The Rally wheels work nicely.

Since we are all congregating on this Chevrolet centric website, it stands to reason that we are all fans of the General’s Bow Tie. Bob Friesen has a gorgeous ’66 Chevelle, and he tells us that he has always been a fan of the brand, and has owned many models throughout his life time.

We asked him how he first fell in love with the brand, and he told us, “My favorite story is about when I bought a ‘65 Chevelle. I had just gotten my first job after college, but then found out I was going to Viet Nam. I knew I didn’t want to make payments while receiving a small military pay check, so I sold the Chevelle. That freed up enough money for me to get something else. I paid cash for a ‘57 Chevy two-door sedan so I had something to drive around until I left.”

When Bob was off defending Democracy, he left the ‘57 with his girlfriend. While he was away, she used the car as transportation, and then it happened, Bob returned from that “conflict” overseas. Upon his return, his girlfriend must have been happy to see him, because she not only gave him back the car, but they eventually married. He continued, “I drove that car for several years after I got home. I found a job and even married the girl that took care of my car while I was gone.”

Unfortunately, Bob lost that lady in 2012, and the loss of his onetime sweetheart and wife got him reminiscing about that old Chevelle he had many years ago. That prompted him to locate this car, which he found in Oklahoma. Bob told us, “This was very much an original car when I found it. The body was solid, and the frame had no signs of rust. One deviation from stock was that the original engine was no longer in the car.

The crate engine is reliable, and that makes this a great cruiser.

When Bob purchased the car, it had spent all of its life in Oklahoma and it needed some work. The engine that did come with the car is, in Bob’s words, “a smooth running 350.” He continued with, “I bought the car with this engine already in it. It is crate engine with the mild camshaft and an Edelbrock intake and 600 cfm carburetor. The transmission is a rebuilt Turbo 350, and it has a 10-bolt rear with a Posi.

Bob is currently enjoying the car by taking it to cruise nights and car shows, and when we asked him his future plans for the car, he finished by saying, “Keep spending money to keep it a good driver and make her look good.” To us, it looks like he has already done most of his future plans on this already good looking Reader’s Hardcore Project.

Do you want to read about more Reader’s Hardcore Projects? All you need to do is click here. If you’re working on a project, we want to hear about it. Since we’ve started the Hardcore Project series, we have received more than a few candidates, but we still want to see more, as we can never get enough. Send us a few pictures of your car showing the engine, interior, and exterior, along with all of the pertinent information, and we’ll make you Internet famous. You can send your submissions to [email protected].