Rare Wagon: 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle 300
In 1965, the Chevelle would be in its second year as the new mid-size car at Chevrolet. One of the least-produced versions was the 300-series 2-door station wagon at just 1,015 copies with a six-cylinder engine. This one was purchased new along with two Z16 Chevelle’s, which were special edition SS 396s of which only 200 were made. This wagon has been garaged for the last 10 years and is ready for a complete restoration. Located in Newington, Connecticut, this transport is available here on eBay where the bidding is only at $2,050.
While 2-door wagons had grown out favor by the mid-1960s, on the Chevelle they would serve as the basis for the El Camino pickup, which had been revived in 1964. From the doors forward, the 300 and the Camino were interchangeable. In 1965, only 1,668 Series 300 2-door wagons were built, while the “gentleman’s truck” saw a production of 24,397. So, the reason for keeping the 2-door platform alive was justified.
As the story goes, this 300 spent most of its life in Virginia Beach before ending up on a farm in Pennsylvania. From there, it went to Connecticut which is where it lies today. It’s been off the road for the past decade and, thus, doesn’t run. It’s equipped with Chevy’s 230 cubic inch inline-6, paired with a 2-speed Powerglide automatic. The main issue with rust is said to lie in the rear floorboards, but surface rust is almost everywhere else, and the bumpers may have succumbed to it. There is also a dent in the rear by the driver’s side taillight.
The interior looks reasonably nice and comes with bucket seats with matching upholstery in the back. While I suppose it could have been ordered this way, but it could be that the seating configuration has been changed over the years. We’re told the wagon came with factory air conditioning, a rare option, but I don’t see any sign of a compressor under the hood. The posted mileage is 30,342, but I’d bet there’s an invisible “1” in front of that.
Hagerty isn’t too optimistic on the resale upside for the ’65 Chevelle 300. Their rating system tops out at $16,100, which won’t leave a lot of room to get it running again and fix all its cosmetic issues. Then again, you’d have one of just over 1,000 built, and how many of those are likely to survive today? A couple of hundred?
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Comments
The El Camino could be had that year with a Six too. My boss used to have one.
Yep it’s an air car turn it on and that six probably felt like a 4cyl yet I always liked these cars. Years ago drove over 2hrs one way to look at one in farm county when I lived up north. Pulling down the driveway saw this black primer swiss cheese, end of story. Like it reads not too many of these out there. Bought a 66 Chevelle in N. Carolina after.
a straight six has a lot more torque than a four
I can’t image trying to find parts to these cars. The current price on the car makes me want add another one to my collection! These are amazing looking cars. Take this over a tri-five Nomad any day!
So neat. I’m looking forward to see what it goes for.
I think Hagerty’s value is irrelevant here. This is likely to be turned into a resto-mod or a full custom, and for once, I think that’s exactly as it should be.
Of all the car bodies ever produced, this is #1 of the list of bodies that I would want to build into a modern daily driver. I love the simple elegance of the 1st-gen Chevelle in all body styles, but the 2-door wagon just calls to me.
I love wagons, and the fact this is a 2-door makes it that much cooler! I think CCFisher had the right idea: Resto-mod all the way. Yank that 6 and drop in a small-block, have some fun doing the interior, paint, and wheels and tires. It would be a head-turner.
Pretty rare car made a bit rarer being a 6 cyl. with A.C., makes one wonder just how many Chevrolet built ? If my situation were different I’d be on my way to Connecticut cash in hand providing its not bid too high, It would make an awesome daily driver with a 572″ crate motor with a 6 speed and the rest of the popular options they’re adding to these cars today.
These low production cars make us yearn but in reality it’s rare for the exact reason. No one wanted them . I’ve wanted a wagon to work on and put back on road . Modified obviously. And find the lack of parts and available car nuts to pick their brain is dried up. I hope this goes cheap enough to let someone to enjoy . Wagons are hot . Being a Chevy helps with location of pieces
It always bothers me that the V-shaped pressing in the roofline, made to sweep into the C-pillars of the 4-door wagon, here visually mismatches the similarly angled B-pillar a foot behind it.
That’s the sort of old knacker that you buy so’s your band can do gigs in other towns. £100 tops….
Not the 2 door wagons like this. I wanted one since the early-1980’s, however they are so hard to find, even rough around the edges examples were more expensive than similar condition muscle cars.
Steve R
Possibly in the UK where new- and late-model non-raised wagons grow on trees. Here, not so much.
Just fantastic gentlemen, Seeing this full of kids on the way to the camping site and a pop-up tent towing behind gives me goosebumps. I can see an easy 50k restore but why not a patina look all around and a full mechanical tune-up and Air Conditioning to keep the kids cool and calm for the ride!!! I love to dig in and get the baby chugging down the road and hopefully get the 130k mil straight-six going for more fun miles. My parents bought a brand new 1968 Kingswood the gave the family many carefree miles till the NY rust sucked it back into the ground. I remember drilling two-hole in the tranny hump, then wrapping a chain around the automatic transmissions tail shaft because the tranny brace was rotted just to make it to the junkyard.
A lot of bumped knees and complaints from those kids once you arrived at your camping destination. Two door wagons are not ideal when exiting a vehicle in a hurry from the back seat. I wonder what was taped to the back of this tailgate? Too bad the seller doesn’t want to take the time to scrape off the residue.
For those put off by the constant parade here of stupid-expensive, fixer uppers, here is a very cool, 2 door Chevy wagon that may be had at a reasonable price – and with so much potential.
And that doesn’t mean it needs to end up with a $60K restoration, either.
Came with Factory Air. Very unusual for a 300 wagon as most of these were utility cars.
I think that I’d take this car and pull the 230 six and replace it with a hopped-up for the street 250 or 292 six backed by a four or five-speed manual transmission or maybe even a four-speed automatic. Throw in a 3.42 to 3.55 positraction rear end and have a really interesting cruiser.
Looks like the a/c compressor was yanked to make room for the HEI distributor
The mechanicals will the easy deal . Chevy and aftermarket.
Body issues not so much .
If you want to know about this car, I worked on it and put the factory a/c in it, and upgraded it with a ccot R12 a/c unit. The car was own by a friend of mine who died, and the car was sold to Mike Bruno who I wouldn’t trust with my life!!
The car was a three on the tree and was changed to a straight six, but not a 230 six. It has a 194 six with screw in studs machined in the heads. The car never had buckets, as my friend had them put in for his wife. The buckets are both right hand passenger seats. Prior to his death, I started to convert this to
HEI distributor and then my mother pasted. The car was being converted to a console floor shift when I had to stop as the my to complete it stopped coming in to restore it for my friend wife in Va. Mike didn’t find it on a farm in Pa. , but in my back yard in Boston, Pa. He did buy my Z-16 and made me a promise to store my other car and parts of which he sold!!! Beware of Mike Bruno and his garage door and machine shop brother in Conn.
T.
Not quite accurate in the write-up that from the doors forward interchange with the El Camino. Rear top window glass frame and glass had a radius on the El Camino. These had an angled corner; replacement glass is non existent.
Sold for a high bid of $4,450, 42 bids spread out among 16 bidders.
Steve R
I had to glue my wallet shut! It was painful not bidding on the car. I promised myself to do only one project at a time and there is another project standing by now!
Oh woe is me…