges -

what did we actually use ? - the convertible top frame - some of the rear interior pieces but recovered ... um ... not sure ...

 

yea the guys across from our shop - used to be Lexus mechanics - then left the dealership and have their own shop - they work on a lot of cool older imports

 

this car is no longer for sale

can the admins mark it sold

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

for the gents that I was chatting with about this insane project I figured I would post some update pics

I am falling in love

the original color of this car is Astro Blue

which is like a sky blue

I am painting it back to that original color