Impala60
Well Known Member
I have gathered together most of the history about this car now, so I'm going to post this project thread in here. A while ago when I joined, I introduced myself but I think I should say it again that I'm an 18 year old guy from Finland who has been building cars with my dad for a pretty long time & last summer I finished 6th on Finnish Championship Drag Racing Series in Stock / Super Stock with a '74 Chevelle.
This car arrived to Finland from Palestine Texas in the autumn of 1988. In Texas a couple of my dad's friends rebuilt the car before shipping it, and my dad bought it very soon after it arrived here. Here are pics before rebuilding in Texas:
The car had a Matching Numbers 283 SBC and a PowerGlide trans when it arrived in Finland. It had Slot Mags and rear tires had been in many burnouts and there was no tire tread left. My dad said that they were extremely slippery especially in the rain, but anyway he drove with them until the winter came.
During the winter, dad shot some new paint here and there, installed new brakes and did lots of cleanup and that kind of little work. New front seat upholstery was ordered from Late Great Chevys and he fabricated new door panels with his grandmother. Backseat has original upholstery in a very good shape. New wheels and tires were also installed.
A year or two later my dad did an engine swap and then the car had a powerful 327 SBC and cast iron PG transmission was changed to aluminum one, where my dad built a home made shift kit with his friend. They also converted the trans so that it functioned manually only. Anyway, the shift kit was so wild that transmission hub did not handle shifting from 1st to 2nd gear. Later the trans was modified back to original.
That 327 engine was swapped back to that Matching Numbers 283 in the early 1990s. Engine was rebuilt back then and the car was overall modified pretty much back to original except for the wheels and tires that were from Buick.
In the mid to late 1990s the car was not used as actively as earlier. One reason for that was that I was born in 1996. The car was driven every year, but not as much as before. Then after 2000 as I was a bit older the car was used very actively again.
These pics with original wheels and hubcaps are from 2000 or something like that. Very soon after putting those hubcaps on, one of them came off on the highway and an 18 wheeler truck smashed it.
After that the hubcaps were removed.
In the spring of 2009 when the car was driven to annual tech inspection, the inspector told that next year he could not let us through that inspection, because the car had had a rust issue on co-driver's side since when it came to Finland. We thought it does not matter driving the car (And it definitely doesn't), but anyway in the autumn of 2009 we drove the car to a garage at our summer cottage. We were building a '79 Buick Skyhawk at that time and it was getting close to finish, so next summer we were going to drive around with that. After the Buick was sold in 2012, we bought the Stock Eliminator Chevelle and rebuilt that thing completely. This Impala ended up sitting in that garage five years, until in the autumn of 2014 when we brought it back home as my 18th birthday was coming in December and it meant my driver's license too. My dad told me that I could restore this car back to its glory and drive it on the summertime. I said OK because I've always thought the cars from this era are very beautiful and this particular car has a neat history too.
So in October 2014 we put a trailer on back of my '87 Chevy Van (Daily driver) and headed to our summer cottage to pick up this beauty.
I will continue the story and the actual building process really soon. I think it's bed time now (12:07 AM here). Thanks for looking everyone!
This car arrived to Finland from Palestine Texas in the autumn of 1988. In Texas a couple of my dad's friends rebuilt the car before shipping it, and my dad bought it very soon after it arrived here. Here are pics before rebuilding in Texas:
The car had a Matching Numbers 283 SBC and a PowerGlide trans when it arrived in Finland. It had Slot Mags and rear tires had been in many burnouts and there was no tire tread left. My dad said that they were extremely slippery especially in the rain, but anyway he drove with them until the winter came.
During the winter, dad shot some new paint here and there, installed new brakes and did lots of cleanup and that kind of little work. New front seat upholstery was ordered from Late Great Chevys and he fabricated new door panels with his grandmother. Backseat has original upholstery in a very good shape. New wheels and tires were also installed.
A year or two later my dad did an engine swap and then the car had a powerful 327 SBC and cast iron PG transmission was changed to aluminum one, where my dad built a home made shift kit with his friend. They also converted the trans so that it functioned manually only. Anyway, the shift kit was so wild that transmission hub did not handle shifting from 1st to 2nd gear. Later the trans was modified back to original.
That 327 engine was swapped back to that Matching Numbers 283 in the early 1990s. Engine was rebuilt back then and the car was overall modified pretty much back to original except for the wheels and tires that were from Buick.
In the mid to late 1990s the car was not used as actively as earlier. One reason for that was that I was born in 1996. The car was driven every year, but not as much as before. Then after 2000 as I was a bit older the car was used very actively again.
These pics with original wheels and hubcaps are from 2000 or something like that. Very soon after putting those hubcaps on, one of them came off on the highway and an 18 wheeler truck smashed it.
After that the hubcaps were removed.
In the spring of 2009 when the car was driven to annual tech inspection, the inspector told that next year he could not let us through that inspection, because the car had had a rust issue on co-driver's side since when it came to Finland. We thought it does not matter driving the car (And it definitely doesn't), but anyway in the autumn of 2009 we drove the car to a garage at our summer cottage. We were building a '79 Buick Skyhawk at that time and it was getting close to finish, so next summer we were going to drive around with that. After the Buick was sold in 2012, we bought the Stock Eliminator Chevelle and rebuilt that thing completely. This Impala ended up sitting in that garage five years, until in the autumn of 2014 when we brought it back home as my 18th birthday was coming in December and it meant my driver's license too. My dad told me that I could restore this car back to its glory and drive it on the summertime. I said OK because I've always thought the cars from this era are very beautiful and this particular car has a neat history too.
So in October 2014 we put a trailer on back of my '87 Chevy Van (Daily driver) and headed to our summer cottage to pick up this beauty.
I will continue the story and the actual building process really soon. I think it's bed time now (12:07 AM here). Thanks for looking everyone!
I sure wouldn't mind! 
.
! Now next thing will be using Bondo where needed.
