Kristjan Thorsteinson's 1970 Chevelle big block
/I found the car when I was on holidays in Penticton shortly after I had just turned 16. After having held a job since I was 13 and no bills and growing up around racing and hotrods I knew my first car/high school ride had to go fast and look good, so a fox body 5.0 mustang was on my mind and budget. Light cheap and easy to make quick. While talking to my dads friend on holidays in Penticton where both my parents are from the talk of cars care up very quickly as usually does in our conversations. My dads friend was going through a divorce and was liquidating his collection of cars, this 1970 Chevelle big block car came up and for a price that sounded too good to be true. We talked about it during and after our holidays and without seeing the car, only a few pictures of it, the decision was made, me and my dad would go 50/50 on it and over time I could pay him out as I got older and worked more so and so on. We picked the car up in September and drove it home from Penticton! I’ll never forget when I first saw it when I dropped the trailer door and heard it fire up. 3 tanks and one rain storm later it was back in our shop at home. Over time dad and I worked on it lots. When I turned 17 my parents gift to me was they insured the car for me for my birthday (being that it wasn’t paid for it was in my parents name still!). I think my parents forgot what I and the car looked like that summer as I really only was home to wash it or change out of my works clothes. I was out all the time that summer. In my grade 12 year I attended my first year of college for my trade (heavy duty mechanic) so I didn’t drive the car that much, with 7$ a day for parking and a car that cost more than that in fuel to drive to school I usually walked. One night in October just before Halloween I was on my way home after being caught in the rain and I lost it and ended up in a tree with the car. After 7 months in the body shop I got it back but with a VI on it due to a body shop I refuse to name, over something so minor it really seamed unfair but with finals approaching the car got put on hold. After looking around and finding some sketchy wiring we decided to buy a painless harness and rewire the whole car. After getting the car stripped when I was done school, i got a call and got a job in northern BC with a full apprenticeship. On went the car cover and away I went. A few years later I came home for another year of school and had some new Cragar S/S wheels and tires in tow with me. On they went and starting tinkering with it again, then it was time to take it up north (pic of it on the trailer) up north where it sat in my shop at my house being so busy with work it was hard to find time for it. I got someone in Quesnel, a friend of mine named chuck, to finish the wiring for me. I got it done and running and had a few things left to do before the inspection, however after I left for work July 7 2017 with my car sitting at home, that was the day the BC interior wildfires came through and with living on a ranch at the time it was out of town and I wasn’t allowed home anymore. The car was less than a km from the wildfire and suffered minor smoke damage which is still visible today on the car. The summer I thought I’d drive it, it lived in a horses dirt riding arena with the theory that dirt doesn’t burn. My neighbor was kind enough to move it out there for me since he was home still and I was not. Car sat again until March 2018. Being 23 and red seal journeyman in my trade I moved back to the island and brought the car with me. Since it’s been home it’s been inspected insured and driving. I’ve been drag racing it. It’s now got a full MSD ignition system giving that 512hp 396 the spark it needs, new exhaust. I love driving it again after sitting for those years and now being able to jump in hit the key and go drive it is the best feeling ever!! Oh and I did pay it off a number of years ago!!
