When Greg Whitney was about 4 years old, his next-door neighbor, a car dealer who drove a wide variety of different vehicles, pulled into his driveway behind the wheel of a Marina Blue 1966 Malibu. For young Greg, it was love at first sight. “He kept that car for a while,” Greg remembers. “And sometimes he used it to take me to Wetson’s, a local burger joint in Queens, New York. I remember that bright blue interior like I was sitting in it this morning!”
Predictably, Greg gravitated toward the automotive field and has worked as a wholesale dealer for many years. That’s made it easy for him to get in and out of several hot cars over the years, and he’s enjoyed every one of them; but nothing has ever tugged at his heartstrings like that Marina Blue Malibu from his childhood.
“I’ve always kept my eyes open for the right ’66 Chevelle and one day, in the spring of 2011, a great car appeared on Craigslist first and then on eBay,” Greg recounts. “It was in Manheim, Pennsylvania, home of the world’s largest wholesale auto auction. I sell cars there every Friday so I made an appointment to see the Chevelle, and right away I knew it had to be mine.”
The eBay auction for the Chevelle ended the following Thursday and Greg was prepared to do whatever was necessary to win the bidding. “I told my girlfriend, who’s now my wife, plan on ordering food in because I’m not moving from this computer until the auction is over,” Greg laughingly says.
Greg won the auction, and the following week he and his wife-to-be, Natalie, drove it from Manheim to New York. Aside from two repaints by the seller, who owned the car since 1981, it was largely original and super straight. “The body gaps were perfect,” Greg recalls. “And the doors opened and shut like a new car. Don, the man I bought it from, was a retired Sears appliance repairman and he was meticulous about maintaining the car and making sure that everything worked exactly as it should.”
Many enthusiasts would have been thrilled to leave the car exactly as it was, but Greg had bigger plans. Much bigger plans. He wanted a 1966 Chevelle that appeared completely stock and virtually new but could turn shockingly fast quarter-mile times.
The first thing he did was carefully wet-sand and polish the paint that prior owner Don and his son Andy applied way back in 1983. Then he installed N.O.S. emblems and body trim in place of the slightly tired original parts. Next came new seat covers and a new headliner from Legendary. Restored seatbelts were sourced from Don Krebbs.
With cosmetics out of the way, Greg attacked the mechanicals. The first engine build yielded a relatively mild 468 big-block coupled to a Turbo 400 and 4.10 Posi. “That put the car into the low 12s,” Greg tells. “Which was not quick enough to be a top dog, so the quest began to get quicker. That led to a new 493ci engine and new Turbo 400, built by Ed Alessi Jr. using a Reid case with a manual valvebody and trans brake. He also set up my original 12-bolt rear with Strange axles and a Strange spool, 4.56 gears, Ford ends, and 12-inch drum brakes.”
The combination of the more powerful engine and Alessi Jr.’s modified automatic got the car solidly into the 10s. “That was our goal,” Greg recalls. “And it led to a lot of great races. The most memorable was beating my buddy Ted Daros and his killer 1969 Nova in the final round of the Super Car Shootout with a 10.76 to his 10.95. Incidentally, we were the last final round pairing to go down the strip at Englishtown before they closed.”
We all know that diehard drag racers are never quite content and Greg is no exception. Back in the day it would have been a minor miracle to turn 12-second quarters in a bone-stock appearing ’66 Chevelle on OEM G70-14 bias-ply tires. Dipping into the 10s was simply impossible. Now, courtesy of more modern technology hiding in stock assemblies, great expertise among suppliers, and precision driving, 10-second elapsed times are entirely feasible. In fact, it’s almost routine, which of course, motivated Greg to get to the next level and trip the clock in the 9s!
To that end, he had Tony Bischoff at BES Racing Engines build a 560ci monster that happily churns out 903 hp at 7,200 rpm and 745 lb-ft of torque at 6,000 rpm. All that twist goes through a Select Performance TH400 and 12-bolt Posi. Jordan Pennington at Horsepower Depot in Mishawaka, Indiana, built the new engine’s Holley Dominator power management system for its DaVinci 850-cfm carb. Pennington also installed a complete rollcage, required because of the car’s speed. Four-wheel drum brakes gave way to four-wheel discs from TBM.
The result? A best pass of 9.853 e.t. at 140.14 mph. Again, on G70-14 bias-ply redline tires! This is truly astounding when you consider how close this car looks to the day it rolled off the assembly line nearly 60 years ago. Greg now has the car he always wanted, with the appearance that captured his 4-year-old imagination and a level of performance that’s genuinely shocking.
Check out this story in our digital edition here.
TECH CHECK
Owner: Greg Whitney
Vehicle: 1966 Chevelle SS 396
Engine
Type: Chevrolet iron block V-8
Displacement: 560 ci
Compression Ratio: 16.6:1
Bore: 4.560 inches
Stroke: 4.250 inches
Builder: Tony Bischoff at BES Racing Engines
Machinework: BES Racing Engines
Rotating Assembly: Callies forged steel crankshaft, GRP connecting rods, Ross forged aluminum pistons
Valvetrain: Ferrea titanium valves and Jesel rockers
Camshaft: LSM solid roller camshaft
Cylinder Heads: Chevrolet cast-iron square-port (PN 3873858)
Induction: Chevrolet L78 aluminum intake manifold
Carburetor: DaVinci Performance Carburetor Holley 850-cfm with vacuum secondaries
Exhaust: Chevrolet cast-iron exhaust manifolds, 2.5-inch pipes, and MagnaFlow mufflers
Valve Covers: Chevrolet chrome-plated
Accessory Drive: Stock Chevrolet
Ancillaries: Aeromotive electric fuel pump, electric vacuum pump from Star Machine, Mexiere starter motor and flywheel, Holley Dominator electronic ignition, MSD coil, GM aluminum water pump (PN 19168602)
Output: 903 hp at 7,200 rpm, 670 lb-ft at 5,500 rpm
Drivetrain
Transmission: Turbo 400 automatic from Select Performance, Select torque converter
Driveshaft: Strange
Rear Axle: GM 12-bolt Positraction axle, 4.10:1 ratio, Strange spool, Strange axles
Chassis
Front Suspension: Modified upper and lower A-arms by Jack Arnew, Santhuff 250-pound springs, Afco tall ball joints, Santhuff double-adjustable shocks
Rear Suspension: Stock leaf springs, Santhuff double-adjustable shocks
Brakes: TBM 001-0233-1 front disc kit, TBM F3 rear disc kit, Speedway aluminum master cylinder
Suspension Mods: Rear suspension setup by Precision Chassis
Wheels & Tires
Wheels: Stock steel GM 14×6 front, 14×7 rear
Tires: Goodyear G70-14 bias-ply redlines
Interior
Upholstery: Stock ivory and black vinyl, Legendary seat covers and headliner
Installation: Owner
Seats: Chevrolet front buckets, rear bench
Steering: Chevrolet standard steering wheel
Instrumentation: Stock Chevrolet, AutoMeter Sport-Comp water temperature and oil pressure gauges
Sound System: Stock GM AM/FM radio
Exterior
Bodywork: Previous owner
Paint: Previous owner
Paint: Stock Chevrolet, code F Marina Blue
