1959 Chevrolet Impala

Coupe

350 - V8

Automatic

Clear

Gasoline

impalabern Store Up for bids is my 1959 Chevrolet Impala 2 door hardtop / Sport Coupe. I don’t want to sell it but I need a down payment for my first home. I will be extremely detailed about all that has been done to this vehicle. It is your hard earned money so I will not hide anything. I have been lied to on cars I bought on eBay before and drove hundreds of miles only to find rotted out floor pans, non-existent trunk pans, rotted frames, blown engines etc. There is a ton of pictures for this auction and they are LARGE AND NOT BLURRY. I took many pictures along the way so you will know exactly where the holes were, where the rot was and where the filler is. No need to guess or gamble on this one. The car is currently in the original Harbor Blue with white stripe, white roof, and white fin and trunk. All the pictures you see of the car in primer or at bare metal are there to show you where the body work has been done and to let you know what is really under the paint. The car can be driven as is as a daily driver or to the local cruise but the body work that I have done is not the greatest. Some of it is beginning to pop out and I have taken pictures of the bubbling. If you are a body man or have a body man, a good solid 3 weeks of taking it back apart redoing the bodywork and putting it back together and you’ll have a real show winner. I have a lot of $$ in this with tons of new parts installed, my loss will be your gain. History: This vehicle was built at the Los Angeles plant in 1959. It moved to New Jersey at some point in its history but I am unsure how long it was a west coast car. It then changed hands and became Pennsylvania titled and daily driven until 1998 when it was sold to the gentleman I got it from who parked it in his garage until I purchased it in 2006. The car’s original color was white with the black stripe down the side and a red interior. When I bought the car the dash board had been painted blue and the car was in primer. The mileage is unknown, but it reads 60,203. It was at 55k when I bought it. Drivers fender: Solid with a little rot adjacent to the hood (see picture when it was at bare metal). The dog lower rear had a spot but I cut it out and welded new metal in, you can see it in the bare metal picture. Like the doors there were dents and dingers that I filled. There is a scratch in the finished paint on the top as you can see in the close up. Passenger fender: Solid Arizona fender (see picture). I was silly and used body filler to fill in the antenna hole so the filler has shrunk and you can see the ring where the antenna was in the finished car. Doors: Both passenger and drivers doors were stripped down to bare metal (I have pictures of the drivers at bare metal). There was no rot on the doors and all the seams are crisp. The doors had just dents and dingers which I filled. A good body man could pound them all out and use minimum filler. Hood: Solid with the exception of some pinholes above the eyebrows. They have begin to bubble through the paint as you can see in the close up pictures. Front filler pans: The below the bumper pans are very solid and not rusted out junk. There were a few small holes that I filled. There are pictures of these down to bare metal. Rear filler pans: The 3 below the bumper pans below the bumper are also solid with very minimal filler from dents and dingers. Headlight “C” Rings: These next to impossible to find body panels came from a car in the high desert in Wyoming. There were only a few pinholes that needed to be filled on these and were one of the nicest sets I had ever seen. Header Panel below hood: This panel came from a car in Utah with only a few pinholes that needed to be filled. Roof: There really shouldn’t be any problems with the roof on any car, but it was stripped down to bare metal as you can see in the picture. Passenger Quarter Panel: This had rot ahead of the wheel well, on the wheel well opening lip and behind the opening. I used filler in all of these spots. They have bubbles in them now since it was painted 5 years ago. Drivers Quarter Panel: This had rot ahead of the wheel well, on the wheel well opening lip and behind the opening. I used filler in all of these spots. They have bubbles in them now since it was painted 5 years ago. Rear Panel: This had rot around the license plate area and the drip rail was in very poor shape. A donor car’s upper fins (removed at the factory seam and welds) with drip rail, and license plate area were removed from a rot free car and professionally welded and aligned into place. See pictures. Drivers Rocker Panel: This was the roughest of the two. The outer had some rot that I repaired. The inner rocker is rotted as you can see from the pictures while on the lift. Surprisingly the bottom of the rockers are straight and not rotted as you can see in the pictures which is good because you don’t need to replace the whole rocker and have really good metal to weld to. Passenger Rocker Panel: This was the better of the two. There was some holes that I filled on this side as well. The bottom of the rocker parallel to the ground and the inner rocker on this side are very solid. Trunk Lid: The original on the car had rust in the seam so I drove 300 miles to Cleveland Ohio to pick up a trunk lid for the car with my $600 president Bush stimulus check. These trunk lids are next to impossible to get because every model uses the same deck lid with the exception of the 2 door hardtop which is the ONLY trunk lid that fits. Floor Pans: Both the floor pans and braces are in very good shape. See the pictures from the lift. The only bad spot was behind the rear seat on the drivers side. I welded in a new pan. There was also a small spot on the drivers side rear seat pan that I welded in a small metal piece. You can see in the pictures after I wire wheeled the entire floor down. The area behind the passenger side rear seat had some small holes which I filled with fiberglass tiger hair filler. Trunk Pans: The entire trunk pans were replaced. They really didn’t need to be replaced but I had them and it was easy since I was replacing the license plate area. There are also brand new inner and outer wheel well pans. Bumpers: The chrome is fair and shines nicely but is not perfect. The most important piece is the NOS bumper guard. This is NOT a junk reproduction but an original New