Hi guys.... New guy here.
two questions
1. Is this a true numbers matching big block ss396 car?
2. What is its approximate value?
Story...
I am 39 years old now, but when i was 19 my dad bought this car. It looked to have been drag raced and abused!! It looked to have been the origional lemans blue paint and i have never painted it. There was a small block in the car but the 396 was disassembled and given to us in pieces. The 4 speed was in the car and the small block ran.....barely. The heads given had several broken valve springs and were off a 1972 motor. The rear end was a 12 bolt but out of a 1967 car with the passenger side torque arm bracket and mono leaf springs. I found out later that the owner before my seller had also owned a 67 convertible and swapped the 12 bolts because he hated the 4.56 gear that was in my car? With the motor, I got factory exhaust manifolds and cast iron intake, and cast crank. The hood is obviously off another car but i got 2 sets of louvers.... The car has the big block heater core support, center console with gauges, disc brakes, manual steering, and what i think is the reinforcement doubler plate on the rear frame (thanks to this forum i was able to look for it). When I was 21 i totally striped the car down to the shell (thinking i would resore it). Then it sat.... in my dads garage... while i finished college and graduate school..... got married.....had kid....etc. I have collected things over the years...... Found a set of multi-leaf springs locally for cheap...... Dad worked for chevrolet in the mid 80's so we bought origional GM fenders and quarter panels from chevrolet.... they are still in boxes in my dads attic. Now.... with a 16 month old son at home and no chance of getting to this car for the next 20 years I am thinking of selling it to my best friend. Recently, i had a local camaro guru come by and look at the car to give me an idea of its value but he did not believe it was a big block car (i'm not sure he knows how to identify an early production car and the block was at my house so he did not get to see that).
The car is loosely put back together, but in need of a restoration with rust in the lower quarters and typical body problems. Vinyl top is gone, but i have all the stainless trim and most of the white interior. Under-structure is Very solid!
I have attached some pictures so any advice and help with my questions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you all and love the site!!
mike weaver
