This rescued 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle had a surprise on the cowl tag

A man who rescued a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS396 from a barn in California found a nice surprise on its cowl tag. 

The Chevrolet Chevelle was launched back in 1964 and had a short but sweet production run that wrapped up in 1977. 

Although it only had a relatively brief production run, the Chevelle was one of Chevrolet’s most successful nameplates.

Today, the car is as popular as ever and you still see plenty of them out there.

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This barn find Chevelle was in need of some TLC

But that’s not to say there aren’t some super-rare Chevy Chevelles out there – because there definitely are, including this 1968 model that was discovered in an Ohio barn and is one of only three. 

There’s also the 1970s Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454 LS6 convertible that’s so rare even Chevy aren’t sure on the numbers. 

However, when Patrick Glenn Nichols from the Muscle Car Barn Finds YouTube channel went out to Texas to check out this barn find, he thought he was going to see a fairly run-of-the-mill model. 

The car had been rescued from a barn in California by a man from Texas, who was hoping to restore it. 

It’s fair to say the poor old Chevelle had seen better days.

Over the years it appeared to have been caught up in some scrapes and as a result some of its original features, including its V8 engine, were missing. 

Other parts of the car, such as the front grille, had been replaced by parts from a Malibu.

Meanwhile, the inside of the car was in similar bad shape.

The car’s cowl tag revealed it was actually pretty rare

The Chevelle had originally been ordered in ‘Fathom Blue’, but a previous owner had slopped a thick coat of white paint over the top, which – again – wasn’t in the best condition. 

The coupe had also been ordered with a vinyl top – that had since been removed. 

It was this vinyl top that made it a bit of a rare vehicle.

While examining the car, Nichols checked out the cowl tag and noticed it had a letter C – this denotes that the Chevelle had once had a dark blue vinyl top. 

This is a much rarer option than the black or white tops that Chevelles often had. 

The exact figures for the dark blue vinyl tops aren’t known – but you’d be very unlikely to see one out and about on the road, meaning the man who picked up this barn find got himself a rare motor. 

Now we just hope he can restore it to its former glory.