I grew up having an irrational fear of dogs. I love them now, but for much of my early childhood, I had avoided coming into contact with canines of any size at any and every opportunity. Of course, there’s always a reason for these things, and my theory is that some unpleasant event(s) must have happened. My family hasn’t been a useful resource for my recovery of any such memories. All’s well that ends well, though, and I learned later in life how much love dogs are capable of, even if I’ve never owned one. It’s kind of like the contrast between the extra care and attention a dog needs being in proportion to how much they can give back to you, versus with cats, which can be largely autonomous… and dodgy.
I do also love cats, though. I grew up with a series of felines as family pets, even while my family lived abroad in Liberia, but today, all three of my siblings and their families own at least one dog. Many of my friends in Michigan also own dogs. When I’m visiting them in Flint, it’s almost sort of a comfort to instantaneously hear an alerting series of sharp barks or yelps when there’s a noise outside in the driveway or on the front landing. I imagine that for many people, and not just in working class, urban areas, dogs can act as a local burglar alarm. The size or breed doesn’t even matter, as long as they’re not shy.
This home theft deterrent system may not be quite as effective when one isn’t home, and having a dog may not qualify one for a premium credit on one’s homeowners insurance policy, but this is the only such “alarm” system many people can afford. Plus, one can’t play “fetch” with something made from Honeywell or ADT.
I had some spending money burning a hole in my pocket when I spotted this classic Chevelle outside a secondhand music store five summers ago. It’s not that big a shock to me anymore to come across cars like this one outside of a car show setting when I’m back in Flint. My first thought when I saw this black Chevelle parked by the side of Musical Memories on Dort Highway was that it looked like an automotive pit bull. Like a big, black dog on a chain just waiting for you to try to trespass so it could mess you up.
Still, it was a beautiful example of my favorite year of Chevelle, with its windows open and everything, so of course I stopped. I’ve written before about how several proofs for my high school senior pictures were taken next to some random, beautiful ’69 Chevelle I had spotted on the way to the locale to which my mom and I were headed with our photographer. I am also always on the lookout for new musical discoveries, so that was going to be my official line should I have been addressed while walking around this car. Take pictures now and buy music later! I will also say that this Chevelle was an effective advertisement, magnet, and beacon for this store.
I value subtlety as a naturally introverted “practiced extrovert”, so the ’69 Chevelle’s clean, mean visual bravado has always spoken to me. This car possesses all the toughness in its appearance that I do not, seeming almost as “animal” as I sometimes feel mechanical. Even more impressive is the all-business understatement with which this Chevelle got its point across. On the outside, all this example has and needs is black paint, Chevy Rally Wheels, “SS 396” badges, fat tires, and… well, that’s it. It has no spoilers front or aft, wild stripes, nutty graphics, or anything else. Quoting that famous adage from President Theodore Roosevelt, and strictly from a visual perspective, this Chevelle speaks softly and carries a big stick.
I wouldn’t exactly say that it actually speaks softly, though, from the rumbling exhaust note from many examples I’ve encountered. The 396 cubic inches of V8 under the hood originally pumped out anywhere from 325 horsepower with the standard engine, to 375 horses from the optional L78. According to the Auto Editors Of Consumer Guide, an L78-equipped car was capable of 0-60 mph times of 6.5 seconds, and a standing quarter mile in 14.5 seconds as just over 100 mph. The SS 396 was popular in ’69, selling over 86,300 units that year, which accounted for a very sizable 17% of total Chevelle production of 523,000 cars.
Jellybean’s Used Books, Music & Video. East Flint, Michigan. Thursday, August 19, 2010.
I didn’t end up buying anything from Musical Memories that day, though I did spend a decent amount of time looking through their excellent selection of media. I ended up not pulling the trigger simply because I couldn’t make up my mind right then and thought I might come back later during this trip which, unfortunately, did not happen.
Back when I lived not too far from this same intersection, I was loyal to a different secondhand media store located less than half a mile south of Musical Memories on Dort Highway, Jellybean’s. I still own most of the cassettes I purchased as a teenager at that long-closed store, and I still smile broadly when I remember the general experience of the point of each purchase and the way each new-to-me musical discovery had made me feel. The cashier’s initials and date of sale are still written in shiny, dark, decades-old ink on the inside of each cassette sleeve.
