David Mauldin is a Chevy enthusiast through and through. And like most Bow-Tie fans, he has a true affection for the Chevelle. “I found this ’66 Chevelle 32 years ago in a for sale ad in the Arizona Republic,” he states. “I bought it from the original owner who had it stashed in his garage in Glendale, Arizona. We had to remove stacks of old blankets and boxes for me to even look at it. It was a true basket case and looked like several generations of cats had lived in it. Once we pushed it out of the garage, it was obvious there were serious rust issues, but I wanted it.”

The deep-seated reason David wanted this car goes back to 1969. That’s when he owned another black ’66 Chevelle SS396 car. It was the car that he had when he met his wife. Spoiler alert, they’re still married after 52 years.

Under the hood is a 496 big-block with a SCAT 4340 forged crankshaft, Manley H-beam rods, JE forged pistons, Comp Cams solid roller stick, and CNC-ported Dart Pro 1 heads.

“I have always loved the body lines of the ’66 and ’67 cars, and the Chevelle I owned in 1969 was the first of five ’66 SS cars I have owned,” he relays. “Sadly, the first SS was destroyed in a wreck, and others were sold through the years to finance kid’s educations, etc., etc.  So, when I saw this one, I decided to buy it, no matter how much work was involved to restore it.”

David says he towed it home and began to map out his plans for the build. “I can weld and I have had many hot rods, so, fortunately, have all the skills needed to restore the car.”  The rusted areas cut out and replaced were the trunk pan, floor pans, bottoms of both rear quarter panels, and bottom rear edges of both front fenders. The car was originally Marina Blue with a bench seat, four-speed, and a 396 engine, but David painted it Shadow Gray Metallic, a 1970 Chevelle color. The engine and transmission were gone when he found it, but luckily, he had a spare 454 and Muncie four-speed to fill the void.

But things quickly changed, “after I spun a rod bearing in the 454, I decided to build a bigger engine,” David quips. “A friend had a 454, with a four-bolt main, which I procured I then had a professional shop build the short-block. It is now 496 cubic inches and utilizes a SCAT 4340 lightweight forged crankshaft, Manley H-beam rods, JE forged pistons, Comp Cams solid roller cam (XR280R), and CNC-ported Dart Pro 1 heads. It breathes through a set of Hooker headers with a 3-inch exhaust.

At the same time, I wanted to occasionally drag race the car, so the 12-bolt rear came out, and in went the 9-inch Strange Engineering rear, Metco billet rear control arms, the McLeod clutch assembly, and Lakewood Industries bellhousing.” But once again, things changed.

“After drag racing only about four or five times per year for several years, I decided I wanted a cruiser,” says David. During the conversion to a cruiser, he decided he wanted the car to be black, in memory of the car he had in 1969. This realization led to jacking the car off the frame, blasting the frame, replacing the suspension components, adding disc brakes, pulling the M22 and installing the D&D Performance Super Magnum six-speed, adding Vintage Air A/C, installing a nice stereo, adding about 300 pounds of Dynamat insulation, and once again, painting the car in his home garage.

“I finished that switch to a cruiser 11 years ago, and thoroughly enjoy the car now much more than before the conversion,” David affirms. “It has a great exhaust note with the solid roller cam and 3-inch exhaust and Magnaflow mufflers.

Do you want to read about more Home-Built Heroes? All you need to do is click here. I want to see those reader’s rides. If you would like to share yours, I want to hear about it. Since I started this series, I have received more than a few candidates, but I still want to see more — I can never get enough. If you want to see more cars built by you the readers, send a few pictures of your car showing the engine, interior, and exterior, along with all of the pertinent information, and I’ll make you internet famous. You can send your submissions to [email protected].