John purchased this 1971 Chevelle about 20 years ago as a rolling shell, with the intent of creating the car that he wanted to drive. He’d owned both a 1970 and a 1971 Chevelle prior but hadn’t had the opportunity to build one for himself.
Over the following years, John has been diligently restoring his project 1971 Chevelle as time would allow. Fortunately, the original floors, rocker panels, and trunk were all in good condition, but the rest of the body did not fare so well. John has had to replace much of the exterior sheet metal such as fenders, quarter panels, the taillight panel, as well as the radiator support. Unsurprisingly, the inner fenders and wheelhouses have also been replaced.
Power is supplied via a fuel-injected 406ci small-block Chevy with roller cam bearings and Dart Pro 1 heads. The fuel system is Holley Sniper X-Flow with an Aeromotive 1000 fuel pump and regulator.
This setup is paired to a Muncie M22 4-speed shifted via the factory Hurst unit, but with a hydraulic clutch conversion; a perfect combination of old school and new school build mentalities. All that power reaches the pavement by way of a 12 bolt positraction rear end with 4.10 gearing.
The brakes have had upgrades as well, with billet front spindles that accommodate C6 Corvette front discs and the rear has been converted to disc brakes.
Keeping with the theme, the entire 1971 Chevelle has a Painless rewire to eliminate the crusty original harnesses. John has also integrated Vintage Air and a Billet Specialties accessory drive was swapped in to increase the overall reliability of the Chevelle.
While there’s still much left to do before this build is finished, John says he will be working on it more now that he’s ordered many parts from Ground Up SS396.com.
