Modified Muscle: SS-esque

7/29/2019 Modified Muscle: SS-esque

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Muscle MAchinesMODiFieD Muscle

SS-esqueA 66 Chevy Malibu convertiblethat blurs the lines betweenmuscle car and street rod

Mded me my th

to many people. For some, it conjures up wild ights offancycars that have been slammed, chopped, dropped,bagged and altered beyond any chance of recognizing thesource vehicle that once was. For others, it involves mildchanges, like adding a hot cam or a set of aftermarket head-ers to an otherwise-stock car, in the interest of boostingperformance while still maintaining a classic appeal. In be-tween, there are legions of car owners from all walks of lifewho are charting their own courses through these muddyautomotive waters.

To cater to this proliferation of tastes and desires, theaftermarket has stepped up with a dizzying array of productsmeant to make building the car of your dreams that mucheasier. For decades now, it has been possible to build a 32Ford entirely from a catalog of parts, whether leaning moretowards stock or completely rodded out. Just about any part

By Kate Sullivan and Jeff Koch

Photography by Jeff Koch

you can think offrom an entire body or chassis to the littlestgrommethas been reproduced and/or improved, and is nowon offer in multiple styles and colors to suit the theme of yourbuild. Rat rod, trad rod, modern rod, restored to like-new...there are countless ways to go.

The same holds true for our beloved muscle cars. Its beenpossible for awhile now to engineer a new vintage Mustangfrom the ground up, and other makes and models are enter-ing the fray. All of this aftermarket availability raises someprofound questions for the hobby, the most pressing of whichis: Whats a real car? Is it a classic thats been stowed in ahermetically sealed bubble for 40 years? A body-off rotisserierestoration thats only driven on and off a trailer for shows?A street-ready cruising machine thats been taken care ofdiligently, but not coddled? A rip-roaring race ride thatll tearyour face off on the quarter-mile?

66 Hemmings MUSCLE MACHINES | August 2012 | hemmings.com


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This former column-shift automatic is now

equipped with a six-speed stick, a console, and

a strangely pessimistic AutoMeter speedo.

Chevelle trim and vented hood offer a mixed message, but the all-aluminum 480hp LS3 crate engine that lurks beneath is unambiguous.

With ormer base models being gussiedup into tribute cars or torn apart orparts to salvage more prestigious editions,its getting harder to fnd those originalcars in unmolested condition. But then, isthat what we all really want? Or is thereroom in the muscle-car spectrum orsome imaginative updates in the interesto driving pleasure?

Which brings us to Nancy Camps1966 Chevy Malibu convertible. Onceupon a time, it was a column-shitedMarina Blue 283-motivated ragtop; today,its air to say that it has been transormedairly completely and into somethingthat Detroit might have dreamed o, butnever quite achieved back in the day.Twenty years ago, a Malibu convertiblewasnt all that special, save or its oldingtop. Today, its special simply or exist-ingeven though, when Nancy boughtit in 2009 rom a shop that wasnt entirelyon the up-and-up about its condition, theoors were rotted out, the interior hadlost a fght with an irritated baboon, andall o the glass was gone.

Strictly speaking, Nancys little redragtop wasnt born a muscle car; its notan SS, or a big-block, or anything thatthe resto purists will get their knickersin a knot over. (See the badging? Its allMalibu. Read the Owners View sidebaror more.) But while Nancy knew whatshe wanted a 1966 convertible, no sub-stitutes acceptedshe also knew that apurely stock vintage Malibu wasnt goingto satisy; there just wasnt enough oomphthere. So, thinking about what the carcould be, she handed it over to Hot Rodsby Dean in Phoenix, Arizona, to sort outsome modernization.

My goal was to have a car that lookedstock on the exterior but wasnt, Nancysays. In my opinion, cars rom the mid-to late Sixties are the most beautiullydesigned, but we all know their limitationsin perormance: No EFI, crap suspension,weak brakes, mushy steering, and orgetabout any decent handling. These carswent ast in a straight line, but thats prettymuch all they did that one may want toemulate. I wanted a car that did that, butalso handled well, had great brakes, and aperormance element to the entire chassis.

And, indeed, the resulting contem-porary build oers perormance levelsbeyond what could ever have been doneat the actory back in 1966. It acceler-ates with the erocity o a big-blockwhile oering small-block economy andunheard-o-clean tailpipe emissionsand it doesnt have the cooling issuesthat would prevent Nancy rom enjoyinghersel around her Phoenix-area home. Ithas a suspension thats been sorted out orcornering and will squeeze your brain outyour ears in the turns, such is its grip onracetrack-width tires. It has brakes the sizeo what passed or actory steel wheelswhen it was new. In terms o all-out andall-around perormance, it goes so ar be-yond the original intentions o any vintageAmerican street car, even one dubbed amuscle car, that it seemingly borders onrace-ready behavior.

Yet the interiorwith power optionsgaloreis Cadillac comortable. Its not arace carits not destined to go bouncearound gymkhanas and open track days.It doesnt have a cage, fve-point belts, orother such racing rippery that will neverbe used, because its not that kind o car.

