The One Item You Wish You Didn't Pass Up

[Teddy]

In the summer of 1982 I bought a '70 Chevelle Super Sport from the second owner who only owned it for about six weeks. It was all original except it had a two-barrel small block in it. But I liked it and I could afford it. I found the build sheet and discovered I owned an L78 Chevelle. Through a stroke of luck I found the OO a few weeks later. I drove to his house and we talked about the car. I learned he pulled the original engine in 1978 because he didn't want it in the car anymore. He told me he gave the engine away. When I asked who he gave it to for whatever reason he didn't want to say. A few years later he left LI for Florida. In 2016 I mailed him pictures of the car. He was so happy to see it he called me up. We talked about the car and the engine. He told me he gave the engine to his neighbor Ray who still lives in the same house. Fifteen minutes later I was knocking on Ray's door. I said I know this is crazy but I'm looking for a 396 engine his old neighbor gave him in 1978. He said 'sure, I remember that engine, I sold it a few years ago'! That L78 engine, carb to pan, sat untouched in a backyard five miles from my house from 1978 to 2013. In 1982 I was standing 100 feet from it. Even after offering a finders' fee to him, Ray has no idea who he sold it to. That memory has haunted me for 41 years. I sold the car in 2019.