Merry Christmas to me, and a story for you

I drove up to Iowa after Christmas to go rummaging through the garage for old Chevelle parts.  More on that trip below, but I thought I would start with a little story behind the car.  We dug through some old newspaper clippings about how the Chevelle came to be where it is at today.  The clipping below is from the Washington Evening Journal, June 14, 1965. The circled article is about the Chevelle; it reads 

"Accident. - A 1965 model car driven by Bennie B Gray of Smith Center, Kansas, was totally demolished Friday at 2:30 p.m. when it ran into the side and under a truck driven by Gerald Gene Bender of route three Washington.  Sheriff's officers investigated the crash which occurred as Bender was turning his truck, owned by Lee Drollinger, into the driveway at Farm Service of Washington. The Kansas car was attempting to pass the truck at the time.  Treated for minor injuries were two Smith Center men, passengers in Gray's car: James Myers and Dennis Sutton."

The article to the right is about the marriage of Betty Louise Peters to Bennie Bryan Gray.  James Myers was an usher in the wedding.  It must have been intentional to put these articles side by side in the paper, don't you think?

After the accident the Chevelle ended up at Van Dyke Company in Cedar Rapids (top car in the add below).  Compare 'totally demolished' in the newspaper report to 'Will drive' in the advertisement!  Different perspectives, certainly.

 We also found the original license applied for tags.  It's amazing to me the miles this car accumulated in the first year.  It was being built in January of 1965, and Bennie B. Gray managed 9000 miles before the accident in June.  The car was restored after July 12, and was up to 16,000 miles by the end of 1966!  Imagine this on a car with no power steering and no power brakes.  They tell stories about how the Chevelle did not tune well stock, and needed timing set to +16.  In the short time Gray had the car, it seems that he had recurved the distributor, cut holes in the air cleaner, and possibly put a cam in the car.  All we know is it was fast.

 In a future trip I'll look for photos for the following life.  We talked through stories of the Chevelle at the Gulf of Mexico, in San Diego at the Golden Gate Bridge, racing on the salt flats in Bonneville, and playing around at night before the windshield was in.

My fun was looking for parts in the garage.  Below may look like a pile of dusty parts to you, but it is an incredible find to me.  The boxes are literally falling apart; I need to repackage or get the pieces on the car.  We found brand new, OEM rocker panels, wheel well arches, hood front molding, and a grill center.  There are lots of other trim pieces from parts cars that we think may fit the Chevelle,  but we can't be sure until they are cleaned up and matched to the car.  Hopefully we can find at least one of each molding in good shape.   These parts would be impossible to find as OEM today, rather you would buy remanufactured parts that will not fit as well or look original.  It appears that Hoss bought these from the dealer in 1973 in anticipation to restore the Chevelle.

 There were also some nice original parts, many hard to find.  There is a glove box molding, shifter boot, and a steering wheel in perfect shape.  This may not sound like much, but you cannot find this wheel as a reproduction, and I have never seen one come up for sale. I really like the look, and will probably try to use this on the car if possible. We also found the dash top mounted clock, a rare accessory for 1965.  I saw one on eBay listed for $1,199.  That seems high to me, but gives you an idea what people think these are worth.  These parts will be a huge plus when we get the car ready to go back together.