NEW BUILDS: A Cool Mist Blows Through Summer…

The “Build Storm” that resulted in dozens of new additions to my muscle car fleet seems to have hit so long ago now, considering how much has changed since then, but I never did finish profiling them all, so for those of you who are still tuning in, here is one of the last additions to the crew!

This ’70 Chevelle is, oddly enough, a car that I have owned since X-mas day of 2021! It was given to me as a gift by my mom for X-mas of that year, the last that I spent in AZ with the family (although I am certain to do so again this year). I never really ever intended to open or use this car, since I had no real need for it, and I do like to keep a small stash of unopened, virginal cars as “Display Pieces” and this one was serving in that role quite well. However, a misfire occurred a while ago when I bought an identical copy of this body in black with red stripes; I was really excited about that one, only to find when I went to fit a chassis to it that there was something wrong with it; I don’t know if it was a manufacturing error or if the body was somehow distorted by heat or something, but it was too small to fit on a chassis and after trying for a while I decided to stop carving it up to try to get it to fit (I didn’t want to destroy it, after all) and just throw it in the junk box as a loss. That left me with the itch of almost adding another ’70 Chevelle to the muscle fleet, and since I had to scratch it, I decided to open that 2021 X-mas gift of this light metallic green model with black stripes and a black VT.

Not only does this color combo make a nice contrast with the 3 I already have, but its also a nice homage to my long departed friend and mentor Ken Leib, who was a fanatic about Chevelles and about the 1970 model in particular, which was his favorite; he had owned a ’70 in this same very real color, and while his was not a genuine SS, he had built a 454 for it, and while it was gone before he and I ever met back in 2000, it was the car he always told me he most regretted selling. So for that reason, The Lore on this car means it has to be a 454, and a clone besides, rather than a real factory SS. As I’ve mentioned, however, the clones can often be as good or even better than the real thing, and such is the case with “The Deacon,” this Code 45 “Green Mist” Chevelle with matching green interior.

Though originally a 350 powered automatic Malibu, this car did leave the factory with bucket seats and a console with a floor shifter. Thus, owner/operator Scott “Lugger” Lawson did a thorough restoration on an already good rust-free California car which involved upping the ante from a small block to big, adding a clutch assembly, and filling that console with a hurst shifter to replace the gate for the TH350. Cooling and braking were equally improved as well as the addition of a 12-bolt heavy duty Posi rear axle, which originally housed 3.90:1 gears but which Lawson recently replaced with a 3.70 unit for higher top end on the road course! Natually the hood had to be replaced with the “correct” unit to clear the monster underneath-the only body panel on the car that is unoriginal-and it was polished off with all the correct “SS” badging, making it “the real thing” to all except the number checkers!

Born in Oregon to a family of lumberjacks, bull-sized Lawson was hauling logs in his teens which is where he earned his nickname, which was solidified during his time as a radio operator in the Navy. After being discharged, he stayed in San Diego where he was stationed, which is where he found the clean green Malibu, and set about rebuilding it for competition with the help of his friend and roommate. This is another mostly “home built” car with only some professional work done, and the drivers who bring what they built to the track are always crowd favorites. That Lawson’s car looks so good with so little high-dollar work having been done owes a lot to its clean original condition but also to Lawson’s skill as a mechanic. Now that he’s made the cut at Drag City, the next trial to is see if his skill as a driver is just as impressive!