'73 Chevelle SS Wagon (local find)

[bucket]

I found some goodies in the glove box that tells some of the history of the car. There was also a few other artifacts in there and under the seats that are kind of neat to see. I unbolted the rear seat bottom, in hopes of finding a build or broadcast sheet, but no such luck.

If anyone knows a supplier for window/door weatherstripping for a '73-'77 sedan, I'm all ears.

 

[bucket]

Paperwork shows that this has been a Columbus area car it's whole life. The car was purchased in late '73 at The Bobb Chevrolet in Columbus (still in business now, but a different location and now it's just "Bobb Chevrolet" by Ralph and Beatrice in Westerville Ohio. They evidently liked to travel, because shortly after buying their new car, the AC needed repair at Fletcher Jones Chevrolet in Las Vegas Nevada. It had 3700 miles on it then. In 1978, they had a new set of Michelin X Radials mounted up while in Virginia, at Colonial Tire And Recapping in Williamsburg. At the time, there was 60k on the odo. From '79-'84, Muffler King in Ohio replaced or repaired the exhaust a few times. The last repair order was to have a brake line replaced at a Shell Auto Care in Westerville. That was also in '84, with 96k on the odo.

The rest of the 80's are kind of a mystery. In '92, the car was purchased by a Mr Frank, from a Lynn of Columbus. Lynn may have been the sole owner after Ralph and Beatrice owned it. But at the time, the title showed 66k, so it had obviously rolled over in the 80's. Iirc, it shows 30k or so now, so it rolled over again in the 90's, lol.

 

[bucket]

These decals were in the glove box:

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99.7 has been "The Blitz" since '92-ish.

There's the remains of a car show flyer of unknown vintage, in Piqua Ohio:

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I'm assuming Frank tried to sell the car at said car show:

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[bucket]

These were other findings that show their age:

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[RecklessWOT]

Paperwork shows that this has been a Columbus area car it's whole life. The car was purchased in late '73 at The Bobb Chevrolet in Columbus (still in business now, but a different location and now it's just "Bobb Chevrolet" by Ralph and Beatrice in Westerville Ohio. They evidently liked to travel, because shortly after buying their new car, the AC needed repair at Fletcher Jones Chevrolet in Las Vegas Nevada. It had 3700 miles on it then. In 1978, they had a new set of Michelin X Radials mounted up while in Virginia, at Colonial Tire And Recapping in Williamsburg. At the time, there was 60k on the odo. From '79-'84, Muffler King in Ohio replaced or repaired the exhaust a few times. The last repair order was to have a brake line replaced at a Shell Auto Care in Westerville. That was also in '84, with 96k on the odo.

The rest of the 80's are kind of a mystery. In '92, the car was purchased by a Mr Frank, from a Lynn of Columbus. Lynn may have been the sole owner after Ralph and Beatrice owned it. But at the time, the title showed 66k, so it had obviously rolled over in the 80's. Iirc, it shows 30k or so now, so it rolled over again in the 90's, lol.

That's really cool knowing so much of the history! 230k on an old 350 is a lot (as you know), but if it was maintained well who knows maybe it was rebuilt?

I wouldn't say they drove it a ton, the average American is estimated to put on 12k/yr (many drive much more), to have 60k on a '73 in 1978 is not crazy. It just means that car has seen it's share of adventures! I wonder what their trip to Vegas in their brand new car was like. Too bad there is no way to know more

 

[bucket]

And here's the spot on the door that looks like a blend repair was done many many years ago:

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^Notice the halo area and of course the light purple sealer that's under the scuffed black paint.

But then I noticed the same sealer color under peeling paint on the lower A-pillar:

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I'm 99.9% positive that the car wears the same paint it was delivered with in '73. I feel obligated to measure and document the lower stripe layout. From previous research, nobody seemed to know the exact layout of the striping.

 

[bucket]

Here's a view of the original mag type wheels, that are actually a steel rim with a foam/rubber face molded on.

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The two Kelly Chargers are dated 1994. The Goodyear Aquatread (remember the commercials for those?) Is dated '95. I didn't bother looking at the date code on the Firestone, but it looked to be early 90's.

 

[bucket]

That's really cool knowing so much of the history! 230k on an old 350 is a lot (as you know), but if it was maintained well who knows maybe it was rebuilt?

I wouldn't say they drove it a ton, the average American is estimated to put on 12k/yr (many drive much more), to have 60k on a '73 in 1978 is not crazy. It just means that car has seen it's share of adventures! I wonder what their trip to Vegas in their brand new car was like. Too bad there is no way to know more

I'm going to try calling the phone number listed on a couple of the repair orders. Fat chance that it's still the same people, but you never know. My mother has had the same phone number since '79-'80.

