An accurate definition of an accountant is: a practitioner of accounting, which is the measurement, disclosure or provision of assurance about financial information that helps managers, investors, tax authorities, and others make decisions about allocating resources.
Now to many of us members of the “bloody knuckle society” that just sounds like a nonsensical concoction of verbal mumbo jumbo that we have no interest of hearing. Besides, nowhere in the definition is the term hot rodder found, but Carey Deckard, owner of this seemingly stealthy ’70 Chevelle, is far from your average corporate “bean counter.” With that said, he can’t help that the CPA in him takes over and looks at his small stable of muscle (’67 Camaro, ’67 GTO, ’36 five-window coupe, and ’72 LS-powered Chevelle) as potential “returns on investments.”
“I just sold an all-original, 70,000-mile ’65 Chevelle 300 post car because I had a big-block Chevy and nitrous system sitting in the corner of my garage, and I hated the thought of putting that stuff on such a nice survivor,” Carey admits. “I had to let it go to protect me from myself.”
Two weeks later Carey got a call from a friend (now a good friend) about a garage-kept ’70 Chevelle with 44,000 miles on it. It’s one of those unbelievable stories you hear about that happens to a random lucky guy who’s in just the right place at just the right time. It’s a familiar tale … some little old lady owns a classic car, she quit driving it 10 years ago, no longer has use for it, and sells it for very low money. “To top it off, the price on the already-too-good-to-be-true survivor was dropped $500 because the service station couldn’t get it to fire up,” Carey says. “The car was more original and in much better condition than I had expected. It came with the dealer key chain on the original keys, dealer plastic trash bag hanging on the lighter, original tissue dispenser under the dash, and it even included a yardstick that had the dealer’s name on it resting on the package tray. It just doesn’t get much better. It was at that point I begin looking over my shoulder expecting to see a television camera crew followed by Ashton Kutcher showing up to inform me that I’d just been ‘punked.’ ”
But the ol’ gal wasn’t as far gone as he thought. Carey charged up the battery, primed the carburetor, and got it to fire. A little overhaul on the carb and leaky gaskets were followed up with new belts, brakes, headers, exhaust, and posi unit with 3.73s, and he was off smoking the tires for the next 10 years. “I think I had more burnout miles than regular driving during that time!” Carey exclaims. “I’ve had other restored and supercharged cars in my garage, but this one was the most fun to drive. Maybe it was the accountant in me constantly thinking about the return on my investment as the smoke rolled out of the wheelwells.”
After about 10 years of mayhem and dozens of shredded rear tires, thoughts of air conditioning and an overdrive transmission were now on Carey’s mind. “My best friend and business partner, Ryan Sullivan, bought me a low-mile LS1 and 4L60E for my birthday to put in the Chevelle,” Carey says. “With the LS ready to go in, I was talking to Cary Pangrac at ProCharger about the Chevelle, and he proposed using the Chevelle for R&D on an A-body LSX ProCharger transplant kit. At that point my small project went completely out of control.”