Old School Impalas

[450HP]

I had a 65 Impala 2-door hardtop in my younger days, but had to sell it off for finacial reasons.

Just curious who here has the "old school" Impalas... 59-72 year range.

My dream car is a 67 Impala SS 427

Had a couple slip through my fingers...

Saw a VERY sweet black 59 Impala today in my home town, lost it in traffic... wanted to converse
with the owner, but it wasn't meant to be.

Scott

[silicon212]

My first V8 car was a 1972 Impala, 20 years ago. It had the L65 350 (165HP 2bbl), TH350, psycho-tall gearing (2.56), and plenty of mojo. I got it from my neighbor who sold it to me for the price of helping him with a cylinder head gasket on is Nissan truck. I wanted it because it was the type of car I grew up with (my parents bought one new and we had it 'till '84).

It was a freaking tank, not quite the biggest car I've owned - that honor goes to a 1975 Caprice 4-dr hardtop, same body - but it certainly was large. About 1,000 lbs. heavier than my current '88 Caprice.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the '72 for long - less than two years - the previous owner had quite literally pounded it into the ground and it was just simply beyond economical repair.

[bobbyboy-g]

hey 450hp, i got 3 old impalas..my dream car is now a reality..its my 1958 IMPALA 2 DOOR HARDTOP SPORT COUPE...i also got a 1964 IMPALA SUPER SPORT.....and a 1969 IMPALA CONVERTIBLE....i would like to get a 1967 IMPALA SUPER SPORT CONVERTIBLE though.....best wishes on getting that awesome car soon.....BOBBYBOY-G.......

['97ventureowner]

I've never owned an Impala per se, just their cousins. I first owned a 1975 Caprice Classic, then a few years later a 1971. Back in 1992, I purchased a 1964 Bel Air. I still have the Bel Air today and in the process of a slow restoration,(someday I'll get it done.) Too many other commitments right now that take precedence before I can finish it. My dream car is a '67 or a '68 Impala fastback, love those lines. A few years ago, I looked at one in a nearby town but couldn't agree on a price as the guy was asking too much for the amount of work it needed. Oh well, there's always another day.

[silicon212]

Originally Posted by '97ventureowner

I've never owned an Impala per se, just their cousins. I first owned a 1975 Caprice Classic, then a few years later a 1971. Back in 1992, I purchased a 1964 Bel Air. I still have the Bel Air today and in the process of a slow restoration,(someday I'll get it done.) Too many other commitments right now that take precedence before I can finish it. My dream car is a '67 or a '68 Impala fastback, love those lines. A few years ago, I looked at one in a nearby town but couldn't agree on a price as the guy was asking too much for the amount of work it needed. Oh well, there's always another day.

Wasn't that '75 Caprice a HUGE CAR? Mine rode like a pillow, it was so big and heavy. Speed bumps? Felt more like twigs. I had a 305 under the hood of it, but it had a 3.42 rear end on it that made the 305 good enough to move the car - I pegged the speedo on it once with that engine. Ahh, to be young and stupid again.

I had to park it outside on the driveway - the thing wouldn't fit in the garage.

I wouldn't mind owning another 1972 Impala Custom Coupe, but you can be damned sure it'd get a TH700R4 in place of the TH350 - gas is expensive.

As an aside, I always did like the Cardan CV joint on the rear of the driveshafts of those beasts - except when the ball wore out and it would go clink-clunk-clink-clunk. Maybe that's why GM went back to a conventional U-joint at the rear of the driveshaft.

[450HP]

Ahhh... the old Caprice Classics...

My Dad had bought a 74 dark metallic green 2 door with the small block 400 brand new.

Dad traded every three years, when he traded off the 74 in 77, it only had 19K miles on
the clock.

He traded it for a 77 Caprice Classic, bright fire engine red, black interior, 4 door, and
a Cadillac leather top.

Dad sold the car in 1996 with only 36K miles on the clock... I know where the car is now
as Dad sold it to his insurance agent... the car has a little under 50K miles on it now.

I remember one time I had gone over to the folk's house in the middle of winter,
it was a nice day, the streets were pretty dry, all the snow was piled up on the sides
of the street. And Dad asked me to run the old 77 Caprice uptown to the drive through
car wash.

Now, you'd have to imagine a car that's pretty much already clean, just covered in
an inch of dust from sitting in the garage!

You should have seen all the stares I got as I drove the car through town!

Everyone had to be wondering where the car had been!

Scott

[450HP]

Originally Posted by bobbyboy-g

hey 450hp, i got 3 old impalas..my dream car is now a reality..its my 1958 IMPALA 2 DOOR HARDTOP SPORT COUPE...i also got a 1964 IMPALA SUPER SPORT.....and a 1969 IMPALA CONVERTIBLE....i would like to get a 1967 IMPALA SUPER SPORT CONVERTIBLE though.....best wishes on getting that awesome car soon.....BOBBYBOY-G.......

Sounds like you've got quite the collection!

I had a 69 Impala 2 door hardtop with a 396 and a TH400 tranny.

Bicentennial Gold with a black vinyl top and gold interior with only 62K miles.

I traded my 66 AMC Ambassador DPL 2 door hardtop with factory AMC 327 power and
a factory four speed with bucket seats for the 69.