 

[RecklessWOT]

Those wheels are crazy, I've never heard of/seen anything like it! It's awesome they still appear to be in good shape as I'm sure nobody makes anything like it to replace them with. Don't get rid of them

 

[Old77]

Paperwork shows that this has been a Columbus area car it's whole life. The car was purchased in late '73 at The Bobb Chevrolet in Columbus (still in business now, but a different location and now it's just "Bobb Chevrolet" by Ralph and Beatrice in Westerville Ohio. They evidently liked to travel, because shortly after buying their new car, the AC needed repair at Fletcher Jones Chevrolet in Las Vegas Nevada. It had 3700 miles on it then. In 1978, they had a new set of Michelin X Radials mounted up while in Virginia, at Colonial Tire And Recapping in Williamsburg. At the time, there was 60k on the odo. From '79-'84, Muffler King in Ohio replaced or repaired the exhaust a few times. The last repair order was to have a brake line replaced at a Shell Auto Care in Westerville. That was also in '84, with 96k on the odo.

The rest of the 80's are kind of a mystery. In '92, the car was purchased by a Mr Frank, from a Lynn of Columbus. Lynn may have been the sole owner after Ralph and Beatrice owned it. But at the time, the title showed 66k, so it had obviously rolled over in the 80's. Iirc, it shows 30k or so now, so it rolled over again in the 90's, lol.

Cool to get history like that on an old car like that makes ya more excited about the purchase

 

[RecklessWOT]

There's the remains of a car show flyer of unknown vintage, in Piqua Ohio:

You must be registered for see images attach

If they were to specify "cars of interest through 1997" I would have to assume it was at least some time after that. I've never been to a car show that showcased 2 year old cars. I'm gonna assume that's gotta be from later than that, maybe '07 with a category for newer cars but still over 10 years? Could even be newer. The paper looks old as hell, but when sitting in a car for a while it's crazy how fast stuff degrades- I have a car in my driveway that was my daily until about 2013, if you look through it now you'd think some of the paperwork (that has since turned to mouse mattress) is straight out of the '80s. Hell, even some of the stuff in my 'burb is starting to yellow and crumble just from temperature change and damp air, and that hasn't even been sitting long at all. Might not be too hard to figure out, I see mention of a swap meet on Sunday, and I see mention of August 24th, most car shows are on the weekend. I'd look to see which year after 1997 had Aug 24th on a Sunday, that'll probably be your answer. Idk why, I always think it's neat trying to figure that kind of stuff out. My wife thinks I'm ridicuous


Edit: Just googled and found a "Miami valley annual car show and cruise-in" in Piqua, OH. Looks like the flyer says 38th annual, find out what year it started and you now officially know when the last year that SS was at a car show, regardless of what condition it was in at that time lol. Dude might have been there for the swap meet. Still cool nonetheless

 

[bucket]

Those wheels are crazy, I've never heard of/seen anything like it! It's awesome they still appear to be in good shape as I'm sure nobody makes anything like it to replace them with. Don't get rid of them

There were some other GM cars that used wheels that were made the same way. I know a guy that had a '71 Olds with similar constructed wheels. These ones in particular are indeed in good shape. They have centercaps and trim rings too, but one of the rings is banged up. I don't plan to use them, but certainly will keep them.

If they were to specify "cars of interest through 1997" I would have to assume it was at least some time after that. I've never been to a car show that showcased 2 year old cars. I'm gonna assume that's gotta be from later than that, maybe '07 with a category for newer cars but still over 10 years? Could even be newer. The paper looks old as hell, but when sitting in a car for a while it's crazy how fast stuff degrades- I have a car in my driveway that was my daily until about 2013, if you look through it now you'd think some of the paperwork (that has since turned to mouse mattress) is straight out of the '80s. Hell, even some of the stuff in mu 'burb is starting to yellow and crumble just from temperature change and damp air, and that hasn't even been sitting long at all. Might not be too hard to figure out, I see mention of a swap meet on Sunday, and I see mention of August 24th, most car shows are on the weekend. I'd look to see which year after 1997 had Aug 24th on a Sunday, that'll probably be your answer. Idk why, I always think it's neat trying to figure that kind of stuff out. My wife thinks I'm ridicuous

Well hell, I didn't even notice it said that! But I interpret that as a category for any vehicle that is post '73 to current? 1997 being current. And I didn't even think about the whole calender thing! Turns out, August 24th fell on a Sunday in 1997.

 

[bucket]

Hmm. If he had bothered to put the car into the spring '98 Car Coral at the nearby Springfield Cars and Parts swap meet, I might have bought it then, lol. I had it narrowed down to a '69 Impala 4-door hardtop and a '77 El Camino. Both were drivers and in my budget, the El Camino was really rusty, so I bought the Impala. If that dude was there trying to sell an SS wagon, I'm nearly certain I would have bought it.

 

[Derick C.]

I'm thinking it needs a big block......lol

 

[gotyourgoat]

I'm thinking it needs a big block......lol

Pfft, ls with a buttered cat strapped to the intake.

Btw if this car spent any time in Piqua I'm surprised it's even around given the hate mother nature has for that city.