I don’t remember ever feeling uncomfortable at Jellybean’s or like I was being stared at, as I would often spend probably twenty minutes at a time perusing those racks of cassettes for that one musical treasure to purchase and take home with me. I also realize, though, that it’s entirely possible that I was being watched or monitored on closed circuit camera. Businesses exist to make money, and if I had been a store owner back then in a blue collar town like Flint at a time when factories were closing and money was tight, I wouldn’t have wanted teenagers making sport of lifting my goods, even at only three dollars a pop. Still, I was always made to feel that I and my business were welcome there. This was a non-thing that, looking back, probably also meant everything. No watchdog was needed.
East Flint, Michigan.
Friday, August 14, 2015.
Brochure photo courtesy of www.oldcarbrochures.com.
At some point I got tired of seeing those wheels on every single old Chevy, but man they look so right on that car.
Yup, ho hum another big block SS with those wheels, but I can’t deny it’s a great look.
If there were unpleasant dog events in your past maybe it’s better that you don’t remember. I don’t really like dogs, and I remember why.
The mind is a wonderful thing, DougD. Pretty incredible how we’re wired to forget (or try to forget) traumatic experiences. I’m trying to remember how I came to like dogs. It’ll probably come to me at some point this week, if I think about it. Which I probably will.
From dog-dishes to Magnum 500s, it’s hard to go wrong with OEM wheels on a 1969 SS396. That car had it going on, and was only behind the Road Runner in 1969 musclecar sales, and actually sold more than the former top dog, the GTO.
I wonder if anyone has ever restored a 68-69 2 door Chevelle/Malibu to build-sheet stock. There cannot have been many of these built in black, and the rally wheels were not seen that often except on Corvettes.
I have to agree that there is much to like about this one. Looking at this one afresh, trying to forget all of the rusted, rumbling, jacked up versions running around in 1978, some thoughts occur.
There is a lot of 68 Nova in the overall styling. Which is not a bad thing.
And after all these years I have still not decided how I feel about that C pillar treatment. The angle of that upward bend where the beltline goes up to meet the roof is an odd one, and one that makes me wonder if moving it just a bit either direction might have improved it. The Pontiac did it better, and maybe the Olds too. The 1970 was an improvement in my book. The solution, of course, is to enjoy my 68-69 Chevelle 2 door as a convertible. 🙂
Totally agree with the struggles about the C pillar…to my eye it looks fine if the car is dressed as an upstanding suburban car of the time…a vinyl top, deluxe hubcaps, bench and maybe a 327 v8. But, it’s an odd mix of feminine and masculine when given the SS treatment. Of course, all this can be fixed with a convertible.
My first car was the next GM generation, a 70 skylark 350 hardtop, and while I liked that window treatment better, I never thought the fastback roofline on any of these these GM models aged well. The Olds Cutlass notchback style (may not have started until 70) was kind of a convertible body with a hardtop on it…hands down winner in my book.
Oldsmobile, of all the intermediates during the musclecar heyday, really seemed to cover all the bases with the 1970 Cutlass. Not only did it have what is arguably the best GM C-pillar/roof on the fastbacks, but there was also that nearly as good-looking ‘notchback’ hardtop.
And the choices! Besides the typical musclecar 442 (or the good handling ‘Ramrod 350’), at one extreme, you could get the Cutlass Rallye 350 with screaming yellow paint and rear spoiler, but a relatively tame 350 engine.
Or, on the complete opposite end, there was the Cutlass SX, which had the notchback roof, a host of luxury options, but also a 455 engine (with a performance option). No scoops, spoilers, or loud paint here. The only tip-off as to what was under the hood were the 442-style dual exhaust trumpets. In fact, the Cutlass SX would be one of the few ways to get around the insurance surcharge that was killing big-block musclecar sales since the VIN of those cars did not signify an engine size. It was Oldsmobile’s version of the Monte Carlo SS454 or Pontiac Grand Prix SJ, but without the insurance penalty.
JP, I’m glad you started the conversation around the C-pillar. I’m solidly in the “like” category, as I far prefer the rear quarter windows on the 1968 & ’69 models over those on the 1970 – ’72 models.
to me, that C pillar echoes the issues Ford had with the pillar and window shape of the first European Capri. Various things were tried, before they hit on the success and distinctive (dare I say iconic?) half circular style.
