Family Built 1969 Chevelle

While Tyler was growing up, he spent many nights helping his dad work on cars. His dad was a diesel mechanic and was common for him to work on cars at home as a side job. It was typical to find Tyler holding the flashlight or handing over tools to his dad. Although cars were a large part of his life as a child, his family never owned a hot rod or a classic muscle car. He began to like Chevys from watching Dale Earnhardt Sr. race on NASCAR, but never thought that one day he would be restoring his own race car.

It all started when Tyler met his wife in college who has a family history of building and customizing hot rods. Her father and uncle have several Chevelles that made him want one even more. When it was time to buy one, they went and looked at a 1971 Chevelle which was affordable but was in rough shape. His father-in-law, Billy, talked him out from buying it and suggested to purchase this 1969 Chevelle that was a better car to work on, but it was more than Tyler wanted to spend. He had bit the bullet and bought the car.

Once he brought it home, he was having second thoughts on it. He soon put his thoughts aside and started going through it and started selling the old parts to make the difference on the new parts. He attended countless car swap meets to look for more parts and bought products that are made in America to keep it a traditional American Muscle.

For most large projects, building a muscle car are not necessarily easy. Not only there were mechanical issues but it was built on a limited budget. It made it easier to sell parts from the car to purchase new parts, but there was still a lot that needed to be done. One of the first thing he wanted to do with the car was to LS swap it with a 5.3 LSA Super Charger. Adding an LS motor was something him or his father-in-law had never done before. In addition, the drive shaft was cut and rebalanced to fit between the rebuilt T56 6 speed manual transmission and the differential.

Even in making all the changes they already had done they still had more to do to get this beauty just right. This Chevelle was freshly painted with a stunning GM Black Cherry paint and was hand striped by Billy. For the hot rod look, the glass has been tinted along with added set of AutoMeter’s Elite Series gauges with a Classic Dash insert. With the additional help from Billy, he was able to do all the electrical needed for the car, in addition to adding exterior LED lights.

The restoration of this 1969 Chevelle has been a difficult journey, but with the help of Tyler’s wife, his father-in-law Billy and step father-in-law Lewis, they were able to make Tyler’s dream become possible. It was a lot of blood, sweat, and beers that went into this car and the memories that will carry on for a life time. Dreams can come true if you put your mind to it and do what it takes to get the project done. This car turned from a project into a hobby. With the passion of the 1969 restoration still burning inside them, the next family project will be a 1966 Chevelle. We can’t wait to hear the stories about how their next project unfolds.

1969 Chevelle