'65 Chevelle High School Ride

[rmvw guy]

Very nice! What is the color?

Lee, for the body color I used Dupli-Color Indigo Met (39 WA9792), close to Navy Blue. The interior is a custom mix from Testors enamel. I wish I would have two-toned the seats like the actual car, I didn't think of this until I found the photo of my car after the fact. I painted it over a year ago and maybe even two years ago. Here's another picture of it at the body shop. Most of those cars are finished now. The '55 in the garage, also one of my former rides, still needs finished and one of the '50 Chevy pickups. Thanks again for all comments.

[ToyLvr]

super build, love the engine detail. just enough.

I drove a 1975 maverick, powder blue with a 6 cylinder....... yea buddy, what a chick magnet!

Beats my first car - a '62 Corvair coupe with lots of "flow-thru ventilation" (rust) and no heat! Still, no matter what car you get when you're 16, it's always a passport to paradise!

Great job on the Chevelle, Ron! Brought back great memories of my older brother's '64 Malibu SS.

[tubbs]

Beats my first car - a '62 Corvair coupe with lots of "flow-thru ventilation" (rust) and no heat! Still, no matter what car you get when you're 16, it's always a passport to paradise!

Great job on the Chevelle, Ron! Brought back great memories of my older brother's '64 Malibu SS.

hehe, yea, that is true. I went to a catholic school (yea, some kids parents had money...) where the very first row was "reserved" for the seniors. lets see, there was a '70 396, nova, a brand new 76 T/A, a 69 Z/28, a 454 monte carlo, a 69 hurst olds and a motion vega. I thought it would be funny to park my 200+ cubic inch maverick in the front row one day...... last time I ever did that.

those were the days.

[Tom Geiger]

I was always a car guy so I just had to get my driving permit right on my birthday! Back then in NJ they scheduled your road test for your license for 6-8 weeks out from there. I passed the test so I had my license on the very first day possible.

My father always warned me that I wouldn't be driving unless I had saved enough money to buy a car and insure it. Back then I had a lawn route in the summer, fairly organized, I bought a riding mower and had a kid working for me doing the edges with a push mower. We did over 20 lawns a week, so I always had money. I was good with cash, so I saved a great deal of it and never worked during the school year. So when the big day came, my father asked that big question... and yes, I had much more than I ever would need. He said, "Good, here's the keys to the Valiant." and gave me a car and put me right on his insurance policy. He said he just wanted me to know what it was like to earn something, and to save the money for college. A good life lesson I later did to my eldest!

So my car in high school (I graduated in 1976) was a 1966 Valiant V100 2 door sedan. Slant six, automatic. I had it painted that Ford Granada silver and blacked out the grill. It did look sharp! And yes in school there were guys with muscle cars, and two motor heads who built '55 and '56 Chevys. There was one girl whose father owned a Chevy dealer and she drove a new Corvette on dealer tag.

[the goon]

Tom,

Alright, another Valiant owner . Mine was dark brown with the brown vinyl (plastic) interior. Came from my parents also. I graduated in '76 too. Used to call it the "sardine can". Slant six, automatic. My parents bought it new out the door for $2,300, and they wanted them to take 2 for $4,000 .

Mark

Edited January 17, 2014 by the goon

[Tom Geiger]

Alright, another Valiant owner .

A photo of mine late in life. I held onto it until about five years ago. It had been in garaged storage, but when my father died I had to bring it to my house so it sat outside a bit. When I moved I had way too many cars, and since I hadn't restored it, I gave it to a guy who wanted to build a drag car from it. Haven't heard from him since, I'll have to see if I can contact him and see what he did.

[rmvw guy]

Thanks for the great stories guys, keep them coming! Tom, the one about your Dad is my favorite. He should have received the "Father of The Year" award. And it was a two-door, cool!

Edited January 17, 2014 by rmvw guy

[Skip]

My first car was a then nine year old '65 GTO copper with a white interior, Crager SS mags, headers... The original 389 Tri-Power engine had been bored 60 over and got hot pretty quick, eventually seizing. A guy my Dad worked with had a Pontiac motor sitting in his garage for free, come and get it. The price was right so I got it, figuring it was a 326 or something, turned out to be a 421 out of a wrecked low mileage Bonneville. This was right in the middle of the gas crisis around '73 so no one in their right mind wanted huge engines anymore, I did! Worked pumping gas to get and feed that car, seemed like a lot of money then looking back it was pretty cheap fun!

My other car necessitated by the Goat's "drinking habit" and being in the garage for a while, which turned out to be my daily high school driver (much more to my parents liking) was a '57 VW Sunroof Beetle. If my folks knew half of the crazy stuff we did with that car which I held onto long after the GTO was gone. Both were really fun cars in their own ways my girlfriend liked the Beetle better than the Goat, probably thought she was "safe" in it, she wasn't. I'd take them both back, cars not the girlfriend, saw her at a class reunion she's got old and a little pudgy nothing like the "sporty compact" I knew!

[rmvw guy]

Great story Skip. I'll have to admit, '65 was my favorite year for the GTO but, the Beetle would have been my pick of the two and still would be today. I think I had more fun in my '67 Beetle after High School than any other car I've ever owned. The girls seemed to like it too and I could actually afford to drive it anytime, anywhere. It even made a few passes at the local drag strip. The rubber mats on the floor were great too for easy cleaning after party night. Bucket seats, 4 on the floor, 8-track, yeah I'm that old. lol Lots of good memories!

[om617]

Very nice first car and great shade of blue

My first car was an 78 Mercedes Benz 300D (w123,pre taxi) manual with 380000km on it. Can you say slow? Anyway,it was built like

an tank,and there was never any problems with it what so ever,i remember changing the battery and steering box,both wear

parts. When i sold the car it had 750000km on it,and still going strong. This car i guess is what got me into older Mercedes,and

i`m looking forward to getting my hands on one in the future,preferably and wagon turbodiesel.

[crazyjim]

Sweet and SHINY :) , Ron. My first car was a beat up '56 Chevy 2 door post that cost me $75. Took a couple of years but it was pretty decent when I sold it.