Habib is the second registered owner of the car. Its original owner lived in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley, and when he died in 2005, he left it to a friend who had no idea how to care for the pristine, dent-free classic. This friend just happened to live on the same street as Habib who noticed Habib driving a ’69 Charger and took that as a sign that he’d be a good steward for the vintage Chevy. Habib drove the car for a bit until he decided it was time for a mild restoration, which was never fully completed. The Malibu then sat for years before he decided it was time that the car got the attention it deserved, and in 2020, it finally did.

After doing some homework for the right shop to handle his build and hearing plenty of advice to visit Pure Vision in Simi Valley, California, Habib dropped by and met proprietor Steve Strope. The two got along immediately and hashed out how to go about creating the perfect weekend driver that can stay in the family for years to come. Habib’s friends were pushing him to paint the Chevelle a dark charcoal or sinister black, but he reminded them that it’s meant for fun drives and cruising with his family. “It’s a California car, it had to be light,” Habib told us. The custom-mixed PPG paint is close to the original Emerald Turquoise; a similar color scheme was continued inside.

Don’t tell your Mopar-loving friends, but Pure Vision was able to get the last bit of this N.O.S. fabric that the distributor had in stock. The staggered bar upholstery was from a mid-century Dodge and it’s a perfect fit for the Chevelle’s aqua exterior. Like the outside that appears factory but is finessed to perfection, nothing stands out in the interior as being out of place. The Vintage Air climate-control system is cleanly integrated and painted to match, and the Dakota Digital instrument cluster appears factory but stealthily integrates a tachometer as well as a digital speedometer.

Pure Vision freshened up the factory chassis with Detroit Speed suspension front and rear combined with big Wilwood brakes and 17-inch Team III wheels mounted with Nitto NT555 rubber. The wheel’s style gives the car a Day Two look and the increased diameter doesn’t stand out yet still allows for modern rubber for much improved grip, which will definitely be needed.

After briefly considering an LS swap, Habib turned to Strope as well as Steve Sanett, owner of Penta Motorsports, for input on the proper powerplant. Naturally a Chevelle should have a big-block, the three agreed, but it had to be something special.

Knowing it’s not about just making a power number, Sanett always asks his customers, “What are you trying to accomplish? And what are you going to do with the car?” The answers to those questions will dictate what kind of engine would be best suited to the car and its driver. There’s a tendency for many of us to want to go too big with a cam or with heads that have massive ports that offer impressive flow numbers, but that’s not always conducive to street driving. That’s why, for this build, Sanett suggested Habib go mild with the big-block so that it would be a great driver on the street. However, he had an ace up his sleeve when it came to wowing onlookers at the local car show. Penta Motorsports specializes in Weber carburetors, and Sanett is a big proponent of the highly tunable fuel-mixers, although he noted that there are a lot of misconceptions about Webers that persist: “People are afraid of them,” Sanett says. “Although those fears are unfounded, they can work on everything, provided you understand the concept.”
 
Sanett told us that with an individual runner system used on a Weber intake reversion can be an issue. To get them to behave properly on the street, Webers prefer a cam with very little overlap. He selected a mild hydraulic roller cam and mounted the Webers with a Borla intake that was milled down about 0.375 inch to gain a bit of hood clearance. Most builders use the intake with throttle bodies that mimic a Weber, but Sanett loves the tunability that comes with Weber carbs. The idle circuit is independent from the main circuit, and there are jets for both fuel and air correction. Once they’re dialed in, they’re set.