In 1965, Richard McBride got his first car when his father found him a 1963 Plymouth Fury. But McBride was dreaming of other possibilities.

“I’d sit in my high school drafting class thinking about a Chevelle,” McBride recalled. “More specifically, it was an L-79 327 engine that had my attention. I wanted one badly.” 

Even though McBride had the specs for the car memorized, such a vehicle wasn’t within easy reach, and the Plymouth had to suffice as McBride graduated from high school and entered the work force.

In 1967 McBride was working at Boose Chevrolet in Brookville, Ohio, where he still resides. “Russell Boose, the dealership owner, lived across the street from my parents so I knew him as I was growing up,” McBride said. “My summer jobs included running parts, doing clean-up… the normal things a kid would do around a car dealership. I enjoyed my time there.”

Plus, it put McBride in the vicinity of that L-79 equipped Chevelle and he was determined to turn that daydream into reality.

“In 1967 I decided it was time to purchase a car I really wanted and went to Mr. Boose to buy a 1967 L-79 4-speed Chevelle. ,It was all black with a black interior, not an SS, but a Malibu hardtop with black-wall tires and little hubcaps.” 

And it had that 325 horsepower engine with Chevrolet’s first high-performance hydraulic cam, a 600cfm Holley carb topped by an open element air cleaner, and enough go power to surprise even the big blocks that were thumping around the streets in neighboring Dayton, Ohio area.

The Chevelle did its share of street racing, and a stint as a tow vehicle for a N-stock ’57 Chevrolet Nomad that McBride and some buddies campaigned in the early ‘70s. But for the most part the car was daily transportation as McBride worked at various tool and die companies. 

In 1972 he married his wife, Christy, and the couple settled into raising their family, the Chevelle eventually being pushed aside as it lost much of its glory and was relegated to a corner in the couple’s garage.

McBride recalls fondly the advice Russell Boose had given him when he was presented with the keys of his treasured dream. “Richard, everybody knows nobody buys a car like this to go to the grocery store.” 

The McBride family prospered and in 2017 he retired. 

“And I was thinking seriously about some sort of retirement project,” McBride said. “My kids will tell you I talked constantly about the Chevelle, even though I did nothing with it all those years.”

While the car had seen better days, surviving fender benders and normal wear and tear, it was still sitting in McBride’s garage. 

“I went to some car shows and talked with various people, hoping to get some leads on who I might contact to get the project started.”

It wasn’t until he attended the Northern Ohio Chevelle Regional Chevelle Show in Strongsville, about a 3-hour drive from his home, that McBride got the advice he really needed.

“I talked with a couple of very knowledgeable guys at that show and they pointed me in the direction of some shops they felt could really do justice to the car. 

“I visited some shops, including taking a trip to Nebraska to check out a potential there.”

However, once again, life got in the way.

“I’d had some eye issues and in 2017 I made a visit to a doctor that changed everything,” McBride said. “I was diagnosed with macular degeneration and told I probably had anywhere from 5 to 15 years before my sight would get so bad I would no longer be able to drive.

“My wife and I left that appointment and on the way to the car we just looked at each other and said, now what do we do with the Chevelle? We knew we had to make a decision.”

In his search for a reliable shop, McBride and his wife had visited Terry Davis Restoration in Wytheville, Virginia. Davis had come highly recommended and they came away from Davis’s shop convinced he was the one to handle the work. 

“He was very knowledgeable and wanted to make certain the car was completed exactly the way I wanted it. I really appreciated how he approached the project.”