Roger, this is a perfect parallel. I can’t imagine the Ford Capri looking any other way than without those signature rear quarter windows. I have seen early Capri styling proposals featuring windows with different shapes, and (to me, anyway) absent those half-circular windows, the car loses most of its visual identity.
Pretty car. And I can definitely see the pit bull image. I’ve come around to the Chevelle love as a mature adult, now that they’re coveted classics, but the onset of this relatively newfound respect for them came slowly and was a bittersweet process, to say the least.
My greatest automotive regret is rooted months before I was even licensed to drive, when my father came across a one-owner, low mileage, well kept ’71 Malibu coupe being sold by an older acquaintance of his for a very reasonable price. It was dark brown inside and out with a 350 and automatic, and immaculate other than a fair mount of rust in the rear quarters after a dozen North Jersey Winters. I’d basically grown up around these cars, having ridden in probably no less than 7 or 8 of them regularly as a kid (in Chevy, Pontiac and Oldsmobile livery), so to me it was just another rusty old brown car and I had no interest whatsoever. So my spoiled punk ass ended up with a ’78 Plymouth Horizon for about 6 months until I got Mom’s hand-me down ’82 Dodge Challenger. Neither of those are exactly iconic today, but in ’83 in the wake of the gas crises I wanted modern, high mileage transportation, not some rusty old gas guzzler.
Ironically, the ’71 is my favorite year for the Chevelle now. Truthfully I knew within weeks that I’d made a mistake, and my father would very likely have enlisted one of his cronies to get the rust repaired and paint the car to at least put it back to looking new, but hindsight is always 20/20. Sigh. Young and stupid.
MTN, I’m sure some can identify with your ’71 Malibu story to some extent. It’s so easy to forget the context of those having simply been older, used cars, versus really cool rides regardless of condition.
You should have seen some of the 10 – 15 year old cars I looked at to purchase in the early ’90s as a first car. In kind of a reverse of your situation, I was almost convinced I could turn some basketcase ’71 Olds Cutlass S into a cool ride, versus a Cavalier or something similar our family mechanic would have had me look at.
Hi John here i need everyone’s help . I own the last 1972 maibue SS Convertible made it was stolen from Houston Tx .i spent years restoring it and they stole it 2 days after i completed it. I need the community s help to get her home. She had the last vin.# they may have did a number job so check frame#. Thanks you John@832-542-2664.
If I could have had any present for my 16th birthday in 1972, it would have been a 1969 Chevelle SS 396 exactly like this one, but painted dark blue instead of black. At the time, I thought this year and model represented the zenith of American muscle car development, which in 1972 was already starting to recede.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get my birthday wish, not that year or for either of my next two subsequent birthdays; at which point I went away to college and muscle car wishes receded. Not getting my wish might have saved me my life; or at a minimum much heartache, because I was certainly not mature enough to handle so much horsepower.
The now sixty-four year old me has the requisite maturity, but I wonder whether that wish (now within my reach) should ever be turned into reality. I really don’t want to be one more aging Boomer fulfilling an old automotive wish; partly because I’ve learned many times now that the wanting can be so much better than the having (with respect to many things) and partly because of my belief that buying this now would be an attempt not to get a particular car, but to relieve a time now long in the rearview, which of course is impossible. Lastly, I now wonder whether the 1966-1967 iteration of these cars are not actually even more desirable, as those cars speak to the ten year old me, an age when cars were even more magic chariots than transportation.
Of course, I’m not likely to get one of those either, for the reasons above!
Thanks for the memories; regardless.
Alan, I would say that you would probably be a bit disappointed if you bought a car like this. I think that you’d find that it looks great, but that the everyday driving experience would be a let down. However if you did buy this type car, I certainly wouldn’t criticize you and I think that you can ignore anyone else’s opinion. As an aging Boomer myself my thinking is that you deserve anything that you can afford. You’ve worked your entire life, so why why not indulge yourself a bit? These are my favorite Chevelles, somehow they combine the right mix of beauty and aggression. Especially if it is not “over modified.” Recapturing the past usually doesn’t work. Instead of a classic car like this old Chevy, I’d recommend buying an new Dodge Challenger. All the looks and fun of an old muscle car without the hassles. You can spend your time making new memories.
