Most of us who were lucky enough to essentially grow up with a muscle car that our parents owned can vividly recount the experience of riding in it. Our perspective, usually from the backseat, involved peering between the buckets to keep a watchful eye on Mom or Dad as they drove.
When they decided to exercise the big V-8 at wide-open-throttle on occasion, we anxiously anticipated each upshift and observed in awe as our skilled parent carved through the H-pattern of the four-speed while coordinating each gear change with the smooth clutch pedal actions of the left foot in step with the accelerator pedal movements of the right (three-speeds and automatics could be fun, too, of course). We felt a rush when the induction and exhaust systems roared while the engine revs climbed and we were compressed further into the seat as the scenery blurred through the windows. Melanie Cunningham (then Melanie Faul) possesses these same childhood memories.
Yet they likely include considerably quicker acceleration and a lot more scenery blur than most of the rest of us recall because she was riding in a blindingly fast 1970 LS6 Chevelle SS 454.
Most of the bodywork was concentrated on the rear quarter-panels. The somewhat rusted lower portion of the driver's side outer wheelhouse was exposed when the rusted bottom of the quarter panel was cut out, so it was also cut out and a new section of outer wheelhouse was fit and welded in.
In early 2009, Troy Thornton, owner of Thornton Muscle Cars, a premier restoration facility in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, received a call from Melanie. She explained that she had this family-owned, 67,000-mile Chevrolet muscle car and she would like it to be restored to like-new condition as a tribute to her dad, Melvin Faul, who passed away in 2005.
The car had been driven daily since new and was then stored inside beginning in 1980 and used sparingly thereafter. It retained its original drivetrain and had received one repaint around 1978, which Melanie said her father had described as, "40 coats of hand-rubbed lacquer."
Back in 1970, Melvin regarded the Chevelle SS 454 with the optional LS6 engine as the ultimate muscle car, given its Holley carb, aluminum intake, rectangular-port heads, 11.25:1 compression ratio, aggressive solid-lifter cam, forged-aluminum pistons, forged-steel rods with 7⁄16-inch bolts, forged steel cross-drilled Tufftride-treated crankshaft and four-bolt-main block that all added up to a rated 450 hp and 500-lb.ft. of torque.
He was so enamored with it that he and his wife, Rae, ordered a Cortez Silver and black interior Malibu sport coupe with the Z15 SS 454 equipment option from Lafferty Chevrolet Co. in Warminster, Pennsylvania. It normally provided the 360-hp LS5 454, but of course, Melvin chose the LS6 option. The Z15 package also included bright engine accents, dual exhaust with bright oval tips, "SS" callouts inside and out, black-accented grille, special domed hood, black resilient rear bumper panel with embossed "SS," F41 special-performance front and rear suspension, power front disc brakes, 14 x 7 sport wheels, F70-14 Wide Oval white-letter tires and wheel-opening moldings.
The frame was stripped to bare metal, and pits were covered with a thin coat of 3M body filler in the few areas that needed it. After sanding, it would later receive multiple coats of Glasurit primer and semi-gloss black paint.
Additional extra-cost items were the Muncie M22 four-speed (M22 or M40 Turbo Hydra-Matic were required with the LS6), Positraction for the 3.31-geared 12-bolt rear end, heavy-duty battery, special instrumentation, bucket seats, AM pushbutton radio, cowl induction hood (included sport stripes and hood pins) and door edge guards. Total cost on the dealer invoice was $4,567.85 with options, undercoating, tax, and license and title fees, and the Faul family took delivery on April 7, 1970.
Already united with the restored chassis via new body mounts and hardware, here's the SS in the spray booth just after painting.
What wasn't included was power steering. Melanie explains, "Dad didn't want anything to take away from the power." The result was 5.5 high-effort turns lock-to-lock that provided the driver with an upper-body workout rivaling any exercise plan or product currently available on a late-night infomercial.
This rare Chevy served as the family's primary vehicle for most of the 1970s. Melanie's mom even drove it, daily, about 25 miles to the family business, Titanium Finishing Company in East Greenville, Pennsylvania, from their North Wales home for more years than her arm muscles would likely care to recall.
"The Chevelle has been a family member since I was about seven years old," Melanie reveals. "As a little girl, I'd sit in the backseat and pretend to shift when Mom or Dad did. I remember my dad taking the SS out of storage in the late 1980s to go to a car show--the only one it's ever been to. I'm an only child, and Troy got a kick out of the fact that I refer to the Chevelle as my sister."
