1960 Chevy Impala

[modelcarjr]

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I started this one last night trying to get another body painted. Worked on it last night and all morning just trying to get rid of all the nitty flash. Everything had to be worked, window openings, wheel openings, hood and trunk (opening trunk but i am going to glue it shut as I am not big on opening trunks as you have to put stuff in it), A & B pillars, headlight area and underside of the rear fenr wing. I added inside hood plastic strip to hold the hood in place without having to rely on the front chrome grill. There was also a small sink mark in the left rear fender wing so I filled it. Several hours worth of work. I got it in primer and painted it late this afternoon. Two coats of Dupli-Color Universal Black with one coat of clear lacquer.  I will rub out tomorrow and then see if I need another coat of clear. Thanks for looking! 😎



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[stikpusher]

Back when the Impala design had some real class.

[modelcarjr]

Thanks, Carlos! I appreciate your comment!

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Rubbed out the paint a good part of the day. Still have some work to do on the trunk and the hood is not started. I did rub out some edges but used a sharpie for touch-up. I sorting out the rest of the parts for painting. May get some more painting done tomorrow and start on the foil. Thanks for looking! 😎

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[handiabled]

Black is the absolute perfect choice for this body style. Looks great so far

[kyledehart5]

Oct 15, 2023 19:55:18 GMT -5 stikpusher said:

Back when the Impala design had some real class.

As an owner of a '95 SS, I agree. We have lost something over the years.

[kyledehart5]

Oct 17, 2023 20:09:18 GMT -5 modelcarjr said:

Thanks, Carlos! I appreciate your comment!

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Rubbed out the paint a good part of the day. Still have some work to do on the trunk and the hood is not started. I did rub out some edges but used a sharpie for touch-up. I sorting out the rest of the parts for painting. May get some more painting done tomorrow and start on the foil. Thanks for looking! 😎

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Man, the black is looking good. Sure is a great color on one of these old Impalas

[Medicman71]

Very nice!

[406 Silverado]

That's coming out beautifully JR!! All this and not even a clear coat on it yet. I can't WAIT for that!!!

[stikpusher]

Oct 18, 2023 2:57:50 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Oct 15, 2023 19:55:18 GMT -5 stikpusher said:

Back when the Impala design had some real class.

As an owner of a '95 SS, I agree. We have lost something over the years.

Back in the early 70's, I remember that my then best friend's family had an Impala and I occasionally rode in it with them going to the store or whatnot. Long bench seats in front and back, tons of room, a true street boat... that Impala badge on the sides... back before we had seat belt or car seat laws... Of course that didn't look as sharp as what's being built here6LnXAP

[modelcarjr]

Thanks, All! I appreciate your comments! I do have one coat of clear on it and I like the finish now so I am not going to push my luck with another coat at this point!

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I painted the interior red after taping off the seat inserts and door panels. Since the plastic  is white I used it as the accent color. I have some Scale Motorsports fabric decals that I have had for a least 10 years. I gave them a coat of clear lacquer yesterday in order to help keep them from breaking apart. Although they are houndstooth pattern, which is incorrect, its what I have on hand. I used a copy of the decal sheet to cut the patterns for the seats and doors and although they are not perfect, they are good enough for me. I add some Dullcote once the decals have dried.  Here are a few photos and I have started on foiling the body. Thanks for looking! 😎

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[kyledehart5]

That's really nice! The pattern looks great on there.

[atomicholiday]

Seats look great! I don’t envy you foiling that beast though. Man there’s a lot to foil on one of these.😱. But it’s gonna be sweet when it’s done.👍

[406 Silverado]

That's some good usage of the materials that you've had on hand for a decade JR. I also like the way you worked the molded color in with the scheme to create such a good outcome with the seat trim. This is really looking good man.

[406 Silverado]

Oct 20, 2023 5:45:22 GMT -5 atomicholiday said:

Seats look great! I don’t envy you foiling that beast though. Man there’s a lot to foil on one of these.😱. But it’s gonna be sweet when it’s done.👍

Yes there sure is Jeremy! When I built my 59 El Camino I couldn't believe how much BMF I had to use. Jeez!!!

[tcoat]

Oct 20, 2023 5:45:22 GMT -5 atomicholiday said:

Seats look great! I don’t envy you foiling that beast though. Man there’s a lot to foil on one of these.😱. But it’s gonna be sweet when it’s done.👍

Could always do it as a Biscayne. I owned a '60 Biscayne 4 door for about 3 day a few decades back. Think of everything that makes and Impala cool and remove it. That thing was plain as plain can get! 

