Hello to the forum, been watching for years. Decided to finally get involved. First my story: Retired Army Blackhawk Pilot and retired from the civilian helicopter world. Flew oilfield workers out of Louisiana for 17 years. Settled down in the Pensacola, FL area, finally getting around to working on my SS that I last drove in 2005. My SS story: I was sitting in a fast-food place in Killeen, TX eating lunch with a couple Army buddies, this was Dec '83. I was a Huey pilot in the 2nd Armored Div at Ft Hood at the time. I saw a transport truck full of Monte Carlo SS's, it was heading down Hwy 190 thru town. I had already seen a couple of them driving around town but didn't know that much about them. I assumed that the truck was heading to Copperas Cove. After work that day I grabbed the wife and went Connell Chevrolet in Copperas Cove. I think that dealership is long gone. We had the pick of the litter, that truck had dropped off at least 6 SS's. They only came in 2 colors in '84, we chose a white ext/blue int, bucket seat, console, pretty much all the power options available at the time. It had a full sticker price of $13,450.00, built in Arlington, TX on Dec 19, 1983, we drove it home that day Dec 28th. It is one of the last with a TH350C 3sp auto, sometime in Jan84 I think the switchover to the TH200-4R started. The car was a family car for a while, then became the second car garage queen, still have it. I'm in the process of a total redo, nothing crazy no race car stuff. The basic outline- Blueprint forged 383 (377) with Edelbrock port FI, Billet Specialties accessory drive, American racing long tubes and full SS exhaust, TKO 5-spd conversion from Silver Sport, GN 8.5" 10 bolt. Suspension is a mix of Global West control arms, Hotchkis sway bars and springs. Brakes are a conservative upgrade from stock, going with 12" 1LE front rotors and Wilwood D52 calipers
. Changing interior to black with leather seats, Vintage Air, Dakota Digital dash, 5 speed stick on the hump with no console. Too many details to mention, I'm trying to end up with a good driving car with decent power, a manual trans and vintage looks. A pic of the frame on Centerline Convo Pros that I got in '92, (going with 17's eventually). I'm sure many are thinking, wow that's alot to spend on a car worth maybe $15,000 and not even going LS. I agree but, I'll never sell this car, it will be passed down eventually.
