What Are You Workin' On?

This is my original (daily driver) High School car, a 1975 Chevy Malibu/Chevelle. I owned it from late 1989 to 1992, when I sold it. I located it in Frederick, Maryland in 2009 (yes, my original ‘75, VIN verified). It took me seven years to purchase it back from the third owner in June 2016. My son, Mark, and I started to tear her apart in 2018 and had it completed just before Christmas 2019. It needed a lot of love when purchased back. I observed that some of the performance parts/tach & gauges I installed back then were still on the car. I am a 33-year Police Veteran which made it a little easier to locate my old blue friend. lol.

What's really special about this ‘75 Chevelle is that it's the car I owned when my now wife and I were dating in High School. I drove this car in the winter and delivered pizza in it back in the day. It’s just a power steering and brake car only with no creature comforts. Upon purchasing it back, she needed the rear end rebuilt along with wheels, tires, hoses, and all brakes, which allowed me to actually drive it and enjoy it for a bit before tearing her apart. The original 350 was still in the car, which I had rebuilt in 1990 after suffering an oil pressure loss going to school one morning. I learned this car was redone at a shop back in 2006, but all that body work had popped back out and needed redone. It would have been cool if my original Cragar SST rims were still on it, which I sported back then, but they’re now replaced with American Racing Outlaw One's. 

It's now powered by a Blueprint 383 Stroker and rebuilt 350 transmission. It has a stock rear end rebuilt with Richmond 3.42 gears and an Auburn Posi unit from its original highway 2.56 open rear end. Pretty much everything from front to back was replaced. It was a frame-on restoration along with my now ASE Auto Technician son. I did have an old friend finish the body and paint work; the car is still blue today, painted to its original GM paint code 26 "Poly Blue". It was a darker solid blue back when originally purchased in 1989. The interior was completely redone as well. The carpet, package tray, and rear seat were reupholstered and SCAT bucket seats added.

About 98% of the parts were located on eBay, and similar websites due to many companies not making ‘73-‘77 Malibu aftermarket parts. A lot of my parts were NOS/OEM such as the grill that came from a seller out of Canada. The radiator support, bumpers, turn signals, and taillamps all came from different states.

This was my first car in high school back in 2003. My dad (who passed away in 2024) bought it for me as a beater for $2000 from someone who pulled it all apart and couldn’t put it back together. We had to drive it across Phoenix in the summer heat, stopping every 5 blocks to clean silt out of the carburetor. It took forever, but it was a great first bonding experience, of many more to follow, with my dad. He picked up a $900 1967 200-powered Mustang for himself so we could cruise together. He painted them in a rental booth – mine yellow and his orange. He taught me bigger isn’t always better and set us up in our little sixes for a lightweight, zippy runabout. We put on things like headers and distributors, channeled air where we could, and upgraded the cooling. We installed dual master cylinder brakes and anything to squeeze out any performance.

After I went through school, college, and my jobs as an aerospace engineer, the Mustang sat on the sideline deteriorating until 2023. I finally had the time and place to restore it in preparation for my new baby girl who came in 2024. 

The car is important in so many ways, is full of memories, and is now a generational item. I can’t wait to take my daughter for rides!

It’s a 6 cylinder and I plan to keep it that way! I have rebuilt the entire car from the ground up, doing 100% of the work myself using skills my dad taught me (he was an aircraft mechanic and ran a British motorcycle restoring shop). I upgraded all the suspension to modern parts where possible while keeping it cost effective. I’ve done things like the Shelby drop, bigger sway bar, rear sway bar, roller spring perches, and cut springs. I put in a Ford Racing T-5 and a custom diaphragm clutch and disc from McLeod. I added power disc brakes and more leaves to the rear springs. I installed a DUI distributor with coil pack and a custom curve. Currently it has a Holley 2300 2-barrel carb and a 3-row radiator, all pumping through 6-into-2 headers thru a 2-1/4” glass pack dual exhaust. It sounds meaty for sure!

The interior has a full roll cage from when I track raced in high school / college and still has racing seats. 

I also sanded, prepped, and painted it last summer (2025) myself. I rented a paint booth over the mountains in Seattle and trailed the Mustang with my Toyota for a weekend spray event. It was quite the challenge juggling the cure times of each paint stage! But it came out great - red with white racing stripes. 

I am waiting for an aluminum cylinder head to come in the mail for extra power. 

Now I just need to find some nice comfy seats so I can take my daughter for a ride!

We all have that one hotrod that we saw as a kid that just doomed us with the eternal itch to be a gearhead. For me, the first time I saw a Jeep CJ7 with a v8 and side pipes roaring down the highway, I knew I'd have one someday. Fast forward to 2023, I finally got my first Jeep Wrangler, an ‘88 YJ. Though not my dream CJ7, it was a step in the right direction. Immediately, I put a 350 Chevy under the hood and side pipes and began living my childhood fantasy. After two summers of absolute fun and countless smiles per gallon, the original A999 transmission gave up the ghost. The time had come. I was getting my CJ7. 

But, what to do with the YJ. It held a little sentiment in my heart being the first 4x4 drop top I owned. BINGO! I will turn that into my CJ7. I started gathering parts and coming up with a plan to build my dream Jeep. It had to look like a CJ7, and it obviously needed a V8. It’s 2026 and the hot rod world is no longer carburetors, drum brakes, non-overdrive transmissions, so it had to be modernized. So, from the ground up was the way to build it.

I started with a rust-free frame, a 4.5-inch lift kit, and some much-needed upgrades to axles and steering. A Ford 8.8 from a ‘95 Explorer gave me a hefty rear end, 3.73 limited slip, and disc brakes - PERFECT! The front end needed the same kind of love. The factory Dana 30 would stay, but a shackle reversal, steering box relocation, and a crossover steering would be the ticket to a comfortable and reliable ride from a straight axle. Now, how to make her scoot? The automatic transmission was dead, and well, 3 pedals are cooler. So, a Jeep 5-speed manual transmission and the factory transfer case would give me 4-wheel drive and overdrive. Power comes from an LS built by a local race shop using all kinds of goodies. 

Cosmetics were next. I had square headlights, and Jeeps aren't supposed to have those. I was able to source a CJ7 front clip from various marketplace sellers, and a tailgate from a junkyard. After hours and hours of rust repair and retrofitting a cj7 front end, tailgate, and dash, I finally have my CJ7 lookalike, I call it my YJ7. By the time you're reading and reviewing this I'll be in the final assembly stage of the build: new custom fit and upholstered seats from a local shop, body and paint by myself, I'll have the coolest Frankenjeep in town!