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In the classic era of muscle cars and thundering American performance machines, Chevrolet owes some of their major stories and moves to companies like Nickey and Yenko. But if we were to talk about the full picture of the Chevrolet brand, we’d be erroneous to leave out Mr. Chevrolet himself, Dick Harrell.
Always a Bowtie-backer, Harrell’s legacy has lived on for decades on drag strips, in unique Chevrolets and in the hearts of all Chevrolet enthusiasts. In winning countless drag strip battles, even when backing from the manufacturer fell through, Harrell has taught all of us what it is to truly be an ultimate enthusiast and legend in the industry.
Of course, it always helps when you have the tuning know-how and engineering experience to back your passion like Harrell did.
While Harrell was tragically killed in a drag racing accident in 1971, doing what he loved best, one of his many amazing legacies continues to live on in the Chevrolet community through a handful of 1969 Dick Harrell Camaros. With just 10 of these amazing performance machines built, the Dick Harrall Camaros are some of the most valuable Chevrolets to date, not only in monetary value but also in heritage. Lucky for one of those exclusive cars, it has just received an honorary position in the Classic Industry’s Showroom after it was purchased at auction by the company.
Recently put up for sale at the 2013 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction, this Le Mans Blue Camaro has quite the history. Starting out as a 1969 model shipped to Bill Allen Chevrolet in Kansas City, Missouri, this classic coupe quickly turned into a street warrior. After being shipped to Dick Harrell Performance Center across town, the Camaro came under the talented eye of Harrell himself, who converted the 396 SS car into a 427ci-weilding powerhouse for The Flying Dutchman Funny Car crew member John Penso.
While Harrell originally tried to get Penso to buy a ZL1 car that was already at his shop, Penso doubted the reliability of an all-aluminum motor for his street and strip ventures. So he asked Harrell to build a famous Dick Harrell Camaro to his specifications. Along with the iron 427ci block under the hood, the car received many Dick Harrell upgrades, including 4.56 rearend gears, a ZL1 camshaft and Lakewood traction bars, all put in the trunk for installation after Penso’s drive home.
From Penso, the car jumped around a bit, from place to place, owner to owner, but underwent no major performance modifications. Finally tracked down in Hawaii by enthusiast Tim Lopata nearly four decades later, the car was verified as a true Dick Harrell Camaro by Harrell’s daughter Valerie, and was even found to have it’s original CE427 engine that Harrell installed. After a complete restoration, the car found its way to Barrett-Jackson where Classic Industries picked it up for $253,000.
As one of the industry’s leaders of the restoration parts industries, Classic Industries is sure to give this amazing car a great home. Delivered to the company after the auction, Classic Industries gave us all a sneak peak at their new showroom queen on January 30th via their Facebook page. On February 8th, they added more pictures, including one of the car’s inaugural burnout performed by Reggie Jackson, a friend of Classic Industries’ CEO Jeff Leonard.
Congratulations goes out to both Classic Industries for acquiring such a historic car, and to Dick Harrell’s family for continuing on the heritage of a man that could so fully be described as Mr. Chevrolet.
