It's not often that the story behind a 1969 Chevelle is more interesting than the car itself. We promise you, it's none of that sob stuff, just somebody who loved muscle cars ever since he was a little boy. I think many of us can relate to that.
Swan just finished his garage build and brought it for AutotopiaLA to check out and make a feature video about it. Many folks might think that he comes from money and just bought this turn-key. But the 31-year-old has been working on it for two decades.
Family tradition dictated that you started work on your project car really young to have it ready by sixteen. Swan got a paper route and saved up a couple of hundred bucks and got his dad to buy him the sorriest-looking pile of junk that you could barely call a 1969 Chevelle.
He did a bit of work here and there, buying parts with left-over student loans until he was left with a shiny piece of muscle car history. His dream LS engine has ported and polishing on the heads, a forged crank, performance cams, and 6 liters of V8 goodness. The 415 rear wheel horsepower is definitely enough to burn some rubber. Of course, it's got the obligatory coilover suspension to ensure it doesn't handle like it's 50 years old.
This really is one of those rare inspirational stories of working hard on your dream. This is a really nice model year Chevelle to have. The year before that, they did the major update of the design, bringing a shorter wheelbase and a long hood. For 1969, the 396 option (the L78) returned with 375 hp and they installed those larger taillights. No wonder Chevy sold record numbers of them.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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