My name is John and I have the opportunity to say something that most people cannot… that I am one of the few people who never sold his high school car.
Of course, if I had driven a 1982 Toyota Corolla in high school then that last comment would seem less… well, less meaningful.
My first car, however, wasn’t a 1982 Corolla, it was a 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle. The very type of car that most people in high school end up selling after high school, then living to regret it. Fortunate for me that no one was ever willing to offer me enough money to seriously consider it!
I bought my Chevelle in 1985 in my junior year of high school. I’d like to also point out that there is no relation to this action and my GPA dropping over the next 18 months until graduation.
Yeah, right.
This blog is about my 25-year journey to bring this car back to life. My first car. My only “true” car. As my wife would say, my very expensive automotive mistress. It’s now time to finish the journey and do a full rebuild on the car, with the goal of making it a streetable, comfortable, modern daily driver. Given the extraordinary effort it’s taken to get here, I’ve adopted a name for the project…. Renovatio. Latin for rebirth. It just seemed appropriate. I even have the custom Arizona license plate RNOVTIO to mark the completion when she’s done.
About this site:
* Click the Follow button in the lower right hand corner and be auto-notified when I post!
* From the Menu Bar above, check out my regular updates on the Blog page
* For a sense of history you can check Renovatio’s history on The Original Chevelle page
* The final plan detailing the end result can be found on the Final Journey page
* No project like this is done alone so please check out the Contributors & Supporters page
* For those contemplating a similar journey, check out the Part Numbers & References page
And finally, all pictures on the site should be clickable to view larger images. They will not open in a new window so simply hit your Back button to return to the website.
And the picture at the top of this page is not my Chevelle, but it comes pretty close to my vision!
A 25-Year Journey to Rebuild My 1971 Chevelle 
Cool and motivating. have to get back my MGB from my son and then some serious work. I’ve have been envisioning the process and the steps to get me to a finished product. Have fun!
Thanks Al… much appreciated! I’ve tried to document as many of the steps as possible, and linked to as much material as I could think of, to help others who might be planning their own adventure.
Hope everything is going OK. You haven’t filled anything out in quiet a while. D.A.
It’s GREAT that you were able to get back to it, and it is looking fantastic. Just remember that for about the first 6 months after it is “complete” you will be finding and correcting issues. I just helped a buddy finish up a 1953 Willies military truck restoration…not real practical, but it’s a blast. 😉
Hi DA! Yes, I am very happy to get things going once again! Yeah, with the switchover to a completely modern drive train (not to mention so many electronic components)… I am expecting some hiccups and cleanup once she comes home. Who knows, that might just require yet more upgrades to fix the hiccups, right? 🙂
It’s about time for another update, curious minds want to know 🙂
DA – Ask and ye shall receive. 🙂 (as long as you don’t look at how long it took me to respond!)
Long Time No Update. Hope everything is going well.
I do believe it’s time for a new update…inquiring minds want to know 🙂
You know we are all waiting on Pics 🙂 Share the love 🙂
I have to say this. I am NOT the John Kretz that owns this blog. I am John’s big brother, also John. I am telling you that in may of 2017 my little brother had a event with the Chevelle that he was rebuilding on this blog. Long story short version, he was burned really bad by a broken water line fitting, water of 216 degrees burned him from the knees down. After many hours of medical treatment, 3 months of rehab, he went home to finish recovery. The next morning he was in the bathroom and a blood clot went to his heart and he died on September 13, 2017. I am sorry for such a long delay, I just found out he had this blog. The Chevelle was sold to the vehical Forensic investigator. He and his daughter finished the car, but they had it repainted gun metal gray.