1964 Chevrolet Chevelle 300 - Post War

Jim stood back and looked at his project, but realized it still had a bit of the Reagan/Gorbachev pre-Soviet self-destruction film left on it. “I had gotten most of that fixed and swept most of it off the car, but it still had the typical two-tone stripe going down the top of the fender into the quarter-panel. It was a silver and gray stripe. As a quick attempt, I had some House of Kolor Chameleon paint. I picked that up and used that as a base and resprayed it with chameleon. So then I took it to a car show and Johnny Hunkins walked up and says, ‘If you just got rid of this violation I’d put it in the magazine.’ So two weeks later I sent him a picture of the car without the stripe.” For a grand total of less than $13K, Jim fought the good fight and the rest, as they say, is history.

The battles were long and hard. Jim fought for his postwar Post with all the vigor of a Seabee on D-day. In the end, victory was his and the only scars that remain as proof of the skirmishes are a pair of smoking black lines on the long, cold tarmac.

He hasn’t stopped fighting to keep alive the old promise of a chicken in every pot and a Chevelle in every driveway.

By The Numbers

1964 Chevelle 300

Jim Gollwitzer, 43 • Roselle, IL

Best quarter-mile: 11.70 at 114 mph

Engine

Type: small-block Chevy

Displacement: 355 ci

Compression ratio: 10.25:1

Oiling: Melling pump with factory oil pan

Rotating assembly: forged OEM

Cylinder heads: double-hump with 2.02/1.60 valves