68 L78 Rallye Green

[cook_dw]

In process of moving cars to new location I got ole green out and snagged a few new photos.

[ric1969]

WOW just beautiful

[TonyS]

Great looking car.

[169INDY]

Agree, that thing HAS to be a Blast to drive,,,,I esp like the Combo of the Red Lines, & Black Top w/ contrast of the Brite Green.

Jim

[cook_dw]

Figured I'd upload a few photos and a video from this past Sunday.  Hope you enjoy.

[cook_dw]

Video link below

https://youtu.be/Y7unaijx9e8

[R68GTO]

This car "speaks to me".

[NAPA68]

This car "speaks to me".

Me too!

[cook_dw]

Haven’t posted anything in this thread in a while frankly cause I haven’t had the green car out much over the last year but here was a video I did sometime in 2022. Cold startup after sitting a few days. Hope you enjoy hearing an old solid lifter warm up.

Hopefully the link works.


https://youtu.be/V5gfTQgrzxA

[luv2sixty9]

Sounds awesome!

[68 TT]

Fantastic car. If only my 68 SS had survived unmolested as well as yours. Mine was horribly "customized" in the 70's & early 80's before I got it to the point that not much original was left intact. I did the best I could as a 19-year old kid in 1987 trying to reverse the carnage and fix the L.A. street miles damage.

Did the grill get replaced in your car early on or was the SS emblem always upside down? It looks that way in the early pics as best as I can tell with the low resolution. It certainly is upside down in the newer pics you have posted.

[cook_dw]

First, thanks.  Second, the grill was removed back in the early 80's when the timing chain failed and my father had to pull the camshaft and ultimately the heads as well. (bent all 8 exhaust valves).  Was the grill removal necessary?  I don't recall but apparently he did and it was reinstalled with screws and clips at the headlight assembly areas.  Also the engine has been out of the car before. 

Short (hopefully) story.  In '71 when the warranty was up on the car dad was ready to upsize the engine.  He ordered a brochure from Motion with all the engines and other options that Motion had available at the time (which I still have).  If I ever think of it when I have time I'll scan in the '71 Motion brochure info so everyone can see it as I don't recall ever seeing this one posted anywhere but I'm sure its out there somewhere..  But I digress, now this was when my parents still lived in Ohio where they bought the car new.  He had bought a '66 L34 Chevelle from Earl Evans Chevrolet (which was traded in on the '68) and he knew Dale Evans (son of Earl) was campaigning a '69 COPO Camaro that was called "Steppin' Wolf".  Dale sold my father the 427 from Steppin' Wolf and later after a rebuild installed it into his '68.  He later sold the 427 and he always commented that that L72 never ran as well as the original L78.  I can't say for sure as it was before my time.  When talking to my mother about this she said she could remember driving around to the back of the dealership and them loading the engine into the truck and seeing that "race car" as she called it. 

But to answer your question.  Grill was removed but the emblem has never been touched outside of cleaning...  Anyways, as Paul Harvey would say; "And that's the rest of the story.."

[cook_dw]

While I am at it, I will add that I just scored a pair of front shocks for the car (thanks to camarodude67 over on sYc).  The originals were replaced long ago and were not kept.  The rears however were pulled and kept.  Rears are dated 45 68 and these fronts are 33 68 so I feel they will match well. 



Here is the original Delco Pleasur-Lift Shocks info when he installed HD shocks just a few months after purchase in July of 68.

[cook_dw]

Next is a shot of the rear dates and then the newly acquired fronts.

[cook_dw]

Fronts - 3192826

Rears - 3192851


Delco Pleasur-lift shocks ad pulled from eBay ad