SS-esque

A 66 Chevy Malibu convertible that blurs the lines between muscle car and street rod

Muscle MAchines MODiFieD Muscle

By Kate Sullivan and Jeff Koch Photography by Jeff Koch Modified means many things to many people. For some, it conjures up wild flights of fancy cars that have been slammed, chopped, dropped, bagged and altered beyond any chance of recognizing the source vehicle that once was. For others, it involves mild changes, like adding a hot cam or a set of aftermarket headers to an otherwise-stock car, in the interest of boosting performance while still maintaining a classic appeal. In between, there are legions of car owners from all walks of life who are charting their own courses through these muddy automotive waters. To cater to this proliferation of tastes and desires, the aftermarket has stepped up with a dizzying array of products meant to make building the car of your dreams that much easier. For decades now, it has been possible to build a 32 Ford entirely from a catalog of parts, whether leaning more towards stock or completely rodded out. Just about any part

you can think of from an entire body or chassis to the littlest grommet has been reproduced and/or improved, and is now on offer in multiple styles and colors to suit the theme of your build. 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 been possible for awhile now to engineer a new vintage Mustang from the ground up, and other makes and models are entering the fray. All of this aftermarket availability raises some profound questions for the hobby, the most pressing of which is: Whats a real car? Is it a classic thats been stowed in a hermetically sealed bubble for 40 years? A body-off rotisserie restoration thats only driven on and off a trailer for shows? A street-ready cruising machine thats been taken care of diligently, but not coddled? A rip-roaring race ride thatll tear your face off on the quarter-mile?

66

Hemmings MUSCLE MACHINES | August 2012 | hemmings.com

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

With former base models being gussied up into tribute cars or torn apart for parts to salvage more prestigious editions, its getting harder to find those original cars in unmolested condition. But then, is that what we all really want? Or is there room in the muscle-car spectrum for some imaginative updates in the interest of driving pleasure? Which brings us to Nancy Camps 1966 Chevy Malibu convertible. Once upon a time, it was a column-shifted Marina Blue 283-motivated ragtop; today, its fair to say that it has been transformed fairly completely and into something that Detroit might have dreamed of, but never quite achieved back in the day. Twenty years ago, a Malibu convertible wasnt all that special, save for its folding top. Today, its special simply for existing even though, when Nancy bought it in 2009 from a shop that wasnt entirely on the up-and-up about its condition, the floors were rotted out, the interior had lost a fight with an irritated baboon, and all of the glass was gone. Strictly speaking, Nancys little red ragtop wasnt born a muscle car; its not an SS, or a big-block, or anything that the resto purists will get their knickers in a knot over. (See the badging? Its all Malibu. Read the Owners View sidebar for more.) But while Nancy knew what she wanted a 1966 convertible, no substitutes accepted she also knew that a purely stock vintage Malibu wasnt going to satisfy; there just wasnt enough oomph there. So, thinking about what the car could be, she handed it over to Hot Rods by Dean in Phoenix, Arizona, to sort out some modernization.

My goal was to have a car that looked stock on the exterior but wasnt, Nancy says. In my opinion, cars from the midto late Sixties are the most beautifully designed, but we all know their limitations in performance: No EFI, crap suspension, weak brakes, mushy steering, and forget about any decent handling. These cars went fast in a straight line, but thats pretty much all they did that one may want to emulate. I wanted a car that did that, but also handled well, had great brakes, and a performance element to the entire chassis. And, indeed, the resulting contemporary build offers performance levels beyond what could ever have been done at the factory back in 1966. It accelerates with the ferocity of a big-block while offering small-block economy and unheard-of-clean tailpipe emissions and it doesnt have the cooling issues that would prevent Nancy from enjoying herself around her Phoenix-area home. It has a suspension thats been sorted out for cornering and will squeeze your brain out your ears in the turns, such is its grip on racetrack-width tires. It has brakes the size of what passed for factory steel wheels when it was new. In terms of all-out and all-around performance, it goes so far beyond the original intentions of any vintage American street car, even one dubbed a muscle car, that it seemingly borders on race-ready behavior. Yet the interior with power options galore is Cadillac comfortable. Its not a race car its not destined to go bounce around gymkhanas and open track days. It doesnt have a cage, five-point belts, or other such racing frippery that will never be used, because its not that kind of car.

