My friend Terry invited me to his home last weekend to check out the progress on his project car. Quick background stories on both: I met Terry close to 25 years ago when we both worked for VCNA (Volvo Cars North America). Our professional relationship was peripheral until I joined him in the Technical Engineering Department in 2006. We labored together until my retirement in 2009 and have remained close. Terry became owner of this 1964 Chevy Malibu SS in 1971 when he was still a teenager! It remained garaged at his parents’ home in Madison, Wisconsin until 1999, when he trailered the car back to his residence in NY. Only since his own retirement has he been able to devote time to it, and his progress has been noteworthy.

The Chevrolet/Volvo/Madison coincidence runs deeper than this, though. Terry told me that he (in reality his father) bought this ’64 from Smart Motors in Madison, which at that time was an authorized Volvo dealer (also selling other import makes, as most did). The car, not running because the manual gearbox was stuck in gear, cost $225. Terry said he seems to remember using a hammer on it, which successfully freed the mechanism, allowing him to drive it home. (He wanted a ’65 because an uncle had one, but settled on this ’64 instead.)

This past Friday, as soon as Larry and I arrived at Terry’s house, he invited us into his garage to view a complete engine/transmission assembly on a home-built stand. With 12V battery and gas can on the ground, Terry stepped up to a “dashboard”, flicked a few controls, and the engine instantly fired to life. In order to ensure that his engine rebuild was done to his satisfaction, and to fine-tune all the settings, Terry constructed an elaborate set-up allowing him to start and run the engine in his garage.

Some specifics on the drivetrain: the car’s original engine block became lost over time, so Terry located a 283 SS engine which he had bored 0.030” over, yielding a displacement of 355 c.i. The block wears aluminum heads with larger valves. Atop the aluminum intake manifold is a Holley 4-barrel “street” carb, rated at 600 CFM. Terry noted that it’s a common mistake to “over carburate” a rebuilt engine, and this arrangement was chosen for its street-worthiness. (“I’m not going racing with it!” he exclaimed.) Backing up this engine is a Tremec 5-speed TKO model tranny. Fifth gear is a 0.64-to-1 overdrive, which will allow for relaxed highway cruising. The transmission also features an electronic pickup for the speedometer, as well as neutral safety and reverse light switches.

With the drivetrain so near completion, Terry has begun to make plans for the body shell’s restoration. To my amateur eye, the body looked good. (As I told Terry, I grew up in NYC where copious amounts of salt were strewn on the roads every winter. In the ‘60s and ‘70s of my youth, we saw many cars rust away after only 5 or 6 years of driving.) Over the last several years, he has been collecting NOS and replacement sheetmetal, and Terry has lined up a restoration shop which will take the shell sometime in 2024 to restore and paint it. At that point, all that will be left is final assembly!

Terry and I have spoken at length about auto restoration in general, and my own 5-year journey with the Isetta, well-documented throughout this blog. Somehow I found time to do that work when I was in my 30s and 40s. Thirty years older than I was then, after relocating from WI to Sweden to NY, and raising a family, this is now Terry’s time. I’m personally thrilled for him, and his own excitement is palpable. I plan to make future visits to document his progress on these digital pages.

All photographs copyright © 2023 Richard A. Reina. Photos may not be copied or reproduced without express written permission.