Arthur and his brother were always 1968 Chevelle fans and promised each other when they got older they’d both re-build one of their own.
Arthur was taking a college Autobody class in Utah and a Chevelle was sitting in the “Bone Yard”. Arthur asked who owned it and nobody knew, so he applied for an abandoned title and soon after received a title for his 1968 Chevelle in 2014. Arthur also found his brother a 1969 Malibu to restore together, but life was too much for his brother and helper and he checked out before they could get too far on them.
Arthur knew very little about restoration at the time of starting but after this restoration, he has learned a lot. He has been building the 1968 Chevelle almost all alone except his wife, she helps when she can. He stripped it off the frame and as he could afford it, he re-did everything on the frame, fuel, suspension, brakes, basically everything. Adding Foose legend 2 piece wheels with BFGoodrich tires. Then as he got better he replaced all the sheet metal, except the roof and deck lid.
He welded the doors almost shut and cut out perfect lines for his doors and then applied a thin layer of body filler over the entire car including the door filled shut. He spent almost a full year block sanding by hand the entire car removing almost all the filler and made all my door, hood, and decklid lines look perfect. Once done applied high build primer and block sanded it several times until there was NO guide coat left. Arthur sent all the chrome including bumpers off to have them re-chromed.
As of now, he has everything he needs to finish the car. Arthur built a big block 396 from scratch with all Edelbrock and cvf parts, and of course a large lopey cam. Exhaust gasses exit through a set of headers into a Flowmaster 44 series dual exhaust.
The car and engine are painted Synergy Green from the 2010 Camaro Special Edition, and a subtle touch are the Hot Wheels emblems from the 2015 Camaro Special Edition. Even parts of the interior have Synergy Green accents that offset the Braum bucket seats and matching rears.
While technically this 1968 Chevelle is “done”, they’re never done. Arthur plans to add a few more things, such as a new Currie rear end and coilovers on all 4 corners, as well as some additional creature comforts for the interior.
“(just) Keep adding newer up to date and luxury items to it until I get it exactly the way I want it. Then I will probably give it to my younger son. I’m only 47 so its future will remain with my wife and I for a very long time.”
Thanks to Ground Up he was able to find EVERYTHING he needed for the car. One day Arthur also hopes to complete his brother’s 1969 Malibu project they never got to finish.