Its a cruiser. But its more than that: It isan example o an archetype o a kind ocar were seeing more and more o. (Dontbelieve us? Go to a GoodGuys eventsometime and see whats cooking.) It is astatement o intent.

Back when this car frst started lie,

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Only the six-speed, the white-face gauges and the CD player identify this interior as contemporary, rather than 60s-fresh.

The slammed stance makes the big-n-little Billet Specialties wheel combination even more oversized in those tight factory openings.

Detroit aspired to ever-increasing levels opower, and GMs ull-rame intermediatechassis contributed to the genres strengthand popularity, particularly thanks to a115-inch wheelbasebut no one can pre-tend that it had any handling pretenses.Ever seen the inside ront wheel in a hard

corner? Yikes. Anti-roll bar? In ront, iyoure lucky.

Suspension geometry has come a longway in the last our and a hal decades,and those lessons are pressed intopractice on The Roadster Shops com-plete A-body chassis. The boxed rame

rails are made o 10-gauge steel and areCNC-cut or strength and a smooth look;the 1.25-inch ront anti-roll bar is splinedsprung steel, made or The Roadster Shopby a NASCAR supplier and designed touse C6 Corvette end links; control armsare chunky, and suitable or larger 60s

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OWNERS VIEW

Ive been working on this since

February 2009, nearly three yearsbut

there were three years beore that, spent

trying to fnd a 66 convertible to buy in the

frst place. This was beore the economy

crashed, so people had rusty shells on

atbeds or $40,000. This car was also a

non-running, rusted-out piece o [garbage],

and I paid more than I wanted to, but its

sobering to see how ew 66 convertibles

are really out there. This was originally a

Marina blue car, black bench, automatic.

It is a [body type code] 136, so I badged

it as what it was a Malibu. I didnt want

to do the SS clone thing; the stu I put on

it would certainly surpass an SS. Its not a

clone o anythingit is a vastly improved,

real Malibu! Its perect, sae, and has

absolutely no issues. Its got a vintage look

that I love to play up with a period Pan Am

uniorm when I show the car, but its as

modern a driver as can be. Nancy Camp

machines, with Delrin bushings (andlube fttings) in lieu o polyurethane;spindles are C6 Corvette pieces, ratherthan the Mustang II components that areso popular with the street rod set, whichhave been around since, well, since 1974.The ront end uses a proprietary geom-etry, but adjustable AFCO billet coil-oversare installed at all corners. At the rear, a9-inch Ford housing with 31-spline axlesis secured by a triangulated our-barlinkage. Engine and transmission mountscan be moved wherever they need to beor the driveline o your dreams. And it sdesigned so that a GM A-body body willdrop right on top. Hence this reengi-neered Malibus wicked handling charac-teristics, and updated classic looks.

Pop the hood, with those Super Sportaux louvers, and what you see is notunlike what arrives under the hood o anynew Corvette, Camaro or Chevy pickup:a late-model plug-and-play all-aluminumLS-amily pushrod V-8 out o the GM Per-ormance Parts catalog. This one, basedon the LS3, which is standard-issue in theC6 Corvette, has the Hot cam option,which takes advantage o the LS3s rectan-gle-port heads and brings power up to480 horses. Thats 480 net horsepowerand even then, Nancys not satisfed; shesplanning to change the air intake to wringout 20 more horses. It even keeps a set ostock Corvette rocker-cover covers, whichclean up the ussy coil-on-plug look and,i GM is to be believed, oer a modicumo sound-deadening protection as well.

O course, the looks on such a carhave to be updated too, and the wheelsand tires alone will doubtless cause somecontroversy among the muscle car aith-ul. Though theyre a long way rom stock,the big-n-little Billet Specialties meats onNitto low-profle rubber (bands) makea certain sort o sense in this context.First, the chassis revisions drop the wholecar by three inches or more. Would atall 14-inch redline look right with thatkind o drop? To say nothing o clear-

ing the jumbo Wilwood discs ront andrearwith 14-inch brakes in ront, yourelooking at a minimum 17-inch wheel justor clearance. Plus, an open design makessense both or cooling and or showing othose big, sexy cross-drilled rotors.

Get past the slammed stance and thedriveline, and youll discover that theChevys body was treated a little moreconventionally. The oors and trunk wereall but gone when the project began, andso were replaced with reproduction items;minor dents were hammered out, andbigger issues were cut out and sectionedin with new steel. Four coats o EvercoatSlicksand primer (sanded between coats)lies beneath our coats o PPG Deltron VWTornado Red (Wolsburgs current shade ored) and our coats o PPG clear. Theresnothing trick going on here: The body con-tours are actory-stamped; the body has notbeen denuded o its original chrome trim;and even the paint, beyond its basecoat/clearcoat nature, is just a basic shade ored. They didnt even shave that big honkinantenna on the rear quarter.

Dean did a great job on the carIcant say enough good things about himand his shop; they did exactly what I wasater, says Nancy.