Its a cruiser. But its more than that: It is an example of an archetype of a kind of car were seeing more and more of. (Dont believe us? Go to a GoodGuys event sometime and see whats cooking.) It is a statement of intent. Back when this car first started life,

This former column-shift automatic is now equipped with a six-speed stick, a console, and a strangely pessimistic AutoMeter speedo.

68

Hemmings MUSCLE MACHINES | August 2012 | hemmings.com

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 of power, and GMs full-frame intermediate chassis contributed to the genres strength and popularity, particularly thanks to a 115-inch wheelbase but no one can pretend that it had any handling pretenses. Ever seen the inside front wheel in a hard

corner? Yikes. Anti-roll bar? In front, if youre lucky. Suspension geometry has come a long way in the last four and a half decades, and those lessons are pressed into practice on The Roadster Shops complete A-body chassis. The boxed frame

rails are made of 10-gauge steel and are CNC-cut for strength and a smooth look; the 1.25-inch front anti-roll bar is splined sprung steel, made for The Roadster Shop by a NASCAR supplier and designed to use C6 Corvette end links; control arms are chunky, and suitable for larger 60s

Only the six-speed, the white-face gauges and the CD player identify this interior as contemporary, rather than 60s-fresh.
hemmings.com | August 2012 | Hemmings MUSCLE MACHINES

69

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.

OWNERS VIEW
Ive been working on this since February 2009, nearly three yearsbut there were three years before that, spent trying to find a 66 convertible to buy in the first place. This was before the economy crashed, so people had rusty shells on flatbeds for $40,000. This car was also a non-running, rusted-out piece of [garbage], and I paid more than I wanted to, but its sobering to see how few 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 wasa Malibu. I didnt want to do the SS clone thing; the stuff I put on it would certainly surpass an SS. Its not a clone of anythingit is a vastly improved, real Malibu! Its perfect, safe, and has absolutely no issues. Its got a vintage look that I love to play up with a period Pan Am uniform when I show the car, but its as modern a driver as can be. Nancy Camp

machines, with Delrin bushings (and lube fittings) in lieu of polyurethane; spindles are C6 Corvette pieces, rather than the Mustang II components that are so popular with the street rod set, which have been around since, well, since 1974. The front end uses a proprietary geometry, but adjustable AFCO billet coil-overs are installed at all corners. At the rear, a 9-inch Ford housing with 31-spline axles is secured by a triangulated four-bar linkage. Engine and transmission mounts can be moved wherever they need to be for the driveline of your dreams. And its designed so that a GM A-body body will drop right on top. Hence this reengineered Malibus wicked handling characteristics, and updated classic looks. Pop the hood, with those Super Sport faux louvers, and what you see is not unlike what arrives under the hood of any new Corvette, Camaro or Chevy pickup: a late-model plug-and-play all-aluminum LS-family pushrod V-8 out of the GM Performance Parts catalog. This one, based on the LS3, which is standard-issue in the C6 Corvette, has the Hot cam option, which takes advantage of the LS3s rectangle-port heads and brings power up to 480 horses. Thats 480 net horsepower and even then, Nancys not satisfied; shes planning to change the air intake to wring out 20 more horses. It even keeps a set of stock Corvette rocker-cover covers, which clean up the fussy coil-on-plug look and, if GM is to be believed, offer a modicum of sound-deadening protection as well. Of course, the looks on such a car have to be updated too, and the wheels and tires alone will doubtless cause some controversy among the muscle car faithful. Though theyre a long way from stock, the big-n-little Billet Specialties meats on Nitto low-profile rubber (bands) make a certain sort of sense in this context. First, the chassis revisions drop the whole car by three inches or more. Would a tall 14-inch redline look right with that kind of drop? To say nothing of clear-

