Shaark92
Well Known Member
I figured I'd been here long enough to migrate from the "Intro yerself" section.
I've also migrated away from the faceybook so I'm trying this shutterfly hootus for photo albums to share. I welcome feedback on that diddy, too. One bummer is that I've not found a way to receive comments on a given photo or album.
https://photos.shutterfly.com/album/30214667063
(ED ... continue reading ... I discovered this shutterfly bunch requires registration to view albums ... so there are pix later in this thread. thanks)
=======================================
1982 ... In fact, NOVEMBER, 1982, 38 years ago this month. Pops buys me this 1961 Impala from a lil lady at church who had a stroke/no more driving. He and mom had a 61 Bubble Top back when he was in the Navy, stationed at Sanford, FL at one point. "I wish I still had that car" I must have heard hundreds of times and is why I decided I was never surrendering my first car to another human. Anyhow ... his chance to relive that part of his life while teaching his son a little bit about cars. So he helped me ... or rather I tried to help him ... overhaul "the 61." At that time, she had a 283 w/ power pack heads. powerglide trans. We put 327 heads on it ... rated 300 hp IIRC, removed the Rochester 4 bbl and installed a Quadrajet. (yes, I know Rochester made that too). Painted midnight blue metallic/silver in Imron (can't buy the Imron we used then). The PG planetary gear failed within a couple months, so Dad took me to a wrecking yard and bought a 3 speed out of a 60 Impala. Of course, being a PG OEM, the frame didn't have the mount for the bellcrank. Welded a universal joint's U-bolt to the frame! Hurst floor shifter. Upholstery shop in Waco installed the complete interior as the album linked above shows.
Then known as "The Passion Pit," so dubbed by my church's youth director! LOL, with her crushed velour blue seats and blue dome light, I completed high school with her and we went to Austin. There, she drew quite the looks, some of them I didn't like. "I need that more than you do" So "the Pit" returned home after being in Austin for only a couple months. That started her "sitting." Lil bro/Dad installed a TH350 at one point, and she made a few runs, but 1990 was the last year she was registered. I eventually got my own place. First thing I did was build a pole barn for the tractor ... but made it large enough to take The Pit out of Dad's shop where she'd been for about 12 years as I went to learn "fly, fight, win" in Uncle Sam's Aero Club. The Pit's story picks-up in January 2018 where she went to Hamilton Texas' "Armadillo Auto Restoration."
In the linked photo album, you can read the tribute plaque I had made and which will be hung on a rear door window during car shows (assuming we ever get to do those again). Dad passed a few years ago and I never got "the 61" roadworthy before he departed. So that's been some of my motivation to have it professionally restored. "... in everything you do, do you best as serving The Lord and not man" Col 3:23. Whatever mechanic ability I had, was almost exclusively revealed only by the guidance from Pops who WAS a professional auto/aircraft mechanic. Confirmation was given to me about using these resources to restore my first car when me and she attended our first big car show; Texas Motor Speedway; Good Guys, spring of '18. Of course, I found a 55 BelAir. It was very similar to the one Dad had when he was a teenager in Moody, TX. The 55 about which I had heard so much growing-up. The fastest car in 3 counties. The gentleman and I talked quite a while and after sharing about Pops, I found myself sharing The Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a powerful moment.
So ... I returned to John at Armadillo and inked the deal to get started. She waited "on deck" for another 3-4 months in their "holding pen" before we "walked the green mile" to teardown in July '18. Part of the build sheet; ridetech coil over suspension, wilwood disc brakes with hydro boost, Johns Industries Ford 9" positrac, Flaming river rack/pinion, dakota digital instrument panel, Painless wiring harness, march performance serpentine system, vintage air, 700r4"SS" built by Phoenix in Weatherford, cold case radiator/elect fans, fan-augmented engine oil and tranny oil coolers.
So here we are. Now 2 plus years on this project ... but hey, it's 2020, right? After a 4 month pause with no explanation at the first interior shop, now known as "Passion Polly" has again found progress in the project. She's at a second interior shop. This one south of Dallas (look forward to writing a great review in the business section). The guys were already building door panels less than 24 hours after Polly's arrival. John and I fetched Polly from the first shop when he called asking for a completion date following 4 weeks from the last "we're getting on it." And that day they were moving Polly into the "work bay." Nope. So we arrived to find Polly's new yellow top Optima battery dead and so started a little saga with which I'll not bore ya ... but we eventually got her loaded-up and returned to Armadillo
The big question all us restorers get ... "when will it be done?" I now say ... "when it is finished."
Thanks for taking a gander at my project. It's always exciting to spend time with her ... but until she's finished, I do my thing and John is attending to Polly.