The matching bright red interior, romseat vinyl to door panels to carpetse-cured rom OPGs at catalog o Chevellerestoration goodiesappears mostlystock. Even the steering wheel, an obviouscustomization point, is a restoration-quality reproduction. Oh, sure, the benchseat was tossed in avor o buckets anda console, but really, there are but twoobvious changes when it comes to theinterior: the six-gear pattern engraved onthe cueball shiter, and the brace o white-aced AutoMeter gauges. Plus, the radiois now a CD player. As i anyone will everhear it, with the wind and the roar o theexhaust. But the majority o whats insideis the same as whats in the restoredChevelle around the corner.

Combining new mechanicals with

Oh, its got a rake now, but when that blunt nose is made to push through the atmosphere, we bet the front end will rise just a little bit .

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EnginE

Block type GM Performance LS3 V-8, aluminum block

Cylinder heads GM Performance LS3 OHV, aluminum castings

Displacement 376 cubic inches (62 liters)

Bore x Stroke 4065 x 3622 inches

Compression ratio 107:1

Pistons Hypereutectic, cast-aluminum, at-top with coated side skirts

Connecting rods Stock powdered-metal

Horsepower @ RPM 480 @ 5,900

Torque @ RPM 475-lbsft @ 4,600

Camshaft type GM Performance Parts hydraulic roller Hot cam

Duration 219/ 228 degrees overlap (intake/exhaust)

Lift 0525-inch (intake/exhaust)

Valvetrain 216/ 159-inch valves, intake/exhaust, GM hydraulic roller lifters(offset intake side)

Fuel system 90mm throttle body, GM sequential multiport fuel injection (returnless),39 pound-per-hour injectors

Lubrication system Gear-driven, internal pressure

Ignition system GM coil-on-plug

Exhaust system Sanderson stainless headers, Hot Rods by Dean X-pipe,

dual 25-inch exhaust, dual Flowmaster mufersOriginal engine Chevrolet 327-cuin small-block V-8

TransMission

Type Tremec T-56 six-speed manual with 10-inch McLeod RST clutch

Ratios 1st 266:1

2nd 178:1

3rd 130:1

4th 100:1

5th 080:1

6th 063:1

Reverse 290:1

DiffErEnTial

Type Ford 9-inch

Ratio 355:1

sTEEring

Type Rack-and-pinion

Ratio N/A

BrakEs

Front Wilwood 14-inchcross-drilled disc,six-piston calipers

Rear Wilwood 13-inch cross-drilled disc, four-piston calipers

suspEnsion

Front Independent; upper and lower A-arms, AFCO coil-over shocks, anti-rollbar

Rear Four-link triangulation, AFCO coil-overs, track-link

WEEls & TirEs

Wheels Billet Specialties Boost forged billet

Front 18 x 8 inches

Rear 20 x 10 inches

Tires Nitto NT555/555R

Front 245/40R18

Rear 305/35R20

pErforMancE

Acceleration Not tested

1966 Chevrolet Chevelle

s p E c i f i c a T i o n s

PROS

+ Its a Chevelle with a folding top+ Current Corvette power+ Three pedals, six speeds

CONS- Purists may take issue- Not cheap to build- 20s may fall out of fashion

vintage looks in a way that thoroughlysuits owner Nancy, the Malibu representsa segment o the hobby thats growing ev-ery day: contemporary classic, you mightcall it. What has been done here doesnot present an old car as it was; it hasntbeen brought back to 1966-spec, howevermild that spec might have been. This is athoroughly modern machine: computer-ized uel injection, six-speed transmission,our-wheel disc brakes, massive wheelsand tires. The old-timey eel is gone...the only thing vintage here is the style,proportion and size.

And so some may see it as a moderntake on the old Pro Street movement othe 80s (and a air chunk o the 90s):vintage skin on a tube-rame (or at leastback-halved) chassis, destined to prowlairgrounds and local car shows and nevertruly turn a wheel in anger. The dier-ence, other than time and style, is that ProStreeters were cut and welded to ft... themodern generation, in many cases, calls onatermarket expertise to simpliy the buildprocess with ready-made components.

Yet, in the end, its still a fne exampleo automotive cratsmanship, built tocoincide with its owners tastes anddesires. This is not a genuine SS, and sothe hemming and hawing and handwring-ing over whether this is a real car oughtnot occur. Its not presenting itsel asan originalits a car built or the solepurpose o personal pleasure. Says Nancy,I cant say that completely original restos,or contemporary classics, or ull-on restosare better than each other. All appeal tospecifc tastes, and I like all o them. Asan owner, though, I wanted a car that hadthe sensational looks o the original withmodern perormance upgradesthe besto both worlds. Looks vintage, perormsmodern. Its just thrilling to see these carsbrought to lie again, and this holds trueeven or the youngest car enthusiasts,who grew up only seeing the silver eggswe have now.

So Nancy doesnt pay attention to thepotential controversy: She has her dreamcar ater an arduous three-year build, andshes too busy enjoying the high-desertbreeze blowing through her owing locksto much care. And isnt enjoyment whatits all about?

hemmings.com | August 2012 | Hemmings MUSCLE MACHINES

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Modified Muscle: SS-esque