Old Stock bumperette with NOS bullets. It was in the original GM box when I bought it. Engine: This car was an original 348 car. When I purchased the car the engine was already pulled and had no idea as to what the engine was. The engine cradle when degreased had an orange strip in the center of the cradle and the factory fuel line coming from the tank is the larger 3/8” instead of the 5/16” line and the factory dual hangers are there. The engine that is the vehicle now is a 1972 350. The history of the engine is no BS. The engine was in a 1972 Impala which was bought new and religiously taken care of with oil changes and tune ups. The man who owned the car was a dear friend who I actually bought this ’59 off of and 2 other ’59 Chevrolets as well. In the spring of 2004 he was T-boned essentially destroying an original 38,000 mile all original car. I pulled the engine after purchasing the car from the insurance company. The engine is a turn key solid running engine. I have the an Edelbrock carburetor with electric choke on it and M/T valve covers as you can see in the pictures. The heater core valve began to leak. It has great heat but I was getting a drip into the interior. These valves are next to impossible to get but luckily easily repaired. I have done 3 of them before and didn’t get to this one. You will need the seal kit Balkamp 660-1000 they are about $10 at NAPA. If you have other 59 or 60 GM there is my little heater valve secret. Gas Tank and Sending unit are brand new !!!! Radiator is brand new !!!! Transmission: The Transmission is a TH350, new filter and screen and fresh fluid. It shifts smoothly and is trouble free. Suspension: Pretty much EVERYTHING is new. New Upper Ball Joints New Lower Ball Joints New Inner & Outer Tie Rod Ends Upper and Lower Control Arm Bushings New Front Coil Springs (Have the rears) New Front Shocks (Have the rears) New Stabalizer Links New Stabalizer Bushings New Idler Arm New Pressure Power Steering Hose New Return Power Steering Hose New Slave Cylinder Hoses New Steering Rag Joint The car was aligned 2 years ago and goes down the road straight. It rattles in the back since the original shocks are still installed. Brakes: Pretty much EVERYTHING is new Power booster was rebuilt by Karps in California and it wasn’t cheap. New Front Wheel Cylinders New Rear Wheel Cylinders New Front Pressure Hoses New Hold Down Springs New Front and Rear Shoes New Rear Pressure Hose New Drums all around (Not recuts) New Master Cylinder New Factory Bent Lines on the Entire Car New Emergency brake cable forward of the split Glass: Original E-Z eye windshield, with brand new gasket installed. Rear windshield also has a brand new gasket. No unsightly cracked gasket. The windows are factory green tinted glass. The front windows are in brand new channels. Interior: I put an original interior in the car. When I bought the car it didn’t have any interior and I had to search around and found a nice set out of a 1960 Impala. It took awhile to find the chrome trim for the door panes for a ’59 but I eventually did. I installed the original seat covers, new original door panels, new carpet, new firewall board, kick panels, arm rests. The rear arm rests need to have the vinyl installed better. The rear deck board is also new. I also put the 1960 Impala transmission indicator collar on so it lights up unlike the 1959. It is neat to see the green light on the indicator. Wiring: This is NOT a pus bucket when it comes to wiring. I spent a small fortune and put brand new wiring in the car. See the pictures of the new dash wiring with brand new plugs and fuse box. The wiring to the trunk I think is the only main body original wiring in the car but I can’t remember if it was new or not. The under hood wires to the headlight buckets and signals is all original new. The engine harness is new and the trunk harness and reverse light harness is new. The power window harness is also new. The 6 way power seat harness is original and the clock harness is also original. The Rechromed: Original Door handles – because the reproductions are JUNK Chrome transmission indicator Rear view mirror arm Exhaust jets on the roof Wiper escusions Emblem in center of trunk bezel rechromed New Key set around the entire car including the ignition. The Goodies: Power windows: I spent over $800 to buy the power window set up from Ecklers in Florida. What a waste of $800. These are JUNK. Don’t even waste your time with these. They move way to fast and when they bank the metal torques and chews up the gears. After having the front windows crack by being slammed into the roof I threw them across the garage. Currently I have beautifully working original regulators and motors in the rears in the car. I put cranks in the front temporarily until I could find original fronts. I got them last week and they go with the car to complete the set. I have brand new front windows because the originals got cracked with the junk power windows. 6 way power seat: The 6 way seat works great and can move a 300 lb man with ease. Original Clock: Yep it works White Wall Tires: Yep – even a brand new whitewall spare tire in the trunk. These are 14” Coker Classics with about 3,000 miles on them. CD Player: You have to have tunes. I have a plastic mount below the heater controls. I didn’t want to cut out the rear deck for speakers so there is a dual speaker in the dash and a speaker in the original grill in the back seat. Title: This is a clean Pennsylvania title and is branded Antique so it wears the Purple Antique tags. Payment: CASH – Don’t even think of trying to swindle me with checks, credit cards that are reverse charged after you have the car, certified checks etc. If you want to use a certified check, please cash it before you arrive to pick up the car or have the shipper do the same. No paypal deposit necessary, eBay and Paypal make enough money they don’t need anymore. What you bid is what you pay, don’t expect to come here and pay less than your bid. I have gone above and beyond and you will be hard pressed to find another ad that walks you through every body panel and part of the car. On Mar-20-13 at 15:46:45 PDT, seller added the following information: It has come to my attention that if this is viewed in Internet explorer the description is not in paragraph format and the pictures are 5 across. If you want to view it NORMAL, use Firefox or Chrome and it is formatted properly.