I've also migrated away from the faceybook so I'm trying this shutterfly hootus for photo albums to share. I welcome feedback on that diddy, too. One bummer is that I've not found a way to receive comments on a given photo or album.
https://photos.shutterfly.com/album/30214667063
(ED ... continue reading ... I discovered this shutterfly bunch requires registration to view albums ... so there are pix later in this thread. thanks)
=======================================
1982 ... In fact, NOVEMBER, 1982, 38 years ago this month. Pops buys me this 1961 Impala from a lil lady at church who had a stroke/no more driving. He and mom had a 61 Bubble Top back when he was in the Navy, stationed at Sanford, FL at one point. "I wish I still had that car" I must have heard hundreds of times and is why I decided I was never surrendering my first car to another human. Anyhow ... his chance to relive that part of his life while teaching his son a little bit about cars. So he helped me ... or rather I tried to help him ... overhaul "the 61." At that time, she had a 283 w/ power pack heads. powerglide trans. We put 327 heads on it ... rated 300 hp IIRC, removed the Rochester 4 bbl and installed a Quadrajet. (yes, I know Rochester made that too). Painted midnight blue metallic/silver in Imron (can't buy the Imron we used then). The PG planetary gear failed within a couple months, so Dad took me to a wrecking yard and bought a 3 speed out of a 60 Impala. Of course, being a PG OEM, the frame didn't have the mount for the bellcrank. Welded a universal joint's U-bolt to the frame! Hurst floor shifter. Upholstery shop in Waco installed the complete interior as the album linked above shows.
Then known as "The Passion Pit," so dubbed by my church's youth director! LOL, with her crushed velour blue seats and blue dome light, I completed high school with her and we went to Austin. There, she drew quite the looks, some of them I didn't like. "I need that more than you do" So "the Pit" returned home after being in Austin for only a couple months. That started her "sitting." Lil bro/Dad installed a TH350 at one point, and she made a few runs, but 1990 was the last year she was registered. I eventually got my own place. First thing I did was build a pole barn for the tractor ... but made it large enough to take The Pit out of Dad's shop where she'd been for about 12 years as I went to learn "fly, fight, win" in Uncle Sam's Aero Club. The Pit's story picks-up in January 2018 where she went to Hamilton Texas' "Armadillo Auto Restoration."
In the linked photo album, you can read the tribute plaque I had made and which will be hung on a rear door window during car shows (assuming we ever get to do those again). Dad passed a few years ago and I never got "the 61" roadworthy before he departed. So that's been some of my motivation to have it professionally restored. "... in everything you do, do you best as serving The Lord and not man" Col 3:23. Whatever mechanic ability I had, was almost exclusively revealed only by the guidance from Pops who WAS a professional auto/aircraft mechanic. Confirmation was given to me about using these resources to restore my first car when me and she attended our first big car show; Texas Motor Speedway; Good Guys, spring of '18. Of course, I found a 55 BelAir. It was very similar to the one Dad had when he was a teenager in Moody, TX. The 55 about which I had heard so much growing-up. The fastest car in 3 counties. The gentleman and I talked quite a while and after sharing about Pops, I found myself sharing The Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a powerful moment.
So ... I returned to John at Armadillo and inked the deal to get started. She waited "on deck" for another 3-4 months in their "holding pen" before we "walked the green mile" to teardown in July '18. Part of the build sheet; ridetech coil over suspension, wilwood disc brakes with hydro boost, Johns Industries Ford 9" positrac, Flaming river rack/pinion, dakota digital instrument panel, Painless wiring harness, march performance serpentine system, vintage air, 700r4"SS" built by Phoenix in Weatherford, cold case radiator/elect fans, fan-augmented engine oil and tranny oil coolers.
So here we are. Now 2 plus years on this project ... but hey, it's 2020, right? After a 4 month pause with no explanation at the first interior shop, now known as "Passion Polly" has again found progress in the project. She's at a second interior shop. This one south of Dallas (look forward to writing a great review in the business section). The guys were already building door panels less than 24 hours after Polly's arrival. John and I fetched Polly from the first shop when he called asking for a completion date following 4 weeks from the last "we're getting on it." And that day they were moving Polly into the "work bay." Nope. So we arrived to find Polly's new yellow top Optima battery dead and so started a little saga with which I'll not bore ya ... but we eventually got her loaded-up and returned to Armadillo
The big question all us restorers get ... "when will it be done?" I now say ... "when it is finished."
Thanks for taking a gander at my project. It's always exciting to spend time with her ... but until she's finished, I do my thing and John is attending to Polly.
Last edited:
factory air vents. (retained with the vintage air) ... and my home made center console.