ing the jumbo Wilwood discs front and rear with 14-inch brakes in front, youre looking at a minimum 17-inch wheel just for clearance. Plus, an open design makes sense both for cooling and for showing off those big, sexy cross-drilled rotors. Get past the slammed stance and the driveline, and youll discover that the Chevys body was treated a little more conventionally. The floors and trunk were all but gone when the project began, and so were replaced with reproduction items; minor dents were hammered out, and bigger issues were cut out and sectioned in with new steel. Four coats of Evercoat Slicksand primer (sanded between coats) lies beneath four coats of PPG Deltron VW Tornado Red (Wolfsburgs current shade of red) and four coats of PPG clear. Theres nothing trick going on here: The body contours are factory-stamped; the body has not been denuded of its original chrome trim; and even the paint, beyond its basecoat/ clearcoat nature, is just a basic shade of red. They didnt even shave that big honkin antenna on the rear quarter. Dean did a great job on the carI cant say enough good things about him and his shop; they did exactly what I was after, says Nancy. The matching bright red interior, from seat vinyl to door panels to carpet secured from OPGs fat catalog of Chevelle restoration goodies appears mostly stock. Even the steering wheel, an obvious customization point, is a restorationquality reproduction. Oh, sure, the bench seat was tossed in favor of buckets and a console, but really, there are but two obvious changes when it comes to the interior: the six-gear pattern engraved on the cueball shifter, and the brace of whitefaced AutoMeter gauges. Plus, the radio is now a CD player. As if anyone will ever hear it, with the wind and the roar of the exhaust. But the majority of whats inside is the same as whats in the restored Chevelle around the corner. Combining new mechanicals with

70

Hemmings MUSCLE MACHINES | August 2012 | hemmings.com

vintage looks in a way that thoroughly suits owner Nancy, the Malibu represents a segment of the hobby thats growing every day: contemporary classic, you might call it. What has been done here does not present an old car as it was; it hasnt been brought back to 1966-spec, however mild that spec might have been. This is a thoroughly modern machine: computerized fuel injection, six-speed transmission, four-wheel disc brakes, massive wheels and tires. The old-timey feel is gone... the only thing vintage here is the style, proportion and size. And so some may see it as a modern take on the old Pro Street movement of the 80s (and a fair chunk of the 90s): vintage skin on a tube-frame (or at least back-halved) chassis, destined to prowl fairgrounds and local car shows and never truly turn a wheel in anger. The difference, other than time and style, is that Pro Streeters were cut and welded to fit... the modern generation, in many cases, calls on aftermarket expertise to simplify the build process with ready-made components. Yet, in the end, its still a fine example of automotive craftsmanship, built to coincide with its owners tastes and desires. This is not a genuine SS, and so the hemming and hawing and handwringing over whether this is a real car ought not occur. Its not presenting itself as an original its a car built for the sole purpose of personal pleasure. Says Nancy, I cant say that completely original restos, or contemporary classics, or full-on restos are better than each other. All appeal to specific tastes, and I like all of them. As an owner, though, I wanted a car that had the sensational looks of the original with modern performance upgradesthe best of both worlds. Looks vintage, performs modern. Its just thrilling to see these cars brought to life again, and this holds true even for the youngest car enthusiasts, who grew up only seeing the silver eggs we have now. So Nancy doesnt pay attention to the potential controversy: She has her dream car after an arduous three-year build, and shes too busy enjoying the high-desert breeze blowing through her flowing locks to much care. And isnt enjoyment what its all about?

1966 Chevrolet Chevelle

EnginE Block type Cylinder heads Displacement Bore x Stroke Compression ratio Pistons Connecting rods Horsepower @ RPM Torque @ RPM Camshaft type Duration Lift Valvetrain Fuel system Lubrication system Ignition system Exhaust system Original engine

spE cif icaTion s

GM Performance LS3 V-8, aluminum block GM Performance LS3 OHV, aluminum castings 376 cubic inches (62 liters) 4065 x 3622 inches 107:1 Hypereutectic, cast-aluminum, flat-top with coated side skirts Stock powdered-metal 480 @ 5,900 475-lbsft @ 4,600 GM Performance Parts hydraulic roller Hot cam 219/228 degrees overlap (intake/exhaust) 0525-inch (intake/exhaust) 216/159-inch valves, intake/exhaust, GM hydraulic roller lifters (offset intake side) 90mm throttle body, GM sequential multiport fuel injection (returnless), 39 pound-per-hour injectors Gear-driven, internal pressure GM coil-on-plug Sanderson stainless headers, Hot Rods by Dean X-pipe, dual 25-inch exhaust, dual Flowmaster mufflers 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-inch cross-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-roll bar Rear Four-link triangulation, AFCO coil-overs, track-link WhEEls & 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

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

hemmings.com | August 2012 | Hemmings MUSCLE MACHINES

71