1964 Chevelle Malibu SS

This stunning ’64 Malibu SS– “Midnight” has been loved since new.

Owned by Christopher Short, Port St. John, FL

Story by Brad Hoke, Photography by Colin Date

“I don’t know how you folks keep finding them like this!” That’s an exact quote from a well-meaning non-car person trying to compliment us on one of our cars we’d spent a bundle on and sweat blood over for years. The ’64 Chevelle SS in the pictures that we all call Midnight was anything but “simply a lucky find.” Three people, Richard, Brad, and Chris were primarily responsible, but their families had to tolerate their devotion to it, and in many cases get in and help significantly.

Richard was the original owner and had ordered it new. He’s also the poor guy who had to wait six weeks after the car was built before he could take delivery. It was still sitting at the Assembly Plant (Baltimore) while a new-car delivery driver strike was being resolved.

Richard was from Pennsylvania, where rumor has it road salt was invented. But he worked just over the line in Maryland, and had to use Midnight to go back and forth to work every day– since it was the family’s only car. Some rust did accumulate, but for that long and in that area what he was able to preserve was a little bit amazing.

We first saw the car when it was thirty years old, and thanks to Richard, it was still a relative cream puff, so we had a lot to start with. The car has now won just about every award there is to win. As proof of Richard’s stewardship, many vulnerable parts are still original including the spinner wheel covers, the grille, hood splitter, headlight bezels, much of the pot metal, seat belts, headliner, etc. Its condition was what had made us stop to admire it in the first place. Only once we had gotten close to it did we notice the little 5 x 8 card on the dash saying it was for sale.

I couldn’t get to a phone fast enough. To me, the combination of its desirability and state of preservation easily justified a complete, quality restoration – IF I could acquire it. His very reasonable asking price had been more than we wanted to pay to start, knowing we’d then have to invest big bucks on a restoration. I explained all that and my intentions and made him a counter offer. He politely rejected and we parted friends– and I was slightly sick.

At least a month passed, then one evening the phone rang. It was Richard saying he and his wife had thought long and hard and decided what we wanted to do with Midnight was what they wanted to see happen. He said if my offer was still open, they’d accept it. I broke my previous record for getting over there, the deal was done, and we started in.

The car was virtually rust free forward of the rear wheel wells. We don’t have room for the details, but believe me, that rearmost portion was an expensive four feet. To make a long story short, with a huge amount of help from my wife and son Bob (a stalwart Eckler’s employee, by the way), we got the car good enough to successfully show in AACA events, where it won some secondary prizes. Then Chris, our “third son” (and current owner), jumped in and helped us improve it even more– to the point where it won a coveted National First Prize at an AACA Winter Meet in Melbourne, Florida.

And that brings us to the present day. We decided we generally needed to reduce the size of our fleet – but only if and when good homes could be found. In Midnight’s case, we very much wanted it to go to someone who’d do with it what we wanted to see happen, as did Richard when he sold it to us. Chris was the perfect answer, and we certainly haven’t been disappointed.

Chris is an expert at taking vehicles to a near perfect level. Before he got Midnight, he had, and still has, a black ’67 Chevrolet CST pickup (featured in the July, 2013 issue of Chevy Classics)– the best these eyes have ever seen. The AACA obviously agrees, as the truck has won every trophy they have to offer, right up to the coveted Grand National Senior.

Midnight has become another great example of Chris’ skills. Already a multiple award-winner when we sold it to him, he has made a great thing even better. His specialty is details – things many people wouldn’t even think of, let alone bother with. Midnight’s engine compartment is a good example. We’d had it spotlessly clean and finished with the correct colors and hardware, but it wasn’t up to his standards. Chris has already made it into one of the nicest 1964 Malibu SS two-door hardtops in existence. No doubt it will be winning its own AACA Grand National Senior some day.

Getting together for Chevy Classic’s pictures was quite an experience for us and our families and friends. We we’re in the midst of fifty years of unbroken love for Midnight. No, you truly don’t just up and “find ’em like that.” A car that good has to have had that lifetime of owners who cared, loved, protected, and when necessary, paid to keep it nice. It was truly an honor to have been a small part of a rare and beautiful story like that.