Bill Waters – Winnipeg Manitoba Canada

Member #20

1966 Malibu SS

This car was built at the GM plant in Oshawa Ontario Canada on Jan.19^th 1966 and first sold new at Kam Motors in Fort William Ontario. GM Documentation shows that this is one of 499 Malibu SS cars built with the L34 engine (the L34 396/360HP was the only big block offered in Canada for 66 Malibu SS cars).

Options:             Aztec Bronze Exterior / Bronze Interior, AO2 tinted Glass, A51 Sport SS Option (Buckets Seats and console), F40 HD suspension, G80 12 Bolt 3.73 Positraction rear axle, J50 Power Brakes, L34 396 V8, M20 Muncie 4spd. PO1 Dog Dish hubcaps, U16 Tachometer, U63 Radio, P62 775-14 tires, KO5 block Heater

This is an early build car and had the rear valance blacked out.  Some Canadian SS cars in 66 also had the rear valance in “Argent”.

I believe I was the second owner the first time around (I will explain this later). When I bought the car in Winnipeg in the late sixties, it was all stock and in nice shape except that the paint was faded with a bit of rust coming through the driver’s side quarter panel. I had that fixed right away. A little later, I had the car repainted at a Ford dealership in a Maroon color because my friends convinced me that Aztec Bronze was not a cool color. I also added 67 Chevelle SS style white side stripes and a rear sway bar from a 1966 442.

Jacked up cars were popular in ’66.  So I added wagon coils all round for the jacked up look. Even with the car up high, the tires rubbed the wheel well chrome. So all the mint wheel trim was thrown away!  I had various mag wheels on it with L60 –15 tires on 10” rims on the back.

Street racing was also popular in ’66.  So, I rebuilt the motor with new pistons, cam, intake, bigger Holley carburetor and Mallory Distributor, headers, Weber Clutch, and Hurst shifter, and SW gauges.  The new motor required modifications in the suspension:  torque strap and driveshaft hoop and welded axle tubes.

Naturally, I threw away the exhaust manifolds and factory shifter but somehow did keep the stock intake, carburetor, and distributor.  I also bought the factory optional wood wheel and didn’t realize I needed to order the hub.  So, it never got installed.  Canadian built SS cars did not come with a black out grille or SS hood. One of the first modifications we did was black out the grille and added the SS emblem to the grille.

I drove and raced the car this way (summers only) till about 73. I got married; the car was too much for wife to drive.  You know the story: I sold it for $2,500.00. My buddies told me I screwed the young guy on the price. He had it a year or so and sold it to a guy who intended to only race it. He redid the block and heads with some serious internals, but gave up or ran out of money and the car was put away in 1978 in a steel building in the country. A "profiteer" found it about 2001 and put it up for sale on the Internet in 2002. At this point, the car was exactly the same as the day I sold it except for the shifter and missing stock radio. The paint and interior were somewhat worn, but car was complete and all the numbers still matched.

I had long since gotten away from cars. After the Chevelle, I had a few nice cars. But none were as much fun. By this time, we had our kids and I was more interested in a place at the lake.

My old car buddies were always bugging me to get involved with cars again. A friend from my Chevelle days who had a 66 Chevelle Convertible at the same time, called and told me my old Chevelle for sale. After some prodding, I checked it out.

I was stunned when I saw it. It was like a time warp. The guy who had found it in the country and brought it into Winnipeg did not deserve the car. He did know what he had. I had to "bid" against a guy from Minneapolis. I basically wrote a cheque for a lot more than the asking price (which was high) and shoved it in his face. This was while the seller was on phone with the other interested buyer. That buyer had agreed to the asking price sight unseen.
He had just seen e-mail pictures. So, yes, I bought back my car about 29 years later, on Easter Sunday 2002.

I borrowed a trailer and dragged it to a friend’s shop. After all those years, I got the engine to run. For the fun of it, we cut the exhaust off and let it run with open
headers J.  The sound of that old BB with a cam brought back some great memories and I was hooked. Believe it or not, the engine ran decent with just a bit of blow by.

The intent was to cherry out the body and interior, freshen up the engine and enjoy it.  At the time, I thought it should take a year !!! 

Then I found Team Chevelle and Mike Crown and decided to go the true restoration route. I toured around to some shows, met with Mike a couple of times, and became an e-bay junkie for NOS parts and other rare Chevelle stuff. 

I then saw Randy Kirkers Aztec Bronze 66 being painted at Legendary MC in Toronto. I believe this is one of the nicest 66’s around.  Then I realized that, while my car would be decent, it would never look as good as Randy's and Mike’s cars. The body and interior maybe, but the chassis on my car had been flogged during it's drag racing days.  Brackets had been welded on and cut off and the chassis would never be factory fresh like a concourse restoration.

