Horrid story about a 67 Chevelle SS car. Nightmare

[Mr. Chevy]

I was talking to a friend of mine the other night. He told me a story about a guy he is friends with who just bought a 1967 Chevelle SS 396 car off of E-Bay earlier this year.

I saw pictures of the car and it is very nice. It was completely restored by the guy who was selling it. The car was trailered from New York to Ohio and sat in the buyers garage due to the winter weather.

Just about 2 weeks ago this guy took the Chevelle for a ride and was approx. several miles from his home on the interstate when the rear tires of the car completely locked up while he was going about 60 MPH. Luckily he was able to get the car safely off the right hand side of the highway. A tow truck happened to be going by and he flagged it down. The car was towed back to his house and my friend went to look at the car the other day to see what the problem was.

He stated that he originally thought the rear brakes locked up but after ruling that out he was deeper in concern. He stated the scariest, unthinkable happened. He pulled the 12 bolt rear drain plug and discovered flakes of powder coming out rather than fluid. "Long story short" the seller of the car forgot to put rear axle lube in when he restored the car..

Moral of the story, "always check your fluid levels". By the way this is in fact a true story and did happen... really SUCKS!!

Rich

[Rixls6]

I'll bet the rear end was making a pretty ugly noise before it locked up too.

[x Baldwin Motion]

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I'll bet the rear end was making a pretty ugly noise before it locked up too.

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damn thing had to be singing!! how loud was the stereo??

[olredalert]

------I have an older cousin who was and is known for watching his wallet. In 1964 he ordered a new 65 327/365 Vette vert. He thought he would save money and turned down the dealer prep. Long story short,,,There was never any trans lube in the trans from the factory and he never checked that. Dealership claimed (rightfully so) that they would have caught that and therefore the warranty was not in effect. Cousin learned an important lesson that day!!!!!........Bill S

[67 GTO]

How could someone not notice? My GTO was loud, with a 428, manifolds, 2 1/2" pipes, and 2 chamber Flowmasters. When I forgot to fill the diff I didn't get more than 20 feet without noticing the noise.

I have to ask: was this a Turbo 400??

I'm asking because I had a similar lockup incident which I attribute to a TH400. The 12 bolt from this instance was good for another year of use and abuse (and only because I went from 4.11s to 3.55s) but this transmission was a neck breaking piece of crap. No offense intended, but my well intentioned friend who built it clearly didn't know what he was doing - three broken cases and two flipped sprags. Anyways, I'm just saying don't rule out the trans...

[Keith Tedford]

When doing anything major, sticky notes or wired tags on the steering wheel are a must for our failing old memories. Might work for younger guys too.