|
This issue's member spotlight is on Larry Deckard. Larry is 65 years young and lives in the Bloomington area. He's the owner of a gorgeous '66 Chevelle SS396 that he bought new (more on that later). He was born and raised in the Bloomington area and graduated from Bloomington HS in 1960. He was in the US Air Force for 4 years, then worked at RCA for 33 years before retiring in '98. Larry was married for 24 years and has 3 children and 9 grandchildren.
In December 1965 Larry went to a local Chevy dealer to test drive a '63 Corvette but saw his Aztec Bronze '66 SS on the showroom floor and struck a deal to buy it. "It was the most beautiful car I'd ever seen", he said. It came with a 4 speed and L34 360 hp engine and reflected that on the sticker but also on the sticker the written description said 375 hp. Larry drove his Chevelle about 2 years but got in trouble racing on the street so he started racing it on area 1/8 mile dragstrips. During this period he modified the engine to a real 375 hp version and won several hundred races. After 7 years of racing it was time to quit. The competition was getting quicker and he didn't have the money to make his faster.
Then in 1974 a friend repainted the car and added a multicolored stripe down each side. Larry installed side pipes to make it street legal and added aftermarket wheels. The car stayed that color combination for 27 years but the paint started getting a little rough. In 2001 he began a frame-on restoration back to original appearance. He still has the original window sticker. The car was completely disassembled, repainted its original Aztec Bronze hue in base coat-clear coat, complete new interior added, and the engine was returned to stock appearing 375 hp status. A set of Hooker headers and Flowmaster mufflers were added to help it breathe and sound better. Steel wheels, mag-style wheel covers, and red line tires went on to make it look just like it did that day in 1965 when Larry first saw and fell in love with it.
Larry also owned a '71 MG Midget for a few
|
|