Thanks for your thoughts, and I have to tell you that I’ve already concluded that the Challenger is the car I’d buy if I decided that I must have a muscle car, for the reasons you state.
Jose, to your point, there could be danger in having your dream deflated by the actual ownership experience.
But also, Alan, there can be something equally unfulfilling about compromising your dream and getting something you sort of like, versus the thing you had wanted all along.
This would be a tough call for someone with the means!
I do like the new Chally, by the way. I noticed a really nice one on my evening walk tonight.
The best of Chev, fabulous looks and a sensibly sized package.
My sixth grade teacher drove one of those so I have pretty good memories of the 69 Chevelle. In lime green, a popular car color of the time.
I was rather struck that this Chevelle was parked in front of a bottled water supplier, given Flint’s sad and tragic water supply crisis today.
Silverkris, I think I know that shade of green you’re talking about. If I’m not mistaken, this ’69 Chevelle SS 396 (also photographed in Flint) was in the same shade, though it looks sort of like black in the picture.
And, yes. The sad irony of the water business (next to the music store) behind this Chevelle was not wasted on me when I got these pictures. The last thing Flint needs during this pandemic is issues with clean water supply. Thank you for your concern.
I had a 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396 4 speed Daytona Yellow Black Vinal Top I bought it new loved it wish I could find one like it.
Interesting to note then Paul Revere and the Raiders did a song to the Chevelle SS-396, a underrated pearl compared to Beach Boys’ 409 and Ronnie & the Daytonas’ Little GTO.
Stéphane, this is great! ♪♫
Plus, not that a mechanically uninclined person like me would have known this anyway, but the “porcupine” reference to the 396 is brand-new to me. Excellent – thanks for this.
https://auto.howstuffworks.com/chevy-396-cid-v-8-engine.htm
Not a bad car tune. The biggest problem is it sounds exactly like what it is: a commercial jingle commissioned by Chevrolet. Unlike ‘Little GTO’, I’m not sure ‘SS396’ was offered in general release and it’s quite possible you could only get the 45 by going to a Chevy dealer as a promotion, first in 1965, then again in 1967.
A SS 396 badged El Camino only it has no 396 in that engine compartment.
Definitely the automotive embodiment of a watchdog if I’ve ever seen one.
To me, this generation of Chevelle — two-doors, and black like this one — makes me think of cars parked at gas stations in the 1980s. It seems like every gas station in Philadelphia back then had a teenager who worked there at odd hours, and drove a Chevelle. These Chevelles were often seen parked hugging the side of the building, and served as a warning that the tough guy who drove it was working the counter that day. I can’t see a car like this without having that long-ago imagery flash through my mind.
Eric, your comment made me think of something else. Your imagery of ’80s gas stations with Chevelles of this era also reflects my experience of them. These cars may be tied in the memories of some to the time they were new, but to people like you and me, they evoke the ’80s.
One of the earliest music videos I remember watching was of Kajagoogoo’s “Big Apple” from 1983. There ’68 Chevelle featured at around 1:16 was in the type of condition I remember many of these being in when I was a kid.
Yes, that’s exactly the car that comes to me mind when I think of a late 60s or early 70s Chevelle. Thanks!
“Central Michigan Water Laboratory” – been very busy, I suspect, for the last few years.
My best friend in middle school had an older brother who had a ’69 SS396 in the same color blue as the one in the ad.
His had white stripes, an accessory hood mounted tach, and the loveliest custom wheels ever made, American Torq-Thrusts.
Our 8th-grade selves envied that car, and dreamed of owning similar cars someday.
To this day I’m partial to that year Chevelle.
This would have to be a version of the CC effect I have heard of.
A few days ago, A 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle 396 once owned by Bruce Springsteen was put on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Bruce gave it to his sound engineer back in the 80s.
Although not the actual car that inspired the opening lines of his 1978 song “Racing in the Street”, its close enough.
The songs opening lines are .
“I got a 69 Chevy with a 396, fuelie heads and a Hurst on the floor
she’s waiting tonight down in the parking lot, outside the 7 /11 store.”
The car featured in this article fits the car described in the song perfectly.
sorry but i dont know how to post a video of the song.
Jonco43, I think this counts as the CC Effect, and thank you also for the musical reference.
SS 396 became its own series for 1966-68, but it went back to option status in 1969-70 – why was this?