Jacki's first Chevelle, affectionately named Bubba, was found in South Carolina in 1991 by her dad while her parents were on vacation. She told him before they left she wanted a '70 Chevelle or '70 Monte Carlo and to call her if they found one in good shape because she was willing to spend X number of dollars to get one.

Her dad found and bought this one for $1800 from the second owner of the car. It had been sitting in his yard for two or three years and had about an inch of dust and dirt on it. After buying a battery for it, her dad drove it all the way back to Michigan on practically bald tires and a pair of Cherry Bomb mufflers with no problems!

Bubba came equipped with some very interesting options, the most unusual were the '69-'70 SS option sport wheels. The most recent owner of the car told them that the wheels were on it when he got it from the original owner, who told him he purchased the car that way. The car also came with the original 300 hp 350 c.i. engine, 350TH trans, a 3:08 12 bolt rearend, power assisted drum brakes, air conditioning and tinted glass.

Burgandy with a black vinyl top and black interior, Bubba was in relatively good shape. Even though the car was Jacki's daily driver, including through the winter months, she kept the car spotless by washing it every week.

Eventually, the camshaft gave up the ghost, but she was able to limp the car to her parents' home, which was about a 3 hour drive. She and her dad yanked the 350 and tore it apart to find the cam had rounded a couple of lobes. They rebuilt the engine and a friend of the family rebuilt the trans. The block had to be bored .030 over and new TRW pistons were used to replace the factory 10.25:1 slugs. Everything except the cam was built to specs. The cam was a Crane Fireball 2 hydraulic unit which definitly gave the car more pedal power.

Five and half years of Michigan weather eventually caught up to it and some previous body work started popping through. When I met Jacki, the car was just starting to show signs of needing a little help. We ordered brand new quarter panels from Year One, patch panels for the lower front fenders, a new grill from Ausley's and various pieces of trim and emblems.

Bodywork was handled by John's Body Shop in Midland, Michigan. The new quarters were hung, the patches were welded in, everything was coated with an epoxy primer and then the car was squirted with 1995 GM Raspberry Metallic. A new black vinyl top was added and the bumpers were re-chromed.

Unfortunately, Jacki was involved in an extremely nasty car accident in May of 1996 and the car was totaled. We were able to save a few precious items and held them in storage in case we ran across another 1970 Chevelle Malibu, which we eventually did.