Bauche makes her own dream car

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This article was published 24/03/2023 (1285 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s a love story that has a rock ’n’ roll theme song about a Brandon car enthusiast and her 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu.

Breanne Bauche calls her classic car Black Betty, and even before she owned it, she knew what she was looking for.

“She was a love, long before I actually found her. In fact, I named her Black Betty years before I owned her because that’s one of my favourite songs,” Bauche said. “That car was something I looked for from the age of 14, and the year I was about to give up and settle for a Chevy Nova, that’s was when I saw her.”

Bauche saw her as she was driving down the Trans-Canada Highway with family while on their way to Winnipeg’s World of Wheels car show, travelling at highway speed, 100 kilometres per hour, when something caught her eye.

“I saw the glimpse of the rear bumper and the very distinctive tail lights of a 1972 Chevelle. The ’71 has the same tail light, so I wasn’t sure of the year, but I said to the family — look, that’s her!” Bauche remembered.

There was no time to stop on the way to, or on the way back from the car show, but the thought of her dream car didn’t go away. Once back in Brandon, Bauche tracked the owner down — but at first, he wasn’t willing to sell.

“He was surprised and said, ‘what does a woman want with a Chevelle?’ I giggled and told him: ‘I’ll forgive you for that comment.’ Welcome to the modern-day world; girls love cars, too,” Bauche said.

The car is a bit of a rarity. It’s a 350 four-door hardtop, which means it has no B pillar, the column that separates the front and rear doors. And the doors have frameless glass, giving it that sporty look, making it a much sought-after muscle car.

The original colour of the Chevelle was mist green, which was popular in the 1970s, but not for Bauche in 2008.

Her first task in that first year was to take off the vinyl top and paint it black. The next year, she was able to match the bottom. The previous owner had installed minivan seats, which she replaced with original bucket seats.

“So, I made her my Black Betty. I couldn’t find the dream car, so I made the car my dream,” she said with pride in her voice.

The front tires are 14 inches, with 15-inch tires on the back to give Black Betty an aggressive stance. The rims are Cragar, known for being a muscle-car wheel.

Over the years, Bauche has removed and repainted the oil pan, worked on valve cover seals, put in new gasket seals and cut holes for speakers on the package shelf, which is the flat space between the back seat and the rear window.

But for some of the interior touches of beauty, she went to the experts. Black Betty’s name embroidered on the back seat was done by Regent Custom Cresting, and the bench seat itself was recovered by Brad Patterson of BP Upholstery.

“That Chevelle was the only one I’ve ever seen,” Patterson recalled. “And the back seat was cloth, so I had to pop it out of there, make a new foam because it was falling apart and redesign it to match the pattern in the front.”

Bauche said she has always had jobs related to the automotive industry, starting out as a delivery driver for NAPA Auto Parts, then getting hired at Murray Chevrolet in the accessory and performance parts department. From there, she was head-hunted to work at a heavy truck parts shop, did some auto sales and is now working in the child-care sector, which she said is her other passion.

“I don’t know why I’ve always loved cars, but I have. Maybe it’s because my dad used to take us for rides in his semi when he was a delivery driver. I loved the sound of the motor, and you know, there’s one thing that has stayed the same in all my vehicles, they’ve all had V-8 engines.”

Her list of previous vehicles is a long one, starting with a hand-me-down Mercury Marquis, a 1985 Chevy C-10 which she learned to work on to keep running, a 1997 Ford F-150 with an extended cab needed for the kids and a 2007 black Monte Carlo SS, which she still has and still turns heads.

“I think the Brandon scene for cars has always been a pretty prevalent subculture, so as a teenager, I grew up with lots of cars around. And when I was 14, I saw a Chevy Nova, and that’s what tweaked my interest in that era.”

Once weather permits, Black Betty will be back on the car show circuit. She won second place in the Bombshell category at last summer’s Super Run, Western Canada’s largest classic car show that is held in Brandon every three years.

Bauche said the car community with its many clubs has more families and women than people realize, adding she wants to do her part to share her knowledge about loving and working on cars, especially Black Betty.

“So, she’s been a labour of love with the body and motor, and I’ve loved her every single minute. And we’re still together to this very day,” she said with a laugh.

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com