1970 Chevelle SS 454
- Feb 19, 2015
Mark Laymon’s ’70 Chevelle is his own personal time capsule.
By Mark Laymon, Marion, IN photography by Colin Date
In 1969 I was a senior in high school, dating my girlfriend and driving a brand new Camaro Z/28. It was a great, magical time riding with my girl and cruising “Custer's Last Stand”. Custer's was a teenage hangout. A place to eat and watch all the cool cars do burnouts! One of my friends had a ’67 GTO, another had a ’66 Nova– which he still owns!
My girlfriend and I got married in 1971, and soon afterwards I sold my ’69 Z. Boy did I ever regret doing that. (Selling my Z/28, that is!)
Over the years, my wife and I raised our family and kept dreaming of owning one of those cool old cars.
Before I retired from GM, I bought a rust-free (from Arizona) 1970 Chevelle. I drove the car for about a year then got side tracked– I ended up parking it in my barn for the next 13 years.
I wasn't getting any younger, so one day I decided to take the car out of storage. I bought a rebuilt 454 engine from my friend Ron Carper, and that was the trigger! Suddenly, everything was put in motion, and the next thing I knew, I had the body off the frame. My friend Bob Walker helped me do a bare bones total restoration.
After completion of a new rolling chassis, Bob and I built a rotisserie for the body. Once the entire body shell and parts were glass blasted, I primed and shot single stage urethane paint on the underside of body and firewall. I then bolted the body back down onto the chassis.
Ron Carper suggested I contact Brian Simmons of Marion, IN, about doing the bodywork and paint. After selecting a color and settling on a price, I gave Brian the go ahead. Brian picked up the Chevelle in late September and worked on it until May of the following year. When he called and said he was done, I couldn't wait to see it!
Wow! The paint job far exceeded my expectations.
Adding the new vinyl top, glass, interior, headliner, dash, exhaust, etc., took another three long years.
Then one day (finally that day came!) the car came back to life. Now it was time to unleash Ron to make it run and get it roadworthy. Ron sure can make a car purr! Finally, the resurrected “Black Pearl” was ready for our enjoyment.
Driving in our Chevelle is like being a time capsule! We have enjoyed going to many car shows with our friends. We go and look at all the cool old cars– it brings back great memories of our youth.
We went to the "Cleveland Rocks Chevy Show" in Strongsville, OH this past July. What a great show it was! Fun to see the quality of the cars and to talk to the owners. It was also a learning experience– being able to judge the cars as well. It sure opened my eyes!
The Black Pearl once again far exceeded my expectations at the show– it won 3 awards! It took “Best Paint, Modified Custom”, “1970 Custom Chevelle, 1st Place”, and “People’s Choice Show N Shine”.
