The Chevelle's Journey - A Story of Love, Loss, and Redemption

By Tanya Manus

Todd was fifteen when his parents bought him the 1970 Chevelle Super Sport in 1978. Before he could even drive it, he'd sit behind the wheel listening to Meatloaf's "Bat Out of Hell" album on the 8-track stereo, dreaming of the open road.

"I just liked the way it looked," Todd recalls. "The Super Sport was a step up, a little bit more horsepower and better suspension, that kind of stuff."

The car quickly became more than transportation—it was Todd's companion through vocational school and his first job at a body shop in the early 1980s. But those early years weren't without drama.

One night, while Todd's parents were returning from a date, they found themselves caught in the middle of a police pursuit. An escaped prisoner driving a stolen pickup slammed into the driver's side front quarter panel of the Chevelle. The police shot out the pickup's tires and captured the prisoner, while Todd's parents walked away unharmed.

The damage sent the car to Wayne's Body Shop in Luverne for repairs—a new quarter panel, trunk lid, and bumper. It was during this restoration that they added the distinctive stripes.

"If you had a Chevelle and it was a Super Sport, you had to have stripes," Todd explains.

After years of cruising Main Street, hitting the drive-in theater, and illegal drag racing on back roads, Todd made what he now calls "the biggest mistake I ever made." In 1983 or 1984, he traded his beloved Chevelle for a 1981 Z28 Camaro.

The regret was immediate and lasting.

Fifteen years later, in 1999, Todd's father planted a seed that would grow into an obsession: "Why don't you find that car and buy it back?"

The search led Todd to a car show and swap meet in St. Peter, Minnesota, where he spotted his old Chevelle among the displays. He recognized his previous work on the car and desperately begged the show organizers to connect him with the current owner.

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Through persistence, Todd tracked down the original owner's brother, who passed along Todd's contact information. The owner was a veteran who had purchased the Chevelle in Atlanta during flight training before serving in Vietnam.

"He was in flight training, he went to Vietnam, and luckily he came back," Todd states.

In 2012, thirteen years after beginning his search, Todd finally bought back his first love. By then, the Chevelle had passed through seven different owners, and Todd knew every single name on that list.

What followed was a complete frame-off restoration that consumed both Todd's expertise and his wallet.

"What haven't I done to it?" Todd laughs. "Every nut and bolt has been taken off that car—all the suspension, the engine, the transmission. I had the whole frame sandblasted and powder-coated. I could buy a new pickup for what I've got in that car."

95 percent of the car was painstakingly restored by Todd. The rebuilt engine retained its factory-original matching numbers, while the turbo 400 automatic transmission represented a period-correct upgrade option. Todd sourced original exhaust components, tracked down quarter panels from Nebraska, and fenders from Connecticut. A local professional company crafted a vinyl top and headliner, while Todd installed seat covers for the front buckets. “It still has the original factory air conditioning unit,” Todd notes.

"I wanted to put this car back to its original state, because I was only going to do this once," Todd shares. "I've just been obsessed with it."

The undercoating and protection he applied will outlast him, Todd jokes—a testament to his commitment to preserving the car for future generations.

Today, the Chevelle enjoys a place of honor in Todd's Autobody Shop, spending most of its time in the paint booth to stay dust-free. The same 8-track of Meatloaf's "Bat Out of Hell" still plays through the restored stereo, connecting Todd to that fifteen-year-old boy who first fell in love with the car.

"The memories make it special—the drive-in theater, the drag racing. All the good times cruising Main Street," Todd reflects. "Going out to Thunder Valley, drag racing, and doing all the illegal stuff on back roads."

Though other former owners have approached him about purchasing the car, Todd's answer remains firm: "I cannot let it go."

The 1970 Chevelle Super Sport isn't just a restored classic—it's a circle completed, a promise kept, and a love story that spans decades. In Todd's hands, it has found its forever home.