You can’t spell Chevelle with Chevy. Well, you can – barely – but that doesn’t mean the Chevrolet Chevelle is anything less than a General Motors legend. Amongst the most famous of the bygone era of muscle cars, the Chevelle captured the hearts of muscle car fans at its inception in 1964. Considered mid-sized by the day’s standards, the Chevelle competed against similar class offerings from most major manufacturers, and it outsold them all.
Chevrolet’s 1966 Chevelle SS 396 might not have the largest displacement of the big-block beasts, but it represented a leap forward. The L78, the first big block engine produced by Chevy, had only appeared on the scene a year prior, and it was earmarked only for the Corvette and the Chevelle. The 1966 Chevelle 396 put out north of 350 horsepower, but it wasn’t just its power rating that gave the ’66 Chevelle a worthy legacy. It also paved the way for the legendary Chevrolet big blocks of the future.
No-nonsense styling, clean lines, and a classic stance make the ’66 Chevelle a treat to look at and, for the fortunate few, get behind the wheel. The market is wild for these cars, and scoring one may be a bank-buster, but for the fortunate few, their timeless looks make them one of the coolest cars to come out of the era. The clean lines and rumble power of the 1966 Chevelle have made it a fan favorite for decades.
[Featured image by Greg Gjerdingen via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY 2.0 DEED]