I later found out the 69 was rusting through badly from the inside out, so I traded it off
for the 65 Impala 2 door hardtop I had.

Scott

[FinnBowtie]

Hello everybody, newbie on forum! I´m a proud owner of a 1963 Impala SuperSport



It´s in fairly good shape but still lots of work, most noticeable is the missing trim...

[bobbyboy-g]

hey finn, i had a 1963 impala 2-door hardtop a few years back, not a super sport though, i would take your 63 over my 64 super sport anyday, my order of SUPER SPORT preference is 1963 followed by the 1967 then my 1964 the 1969...1968...1965...1966.....IMPALA SUPER SPORTS RULE.....

[FinnBowtie]

Thanks Bobby, the ´64 really ain´t bad either! Maybe most of them all I like the ´61, the bubbletop is just so cool!!

[Gems]

Does a 1964 Belair count? It was almost an Impala!

['97ventureowner]

Originally Posted by silicon212

Wasn't that '75 Caprice a HUGE CAR? Mine rode like a pillow, it was so big and heavy. Speed bumps? Felt more like twigs.

It was HUGE and great!! A little story behind mine. Back in December 1985 I was finishing up my semester at our local community college. It was finals week, and I had a final at 11 am. I left the house to go take the final but had to stop and get gas first. On the way there the car in front of me stopped suddenly, and decided to make a left hand turn without signaling. In a knee-jerk reaction I hit the brakes to try to avoid hitting them. There was a little snow on the road and it was below freezing. I ended up sliding and tried to steer the car away from the other. I ended up hitting a telephone pole head on at 30 mph. I got out thinking all sorts of damage to my front end. I was very much surprised to discover NONE! The pole however had a small chunk missing out of it where my bumper made contact. How's that for a safe car!!. Bounced off the pole like it was nothing. Oh and those were the days of "under $1.00/gallon gas" so you could imagine how cheap it was to fill that 25 gallon (I believe) tank, compared to today. I also remember it had the nicest red plush interior of any car I had owned at the time and even rivaled most of the vehicles I have owned since then.

[wafrederick]

My father has one,a white w/red interior 1962 with a 409 with a 4 speed transmission,2 4 barrel carbs already restored.It goes and have to be easy on the engine,$20,000 for an engine if it goes.There are not many 409s left.He bough it about 2 weeks ago from a classic car auction.It is cheaper to buy it restored already instead of doing the restoration yourself.

[silicon212]

Originally Posted by '97ventureowner

It was HUGE and great!! A little story behind mine. Back in December 1985 I was finishing up my semester at our local community college. It was finals week, and I had a final at 11 am. I left the house to go take the final but had to stop and get gas first. On the way there the car in front of me stopped suddenly, and decided to make a left hand turn without signaling. In a knee-jerk reaction I hit the brakes to try to avoid hitting them. There was a little snow on the road and it was below freezing. I ended up sliding and tried to steer the car away from the other. I ended up hitting a telephone pole head on at 30 mph. I got out thinking all sorts of damage to my front end. I was very much surprised to discover NONE! The pole however had a small chunk missing out of it where my bumper made contact. How's that for a safe car!!. Bounced off the pole like it was nothing. Oh and those were the days of "under $1.00/gallon gas" so you could imagine how cheap it was to fill that 25 gallon (I believe) tank, compared to today. I also remember it had the nicest red plush interior of any car I had owned at the time and even rivaled most of the vehicles I have owned since then.

I remember those days quite fondly. I had my '75 in 1988, bought it for $75 with a locked engine. How the engine locked is the stuff of legend - a ported thermal vacuum switch blew its seal and allowed engine vacuum to suck water right out of the cooling system, where it was drawn into the base of the carb and into the 1-4-6-7 plane of the intake. The guy who sold me the car had told me that he was driving it north on I-17 in Phoenix when it started bogging like the car was taking an 8% ascending grade. Then it just simply shut down. Cylinder #6 had so much rust in it that it took a piston extractor to remove the piston. What is a piston extractor, you might ask? Simple, it was an 8-lb sledgehammer. Broke it into about 20 pieces, too. Took the block down and had it magnafluxed, no cracks, so honed it and was set to rebuild it (L65 350) when someone stole the block one night, while I was asleep. All of the engine's bearings and the crank pins and journals looked new and had no measurable wear. The car got a 305 in its place, and with the 3.42 gears the car had, it did pretty good surprisingly.

Gasoline at the time was about 86¢/gal. It had a 25 gallon tank, but the car I have now also has a 25 gallon tank and I KNOW very intimately how expensive it is to fill up these days.

[450HP]

Originally Posted by wafrederick

My father has one,a white w/red interior 1962 with a 409 with a 4 speed transmission,2 4 barrel carbs already restored.It goes and have to be easy on the engine,$20,000 for an engine if it goes.There are not many 409s left.He bough it about 2 weeks ago from a classic car auction.It is cheaper to buy it restored already instead of doing the restoration yourself.

Sounds like a very sweet ride!

She's real fine, my 409...

Can you post some pics of the car?

Saw a TV show on cars one day where a 62 such as your father's was the guest of honor.

They did one shot where the car is off in the distance, but headed towards the camera man...
all of a sudden you hear the roar of the 409 and the car is almost to the camera man in no
time flat... the video fades to black partly as the camera man is literally diving out of the way!

Scott