I was really interested in the challenge of a pure restoration, but the thought of restoring the car to the way it was when I was a kid or, more correctly, the way I wished it was when I was a kid was overwhelming.  The project changed direction.  More time and money keeps dragging it out, but it is getting close to being “done”.

Back in the old drag strip days in Winnipeg, a RED 427 66 SS from Minnesota would show up once in a while. It had the heater delete option, dealer installed L72 427 and the rare Cowl Plenum Air Cleaner.  I never forgot that car and, back then, would have killed to have a 427 Cowl plenum engine in my 66. The BB Chevy 427’s ruled in the 60’s. Now I had the chance to have that engine.  I abandoned pure restoration and redo this car the way I had it as a kid but with a 427.  The numbers matching 396 and Muncie 4spd will be restored to pure stock. I already have found replacement stock parts that I threw away years ago  ….. of course I had to pay big $$ for what I thought was worthless years ago.

I had Dave Millar build a strong, pump gas, vintage 427, with an Ultra dyne solid roller cam, Brodix Alum. heads, Stahl headers, Holley HP 950 on an Edelebrock intake, Stewart Water Pump, Stewart RacePump Canton Oil pan: you get the idea. The engine has been on the Dyno and has made a little over 600HP, with 575 foot-pounds of torque at 3500rpm J. A real GM cowl plenum air cleaner and heater delete panels were located to top off the engine

The transmission is a Tremec TKO 600 5 Speed with Denny’s HD alum driveshaft, Lakewood bell housing and McLeod Clutch and flywheel.

The front suspension consists of QA1 “ R” series coilovers and Pole position UCA with Howe tall ball joints and Hotchkiss sway bar.

The rear suspension consists of a HRP triangulated adjustable 4 bar with Antiroll bar and QA1 adjustable shocks, stock coils

Brakes are 4-wheel drum!!! with Praise Dyno Stage 3 linings and cryogenically treated finned drums.  The car originally had power brakes, but the new motor does not produce enough vacuum to ensure they work well.  Since I have a stud girdle, it requires tall valve covers and the booster did not clear the engine.  So, I have installed an “Electric Hi Power “ power brake system from ABS Brakes. The electric vacuum pump and accumulator is mounted on the frame under the car. The special master cylinder and reservoir mounts in the stock location. I get a lot of flak over the drum brakes, but I want to leave the car close to original as I can. I know some guys who have the same setup and they are very pleased with braking performance.  Only time will tell.

All modifications are bolt on and none will ruin the originality of the car. I powder coated all the parts that were originally black from GM in semi gloss black. This includes the frame, transmission cross member, suspension parts, inner fenders, radiator saddle, rear end housing etc.

The car has undergone a frame off, rotisserie rectification and every effort was made to retain the original parts and or finish /markings. The only deviation is for the performance modifications.

All exterior trim is either NOS or restored by reanodizing and or polishing. There are no reproduction parts on the exterior so far. Original bumpers are rechromed and have the bumper guards.

Body and paint was stripped by hand and sandblasted in the non-finished areas. I replaced both quarter panels and inner wheel wells; I really only needed to replace one quarter but decided to do both so I would never have to worry about the body again. Full quarters were used while still retaining the VIN number in the trunk lip rail.

I spent a lot of time and $$ getting the correct shade of Aztec Bronze replicated in BCCC.  Thanks to DuPont labs, Legendary MC, and Randy Kirker for their help in this process. ” Wavey Davey “ applied the DuPont Chroma Premiere base and DuPont clear in addition to doing a great job on the bodywork. Trunks on most Canadian built cars come in the same color as the body.  Mine was spatter. so we replicated the color with Zolotone. Canadian cars also had body color underneath; since my underbody was solid with battle scars and it will be driven, I elected to add the body color base paint to the tintable box liner.  I have ended up with the correct color and a bulletproof underbody that hides a lot of the battle scars and is easy to clean.

Interior was completely disassembled; I added all new wiring and had the upholstery redone with PUI products to be as correct as possible and even scored a set of NOS GM bronze floor mats. The dash was rebuilt with the original knee knocker tachometer and gauges. Radio and heater delete panels are installed. My old SW gauges are installed behind the Heater delete panel for a stock look. A factory console with factory shifter handle adapted to the trtemec is in the works.  The headliner pattern is different in Canadian cars; again, my thanks to James Hinshaw for locating the correct fabric to ensure my early style “earmuff“ headliner is correct. “B- Quiet “ sound insulation is installed in the interior.

The front tires and wheels are 15x6 “reversed” early steel wheels with NOS dog dish caps.  I had a set like this on the car when I drove it one winter in the ‘60’s and always liked the look. Canadian cars were not available with redline tires; they are just too cool not to have, so the front tires are 215-70—15 Diamond Back Redline radials. The rears are custom made early style 15x8 steel wheels with factory Dogs and 275-60-15 Diamondback redlines.

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