"I realized that the LS6 SS 454 was in really good condition when I first saw it," Troy relates. "Aside from being a very desirable model, it had also been stored well. Our restoration process is tailored to the requirements of each car. In this case, we tried to retain as many of the original parts as possible by restoring instead of replacing them unless they were deemed too far gone to save."
Melvin had also amassed a cache of NOS parts over the years and some, like the exhaust system, were installed prior to the SS's storage. Troy removed it, had it ceramic coated and later reinstalled it. The LS6 engine, M22 four-speed, and the 12-bolt rear end were all cosmetically restored, but none of them required rebuilds.
The original interior was retained and the dashboard and headliner weren't even removed. This is uncommon at Thornton Muscle Cars, since most other body-off restorations, according to Troy, "get torn-down to a bare shell and the top and bottom of the floor pans, inside the trunk floor, jambs and firewall are sandblasted."
For this SS, rust repair was only required in the lower rear quarters, where small portions of reproduction outer wheelhouses and patch panels were welded in. Paint stripper and sanding was employed on the outer body panels to prevent the warpage that sandblasting may inflict. Under the paint, the sheetmetal was solid, needing only minor repairs here and there. A few coats of Glasurit epoxy primer were applied to the bare metal and served as a base for the thin layer of 3M body filler that was spread where needed.
Troy notes, "Since we didn't want to remove the dash or headliner, we left the doors and trunk lid and all the glass in when we put the body on the rotisserie, which made it much heavier than a bare shell. We sandblasted the bottom side and refinished it ASAP to set the body back on the frame. Then we removed the doors and front and rear glass so we could properly clean and paint."
Block-sanding the epoxy primer with various grades of paper resulted in a straight body that was ready for Glasurit urethane primer and more block-sanding. Next came a sealer and then three coats of Cortez Silver Glasurit 55-Line polyester basecoat. Once cured, the body was masked, and the black stripes were painted on. Four coats of Glasurit clear followed. A wet-sanding progression of 1500- to 3000-grade paper and polishing with 3M products resulted in the shiny finish.
Troy explains, "I was trying to keep the body paint application pretty true to how it was done originally. The factory painted the body with the doors and deck lid installed, so the door hinges and their bolts were body color. The fender bolts weren't body color, which means the fenders were painted while off the car, as were the rest of the front-end body parts. These forward bolt-on body panels usually had black primer, but the body shell often had gray or sometimes red primer under the paint."
Said frame and chassis components were restored with factory-appearing finishes, and wear items were replaced, but as many parts as possible were retained as long as they weren't worn out. New fuel and brake lines were also installed and the braking system was rebuilt and detailed. Thornton Muscle Cars also documented and then recreated the original assembly-line markings, like those on the firewall.
Since the SS 454 was so complete and in good condition, you may believe that this was an "easy" restoration, especially since it began in March 2009 and was completed by December of the same year. In some ways it was, as most parts were retained, there were NOS items included, and the few reproduction pieces that were needed were readily available. There wasn't significant rust or prior collision damage to repair, and the drivetrain didn't require rebuilding, which isn't typical of most other restorations.
However, if you assume that "easy" translates into a lack of detail in the final product, one look at the attention paid to this restoration will soon have you thinking differently. Melanie says, "I couldn't be happier with the results. Troy transformed the Chevelle into a like-new car again, and my mom said that it's beautiful. On the road, the acceleration is breathtaking, and you're in fourth gear in no time. Then it's just smooth sailing. Without power steering, in close quarters it's a real bear to get turned around, however."
Troy states, "This LS6 Chevelle SS 454 is a prominent piece of automotive history, and Melanie takes great care of it." Considering the outcome of this project, her dad would surely be impressed and quite proud of his daughter, who spent many of her formative years riding in its backseat and who succeeded in seeing that the family muscle car was restored to a concours level.
OWNER'S VIEW
My dad took the Chevelle SS off the road right around the time I got my driver's license. Though it appears that he may have done it so I wouldn't ask to drive it, that really wasn't the case. My parents were just ready for a more conventional family car, so they bought a Buick Regal. I don't drive the SS too often now, given its manual steering, beautiful paint, detailed undercarriage and my concern over something happening to it on the road. When I do, however, it instantly reminds me of my childhood and how much my dad loved it. My husband, Tim, and I recently celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary by buying a 2014 ZL1 Camaro, so the high-powered Chevrolet muscle-car ownership tradition continues in my family.--Melanie Cunningham
