[kobuzz01]

I am asking for a little advise on how to figure out what my car was originally built as. The car is a 1969 chevelle. It has the emblems of a 396 car and all of them are faded and old. It has all of the exterior emblems and has them on the door panels and dash above the glove box. It has a column shift in it now but it has a manual trans pedal set up and the little bracket on the frame for the clutch linkage. It has the hole in the floorpan for a manual shifter and also has the little electrical switch mounted to the gas pedal assembly like used for a TH400 kick down. It has a 12 bolt rear with boxed lower control arms, large front sway bar, 3/8 fuel line and round bushings in the lower control arms. The trim tag is:

69 13637 KAN178172
TR 787 52 E PNT
12C 06342 L

Any thing else I can look for to help figure out what this car is? Any help would be much appreciated.

[Mike]

http://www.chevellestuff.com/1969/69ss.htm

[1966_L78]

Originally Posted by kobuzz01

I am asking for a little advise on how to figure out what my car was originally built as. The car is a 1969 chevelle. It has the emblems of a 396 car and all of them are faded and old. It has all of the exterior emblems and has them on the door panels and dash above the glove box...

I'd say it won't really matter if emblems are "old"... Back in the early-to-mid-1980's me and my frineds were building 'clones" using original emblems and parts, and thats over 25 years ago so they'd look really old now. My brother even took a few "Real" SuperSports (a '66 and a '68) and made them into "SS 427" cars using original, used GM emblems...

I didn't consider myself an expert, but we swapped everything, even alot of little, unseen pieces. And we weren't trying to make a buck or defraud people, we juust wanted the SS look on a kids budget... Pretty easy to find a wrecked SS being parted out back then...


On '69s, I have heard something about rear-panel trim holes being "oval" on SS cars ( I think clones typically use "round" drilled holes), but I am not sure...

[1969 El Camino Dan]

You need to go on a "build sheet" hunt.
Pull the door panels, look under and inside seats, pull the carpet, on top of the fuel tank, inside the front fenders, etc
Does the floor shift hole look factory? Is there a hump on the floor pan?
What kind of radiator? Have A/T cooler built in it?
Disc Brakes?

Dan

[1969 El Camino Dan]

Originally Posted by 1966_L78

I'd say it won't really matter if emblems are "old"... Back in the early-to-mid-1980's me and my frineds were building 'clones" using original emblems and parts, and thats over 25 years ago so they'd look really old now. My brother even took a few "Real" SuperSports (a '66 and a '68) and made them into "SS 427" cars using original, used GM emblems...

I didn't consider myself an expert, but we swapped everything, even alot of little, unseen pieces. And we weren't trying to make a buck or defraud people, we juust wanted the SS look on a kids budget... Pretty easy to find a wrecked SS being parted out back then...


On '69s, I have heard something about rear-panel trim holes being "oval" on SS cars ( I think clones typically use "round" drilled holes), but I am not sure...

When you built your clones, what did you do about the Malibu exterior trim? There would be holes to fill and attachment posts to grind off.
The rear quarter holes can be filled in but I'm sure you can tell from the inside of the trunk that it's been done. Same w/ the front fenders & doors, unless they were replaced.

Dan

[kobuzz01]

Thanks for the replies. I pulled all of the interior out and haven't found a buildsheet. The shifter hole looks factory and has the hump. It has disc front brakes and the radiator does have a trans cooler in it. Is there any difference between small and big block in things like the a/c box, speedo cable or throttle cable locations on the firewall or ?? The dash cluster is the 3 hole type not the sweep style.

[1969 El Camino Dan]

Please post up your name, its nice to know who were conversing with!
All 1969 Chevelles had the same dash panel, with 2 large round openings and one center smaller opening. (it held a factory optional clock)
Is yours only a speedo & fuel gauge?
Break out the digital camera and post up some photos.
Let's see that trans hump area, the kick-down switch, the radiator.
Also take some pics of the inside of the rear quarter panels from inside the trunk.


Dan

[70cko4sp]

Kind of unusual that it would have boxed trailing arms and a sway bar.

A 69 has different trim along the edge of the front fender next to the headlights. I have seen were people have cut them to shorten the pieces so they look like the SS trim.

Because it's a Kansas car and it has an L code it stands a good chance of being a true SS. Maybe.

[kobuzz01]

Originally Posted by 1969 El Camino Dan

Please post up your name, its nice to know who were conversing with! Dan

Sorry about that. I'm Scott. I really appreciate all the input so far. I put a bunch of pics of the car in the following link. If anyone would please take a little time and give me any feedback I would appreciate it. I'm thinking it's probably been pieced together sometime in it's history but it's a very solid car with almost perfect floors and trunk. The only real issue is a few bubbles under the vinal top.


http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/22684294

[Bill Pritchard]

Scott,

Good pictures. No doubt that it was an original manual trans car...that floor hump looks absolutely factory. Plus the clutch linkage bracket on the frame looks original, too. Someone did a good job of switching it over to a Turbo 400, putting the kickdown switch on the gas pedal under the dash. If you can take a picture of the rag joint between the steering column and the steering gear box, that could help us, too. Looks like someone has switched out the master cylinder over the years, but that's certainly not unusual.

[1969 El Camino Dan]

Hi, Scott,
Thanks for posting up some pics. Please take a shot on both sides of the trunk toward the inside of the rear quarters.
Get the area with the side marker and forward of it about 15 inches.
Definitely was a factory floor shift car. That red bench interior is correct as coded on the "cowl tag" along with the parchment vinyl roof. The front fenders are 1968 from the size and position of the side marker.

Dan