Larry Geiger’s history with Chevelles goes way back. In fact his first car at the age of 17 was a 1969 Chevelle. Since then he has had many cars and trucks over the years, because his hobby is building hot rods. He purchased the 1972 Chevelle you see here off eBay about 8 years ago, becoming the cars second owner since it was new. The original owner made the purchase for his wife in 1972, and she drove it for many years. Their son was given the car to drive when in High School, and he did so for two years before graduating. After that the father decided he wanted to drag race, so he had the Chevelle converted to a drag car by a local builder in Pennsylvania. Once completed he raced the Chevelle, still painted the original bright emerald green color, and running very impressive 9.40’s in the quarter mile. The original owner’s participation in racing lasted only one year....and then the car sat dormant in his garage.
Larry purchased the sleeping Chevelle in July of 2005, and immediately went to work on making it street legal. By November of 2005 it was finished and ready to roll. Since then the car has seen many changes, including new tires and rims, to a new solid fiberglass hood done by Tim Brown, custom car builder and owner of The Jacksonville Collision Center.
The body has been left basically stock, and features DuPont single stage black paint applied by Tim Shocker of Jacksonville. The Mickey Thompson rims certainly add flash and give the car attitude, measuring 18x7 inches up front and 20x18 inches out back. In fact, the rear wheels are so wide and have such deep backspacing that they were a custom order....with Larry calling and convincing them to produce a pair (something that apparently they will no longer do). Wrapped in 33x22.5 inch rear tires, the car is certainly equipped for traction.
That brings us to the motor, which is a 502 cubic inch big block Chevy, bored out to now displace 568 cubes. It is topped by a B&M blower with dual Holley 4-barrel carbs, has Brodix heads, a set of headers, an MSD ignition, plus lots of plated and polished pieces adding visual appeal. The power produced is routed through a Turbo 400 automatic transmission back to a 9-inch Ford rear end with 4.11:1 gears, and ultimately those big rear Mickey Thompson meats.
The interior of the car has remained rather stock looking, except for the roll cage that tucks nicely out of the way, a set of race style bucket seats covered in black tweed, and the back seat area now being occupied by two massive wheel tubs. The remainder of the cabin still sports the factory style black vinyl, with some additional gauges and switches installed to keep tabs on the blown big block, and a modern stereo system.
Larry told us that the main thing he enjoys is driving his Chevelle to cruise-ins and cars shows, and meeting new people in the process. We were glad that he attended our Beach Blast in 2012, where we got to check out the car, and make the decision to share it with our readers. Larry told us he will be back at the Beach Blast for 2013, and looks forward to a nice weekend getaway at the beach, checking out all the other cool cars and trucks....and of course meeting many more friendly faces. CN |
