Walking toward Doug Fields’ 1971 Chevelle SS, you get a feeling that you’re in for a really nice musclecar. As you get in for a closer look, though, and notice the beefy meats out back, side exit exhaust, and stance that is anything but typical, you know that something special is lurking within the confines of the ultra-straight golden shell.
“As long as I can remember, I was always around cars,” said Fields. “My dad was a bodyman by trade and also built hot rods for himself at home. I guess that is where my passion for cars all began, and growing up my favorite car was always the SS Chevelle. Eventually, I became a bodyman by profession and have been so for over 25 years now.” Fields would eventually own his first Chevelle SS, but being a forward-thinking young man of 19, he decided to sell it to help gather up a down payment on his first house. “Ever since selling my first Chevelle, I always knew I had to have another one,” he recalled.
Years later, Fields would find another Chevelle and began his first frame-off restoration project. The car turned out top-notch and soon he would hit the streets and shows to display his handiwork.
“I took it to the ‘Run to the Sun’ show in Myrtle Beach, SC and ended up having someone make me a serious offer on the car; one in which I could not resist, so I ended up selling that car as well.”
Fields’ next Chevelle would almost fall into his lap. “I worked at a local paint and body shop and a co-worker would always tell me about a Chevelle that his grandmother owned. ‘She’s had it since new, and you have to go have it a look at it,’ he would say,” explained Fields. “They were thinking of selling the car because it was in the way, sitting outside and no one was interested in restoring it. I really didn’t pay any mind to it and kept thinking it couldn’t be as nice as he said it was. One afternoon I gave him a ride home and saw the car— and yes, it was just as he described and I knew I had to have it.”… Read more of this article. Just click on the digital feature below this introduction.
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