1960 Chevrolet Impala

4dr Hardtop

283

Clear

1960 Impala 4 door Sport Sedan Hardtop. All original, one owner and unmolested, this car spent it's life stored inside a garage in New Mexico from new until around 1995 when they moved to Illinois where it was driven very little and always stored in a new dry garage also. We purchased it last year, and it's been stored in a heated shop since then. This car has been stored inside all of it's life and it shows. I changed a few things that needed to be done to make it roadworthy and reliable and have been driving it off and on since then. It has the original 283 2bbl., runs very good and smooth. It has the fairly rare, optional Turboglide transmission with Grade Reduction. (Gr). We had it checked before putting it back on the road by a local vintage transmission specialist, he says it's in very good condition, fluid clean, red, unburned, and it performs correctly. These have 3 drive turbines overlapping so you don't feel the 1-2-3 shifts at all , it's just smooth from start to highway speed. It pulls great off the line. I changed the water pump, plugs, points, condenser, wires, fuel & air filters. Rebuilt the orig. carb. Flushed the cooling system and refilled with antifreeze. New generator belt. It's had 3 oil changes since I've had it and the motor appears very clean inside (oil comes out very clean.). The front suspension is tight and it drives straight and steers tight with no wandering. If you know 59-61 Impalas you know they're notorious for rust. You can see how solid this car is for a 60.. The frame is solid. There is a little rust in one of the rear floor reinforcements (the double layer piece) but no rust through in the floors. There is surface rust on the rockers. The only real rust is over the rear wheelwells. It extends back behind the wheel opening on the pass. side, but this area is solid on the driver side. It can be fixed with the patch panels they sell for these. No rustout in the fenders, door bottoms (just slight surface rust in one or two small areas of the door bottoms) jambs, cowl area, hood, trunk gutters, trunklid underside, etc, all original paint and rust free. The trunk floor is solid with original paint. Some OE undercoating around the edges (is what the dark looking areas are) It has all the original trunk cardboards in it, the original gasket fully intact, soft , seals correctly and the original trunk mat. (was taken out for pics) The car is mostly original paint although it has had some paintwork here and there over the years. probably 90% orig. paint. The grill & headlights are nice, all the stainless down the sides is very nice for it's age and the bumpers are rust free and fantastic for being original. All the tail trim is very nice. It had one broken tail light when I got it so I replaced them all so they would match. The doors open and shut like they should, very solid. There is no broken glass and it's all original. All windows roll up and down correctly. It has new brakes, they work very good. It might need a muffler, it's not loud but there sounds like there's a small leak right by the muffler area. The fuel tank is solid, shocks are old but still rides great. Interior, all original red houndstooth, original carpet. Carpet is bad by the drivers left foot area from repeated entry. The bottom of the drivers and pass. door panels have some damage from peoples feet catching them, but the tops are good, the kickpanels areas on these can be fixed. The rear door panels are very nice. The only problems with the seats are the cloth and where it pulled away from the vinyl, the tops of the seats that are normally destroyed and split out from the sun are solid and pliable since it's been kept inside. The red houndstooth is available, I know where to get it and will pass this along, it's about 60.00 for enough to redo both seats where is meets the original vinyl. A good interior place can take the seats apart, pick the stitches and sew the new red cloth into the OE vinyl. The package tray needs replaced. All the interior chrome, stainless and aluminum trim is just about perfect. All the trim around the windows and the dash, gauges, glove box liner are as close to perfect as you could expect. The dash is not faded, original paint, the steering wheel super nice and is not cracked. The headliner is original and absolutely perfect and clean, visors are perfect also. Electrics, everything works. All gauges, wipers, headlights, turn signals, interior lights, dash lights, warning lights, glove box light, even the original tube AM radio works, turn it on, it warms up and fades in just like it's supposed to and the speaker sounds great. Look under the dash and everything is as new as if you were looking at it in 1961, clean, unmolested, no rust or corrosion whatsoever, everything with original bright cadium plating, etc. All the OE door and windows seals are soft, intact and seal. All original and unmolested under the hood, just as the day it was built. Has all the keys, all doors and trunk lock work like they should. Ride & drive, like new. Has old original style bias ply whitewalls with deep tread, but I don't have any information on how old they are. It's going to be better off with some new radials or modern bias-plys. I have the original hubcaps also, the ones that look like the old Vette caps. This just a really nice old car that's luckily been kept out of the elements, it does everything right and just needs a few things taken care of. Being the 4 door hardtop, once you roll all the windows down, with the clear side views, it's just like driving a bubble top from the drivers seat forward, haha. I tried to describe everything I can think of honestly as I want the buyer to be happy. Anyway, it's a throwback and great fun to drive, you'll love it if you drive it. I would take off and drive this car anywhere right now without hesitation. Please have everything in order if you bid on this car and buy it, all funds in your hand before bidding and for pick up in person. No shipping unless it's arranged, no scammers, it doesn't leave until U.S. currency is in hand. Please ask any questions you have before auction end, this is a one way trip, when it's sold it's sold, no negotiating after the auction end. You are the last bidder, you own it. Don't mean to sound rude, but as everyone knows there's a lot of stuff being pulled everywhere. No warranty, as is, where is. Thank you, happy bidding. On Oct-18-14 at 22:18:14 PDT, seller added the following information: Forgot to add when writing the original ad that the car is for sale locally also, reserve the right to sell the car locally and end the auction. Thank you.On Oct-18-14 at 22:31:48 PDT, seller added the following information: Had a question about the motor being quiet with no noises ? No, as said in the ad, the motor runs right, to me that means smooth and quiet with no noises.On Oct-19-14 at 06:04:55 PDT, seller added the following information: Forgot to mention the heater. Yes, the heat works fantastic, it works so good it'll run you out, you have to turn it down. the blower motor works correctly. The defrost works right, etc. The heater control cables work smooth like new. I've had a few questions that were completely covered in the original description above. Please read the description. I'll be happy to answer anything I missed. Thank you. . . . Please read the description completely.On Oct-19-14 at 19:00:23 PDT, seller added the following information: Had a question about the windshield and backglass seals. Yes they're original, they're still soft and pliable and not drycracked. All the trim and stainless is super nice. The windshield and backglass do not leak. All the rubber seals, door seals, trunk seal, and weatherstrippings are in tact. In the one picture of the door open you can see the rubber seal that keeps water from coming in over the cowl, these are always gone or rotted out on these cars, the retaining screw on it is barely surface rusted. You can see the fender bolts with still with their black oxide coating that's original and never been disturbed. See where the cowl grill area under the wipers...this area is always a tray full of rust on these cars. If you look around close at the pics after they enlarge, all these areas kind of tell a story of how this car has been stored. This car is a different story than most old patched up 60's that you see for sale. That's why I bought it, I knew it'd be long and far between finding another one of these in this original unmolested survivor condition, especially being a Impala, and bright red, and being a hardtop. It's exactly the way it was built new at Chevrolet in1960. They're only original once, after they've been restored, to me, they don't have the same charm. It even smells exactly like these old interiors all smell, nostalgia. It's never had mice or any critters that make them smell funky.....no cigarette smell, etc. You get in it on a hot day and it smells like an original old GM car, like it should, once you restore them, they smell like new vinyl and new rubber and paint and primer. When you drive it, it's easy to imagine it's 1960 all over again. The winner will be happy, even more so after driving it. Good luck :)