CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Local muscle car hunter Patrick Nichols is no stranger to finding exceedingly rare vehicles, such as the 1969 Daytona yellow Chevrolet Chevelle he found last year in Virginia.
In his nationwide hunt for Chevelles, Nichols has now found not one, but two of the world’s most sought-after muscle cars in original condition: the 1970 Chevelle SS454 LS6.
The Holy Grail
According to Nichols, Pennsylvania is a great hunting ground for finding Chevrolet Chevelles – the vehicle Nichols refers to as “the king of the muscle cars.”
“The majority of the cars I’ve found have come from there (Pennsylvania) aside from the one in Nevada and a couple more elsewhere,” he said.
Pennsylvania is where he found his two most recent treasures.
In November, Nichols caught wind of what he called a “rare situation” – a 1970 Chevelle SS454 LS6 that had been up on a garage lift up since 1978, meaning it hadn’t been touched for at least 43 years. Everything was factory original to the car except the paint.
“The color has been changed, it was factory black with white stripes. Now it’s burgundy and somebody had put orange stripes on it, but it’s a really cool car with all of the drive line still matching,” Nichols said.
Then, just a month later in, Nichols said he located “the Holy Grail” of Chevelles: a one-owner, 1970 Chevelle SS454 LS6 in completely original condition.
Nichols said had heard through a friend about a widow who was looking to get rid of the car, which she bought new with her husband who had recently passed. The car had only 18,000 miles on it.
“It is breathtaking for a 52-year-old car to have the original paint, the original interior and to be that nice 52 years later. I mean it’s never seen a day outside, so a really, really high-dollar car there,” Nichols said.
Both cars were “big-time finds,” according to Nichols, as only 4,475 Chevelles were made in 1970 with the LS6 option. After purchasing the cars, he was able to bring both back to Clarksville.
‘Just like America and apple pie’
When asked about what makes the Chevelle so special, Nichols told Clarksville Now the make and model embody the spirit of Americana.
“The Chevelle was the pinnacle of the muscle car. And as far as a Chevy is concerned, Chevrolet is always going to be one of the top as far as cars. It’s just like America and apple pie, Chevrolet is always going to be one of the best,” Nichols said.
He describes the Chevelle as Chevrolet’s flagship muscle car – its size was between a bigger car and a sports car, and fell into the generation of car manufacturing that was unparalleled regarding horsepower.
“It was kind of like something your average, everyday guy could go down there and get, and he could actually put his kid in the back if he had one,” Nichols said of the vehicle’s appeal.
“Anything from the mid ’60s to 1970 is the time era of the sweet spot of cars, so I don’t care if it’s a Corvette, if it’s a Camaro, a Chevelle, a GTO, a Pontiac, a Plymouth Barracuda. … All of that stuff is when they were putting loud colors on cars and big engines with graphics, and it was just a wild time,” Nichols said.
As for the two Chevelles he recently located, Nichols said they will remain in his collection for now.
“I don’t really have sights on selling them. But as you know, I didn’t have sights on selling a couple in the past, but I work every day to stay well connected with people that want these cars and look for these cars,” Nichols said.