Xplantdad
11-20-2023, 06:49 PM
Hello Everyone! This is my fathers(John Berlage) 1968 L78 Chevelle SS.
Car was purchased new from Burt Chevrolet in Englewood Colorado. It appears the car was bought for drag racing from day one. L78 M22 4spd car 4:10 posi with factory air shocks. Car lost its original engine right away as the CE motor is cast before the cars trim tag date. The car was received very complete, clean, and original. This poor car must have been just pounded on at the track. All of the factory pinch welds along the lowest edge of the rocker panel were broken on the driver’s side. The shock towers on the rear of the frame were terribly cracked and deformed.
I included a picture showing the traction bar setup the car came with. The Chevelle was pulled off the road sometime before the 2000s. The older pictures shown below do depict the car as it was in about 2010. It was fun to find a significant amount of chalk and grease pencil markings, including a clear as day 13837 mark up near the brake booster and a /22 mark just to the left above where the bellhousing to heater housing area is. Car had near zero rot and retains all factory panels except for the hood because of the hole that was cut in it for the original square hood scoop. Car came with factory tach and gauges and the correct 6500rpm redline barrel tach, as well as console, buckets and power steering but no power brakes.
One of the fun and unique things found during restoration was a complete smog system taken of a 68 375hp during the 1st month of its purchase. Setup was put in a box and included all hardware, clamps and hoses. All of that system except for the hard tubes where used on this car.
We struggled to find any original owner history so if anyone knew about this car during its drag racing days reach out please!!
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Car was purchased new from Burt Chevrolet in Englewood Colorado. It appears the car was bought for drag racing from day one. L78 M22 4spd car 4:10 posi with factory air shocks. Car lost its original engine right away as the CE motor is cast before the cars trim tag date. The car was received very complete, clean, and original. This poor car must have been just pounded on at the track. All of the factory pinch welds along the lowest edge of the rocker panel were broken on the driver’s side. The shock towers on the rear of the frame were terribly cracked and deformed.
I included a picture showing the traction bar setup the car came with. The Chevelle was pulled off the road sometime before the 2000s. The older pictures shown below do depict the car as it was in about 2010. It was fun to find a significant amount of chalk and grease pencil markings, including a clear as day 13837 mark up near the brake booster and a /22 mark just to the left above where the bellhousing to heater housing area is. Car had near zero rot and retains all factory panels except for the hood because of the hole that was cut in it for the original square hood scoop. Car came with factory tach and gauges and the correct 6500rpm redline barrel tach, as well as console, buckets and power steering but no power brakes.
One of the fun and unique things found during restoration was a complete smog system taken of a 68 375hp during the 1st month of its purchase. Setup was put in a box and included all hardware, clamps and hoses. All of that system except for the hard tubes where used on this car.
We struggled to find any original owner history so if anyone knew about this car during its drag racing days reach out please!!
251165
251166
251167
251168
251169
251170
251171
251172