Dennis Lehman drives his Chevelle in a local parade.
By Rich Wicks | Guthrie Center Times, May 2025
Often, the things we appreciate the most are the things for which we work the hardest or wait the longest. That is certainly true of Dennis Lehman and his 1970 Chevelle. Lehman and his car have been through a lot of challenges — together and separately.
“In 1968, my friend, Bob Tunink, and I decided to go into the service together. But the summer before we left, we decided to drive around, and we went to Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming and came back through Colorado and Missouri, and we came across a brand new Chevelle on a car transport. We both decided we wanted one when we got out of the service.”
The two each served in Vietnam, although not together.
“Halfway through my tour, I decided to order my 1970 Chevelle, and I wrote to Bob, but he wasn’t ready to order one yet,” Lehman said. “Through correspondence with my dad, we got it ordered.”
After waiting for his dream car while serving our country, Leman was eager to enjoy some fun times behind the wheel. But he had more waiting ahead of him.
“When I came back from Vietnam, I had bleeding ulcers in my stomach, and I spent four weeks in the hospital in San Francisco,” Lehman said. “Then I came home and got the car.”
Dennis Lehman holds a second-place trophy his car won.
“My house burned down, and the roof of the garage came down and smashed the car.”
The car sat for many years before Lehman was able to start the restoration process.
Despite the damage the car had sustained, Lehman was able to salvage some important parts of it to use in his planned rebuild.
“I took the motor, the transmission and rear end out of the original car,” he said.
Eventually, and purely by chance, Lehman heard about someone who had recently passed away and who had owned a 1970 Chevelle that was being restored. According to Lehman, the various parts of that car were lying around, and restoring it would be a major challenge. Because the owner’s family didn’t want to move the car and all its pieces to Colorado, Lehman was able to buy it at a reasonable price and found someone who agreed to rebuild and restore the car for him.
“In 2018, we started finding the parts, and then the body shop had it for a year, and then about another year later, it was done,” Lehman said.
Although decades had passed since the car was drivable, the wait was worth it for Lehman.
“It’s identical to what I had when I came back from Vietnam,” Lehman said.
Although Lehman is pleased with his car, he is amazed at the increased costs compared to when he first bought his Chevelle.
“When I put tires and rims on it, that cost more than when I bought the whole car new,” Lehman said. “The car cost $3,950 brand new.”
Now that he finally has his Chevelle running smoothly, Lehman enjoys letting others appreciate it as well.
“I’ve taken it to a lot of car shows and won a lot of trophies. I’ve had it in lots of parades, too,” Lehman said. “It doesn’t like to drive in parades. It wants to go faster.”
Lehman has a busy schedule of car shows and parades planned this year.
“I’ve got one in Grimes, Stuart, Adair, Casey, Anita, Greenfield, Winterset and Guthrie Center,” Lehman said. “Shows and parades are 99% of the driving that the car gets.”
Lehman proudly shared that his son plans to use the car in a wedding this fall.
Over the years, Lehman has stayed active but doesn’t care to do some of the more challenging work on cars anymore.
“I’m a farmer and still farming today,” Lehman said. “But I don’t do any of the work on the car myself anymore. I’ll be 75 this summer; I just don’t climb underneath stuff anymore like I used to.”
But, occasionally, Lehman will get out on the open road and see what his Chevelle can do.
“Last spring, we were driving it, and it was my nephew Anthony driving, and I was just about to say it was time to slow down, and we looked at the speedometer, and it was 120 and still climbing,” Lehman said. “So, it will go as fast as you want it to go. When you step on the gas pedal, you’d better be hanging on, or it will put you in the back seat.”