RIVERS
BANNER
ersary v i n Celebrating our 109th An
Gazette-Reporter
Serving the Rivers, Rapid City and Oak River areas for 108 years
A tale of seven Chevelles… September 22, 2017
Volume 110, Issue 12
89¢ + tax
By Ben Castle
Henry Lepp of Rivers cofounded Springland Mfg. in 1985 and st il l co-ow ns the company today. In addition to Springland, he has an organic farm northwest of Rivers and a machine shop on his farm from which he runs Baseline Performance, a company specializing in bespoke rebuilding of vintage engines with his business partner Roy Cruz. He also runs several drag racing events per year at Baseline Dragway (the former Rivers airbase) with his partner Bev Wrightson and team of volunteers. He has an interesting collection of classic 1960s and 1970s Chevrolets. I asked how this collection came to be. Where did your interest in cars come from? An early age and his love for vintage GM cars possibly stemmed from his father, who owned a succession of GM vehicles during Henry’s childhood, including a 1951 Pontiac, 1960 Pontiac and 1966 Chevrolet Bel Air. What was your first car? Henry fell in love with the shape of the 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle at age 14 and bought his first car nine years later, in 1974 — a red 1965 Chevelle two-door hardtop coupe with a 4.6-litre V8 (283 cubic inch) small block motor. He bought it in Rivers for $1,200. He ran this
Henry Lepp is the proud owner of several Chevrolet Chevelles.
as his daily driver until 1980, when he bought his first truck. He still owns this car and it is currently under restoration; he plans to put a 327 cubic inch small-block V8 in it and take it drag racing. Chevelle was a mid-sized car produced over three generations, between 1964
and 1978. It was a contemporary rival to Ford Fairlane and Plymouth Belvedere, and was available with a series of inline six-cylinder and V8 engines. Based on the A-body platform, Chevelle was available in sedan, coupe, convertible, station wagon and pickup (El Camino)
Photo by Ben Castle
body styles, with some production taking place in Oshawa, Ont. and Sainte-Therese, Que. Higher-end models were also badged as Malibus in Canada, which is the nameplate that took over in 1978 and still exists to this day as Chevrolet’s mid-size sedan offering.
What attracted you to the Chevrolet Chevelle? Firstly, the shape of the 1965 model, but also that it was a fully-framed car, so very stiff for a car of its time. continued on page 8
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