[modelcarjr]

Thanks, All! I appreciate your comments! The foil down the side is a bit tricky but other than that not too bad!

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Finished the foil on the body and I still have a little work to do on rubbing out the hood but its mostly done. I'll be moving on to detail the interior and the engine next. But first, I may get another body painted to back some up before the weather turns. Thanks for looking! 😎

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[406 Silverado]

Dude that's lookin' sharp JR (modelcarjr). Alot of folks will stray from black cars because of the difficulty in making the finish look just right but you do GREAT with them. What kind of polishing cloth do you use?

[kyledehart5]

Looking wonderful.

[modelcarjr]

Thanks, Joe and Kyle! I appreciate your comments!

Joe, I just use 4000 - 8000 grit sanding cloths with a foam block, normally. I bought a 12000 grit sanding cloth but it scratched a previous build so badly that I threw it out and haven't replaced it. I had to use some seasoned 400 grit sandpaper on this one as the clear was really rough. Still trying to get some fine scratched out. I use some old cloth from LMG that made a sanding kit years ago but I think they are out of business now. Their cloths always held their grit really well and don't wear out easily. I also use Meguiar's Scratch-X in between passes with the cloths and usually use Meguiar's Gold Class Carnauba wax to finish. Seems to work out pretty well.

[handiabled]

Black paint jobs are unforgiving and you made this look flawless!

[modelcarjr]

Thanks, handlabled, its not flawless but it looks pretty good.

I am out of pre-wired distributors, so I decided to wire up the kit distributor. I have plenty of plug wire but I noticed that I had a package of four wires that were included with a plastic case that I bought some time ago that had wire tie-downs. These wires were already pre-stripped on the ends and if I cut them in the middle, I would have 8 lengths of wire 2" long. I also have plenty of boot material packaged with each of the pre-wired distributors that I buy. So I glued a piece of boot material on each of the kit distributor nibs and inserted the pre-stripped wire (I shortened the stripped wire a bit) into each of the boot pieces I had glued to the distributor. Voila - A wired distributor! I bent the wire around and I had to use some plug wire scraps to serve as wire looms since the tie-down wire was too big for my Pro-Tech wire looms. Then I just stuck the ends of the wires into the holes I drilled in the block without boots or glue, in case I want to replace this distributor once I get my pre-wired distributors.

I built the rest of the engine and added a fuel line with a glass filter by drilling a hole in the end of the line molded onto the tri-carb set-up and the fuel pump and gluing both ends. The only draw-back I see is that the distributor has to be pushed back a bit in order to mount the air cleaner. I can also use handy-tack to hold the air cleaner on so I can display with the air cleaner off.  I hope distributor won't interfere with the firewall but I'll have to cross that bridge when I get there because there is not a good way to mock it up  as the firewall also serves as the foot area for the interior.  Here are a few photos:

[kyledehart5]

I must say, I really do love those pre-wired distributors from places like Morgan Auto or Connkur. They look great and make things much easier for someone like me, who hates drilling out distributors. Nice job pushing through without those. When I run out I have a tendency to not wire something. Lol.

[406 Silverado]

I think I built that same engine up a few years ago to put into a 59 El Camino that I built for a kid. Yours here turned out very nicely JR!

[modelcarjr]

Thanks, Kyle and Joe! I appreciate your comments!

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Finished the chassis and installed the engine and radiator. Kit-supplied heater hoses will be added at final assembly. I also managed to get the door panels foiled and constructed. I really like the chrome window cranks they included in the kit and wish they would do that with more kits. They really pop! The frets at the top of the doors were a bear but I managed to foil them and then add a couple of brush strokes of clear lacquer to keep them from coming off. Thanks for looking! 😎

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[kyledehart5]

Man. Those interior panels look outstanding. Love the color. Will look great with the black. And awesome work on the foil

[buddho]

Outstanding work all around, and a pleasure to watch it coming together.

[handiabled]

Your work on the door panels is just outstanding! The pattern on the inserts look wonderful

[modelcarjr]

hanks, All! I appreciate your comments!

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Finished the interior today. The dash was pretty straightforward. I wish they had included a decal for the steering wheel center but I added a crossed flags decal that I cut from another decal in the stash. You can hardly see it but you see something is there. In addition to the door trim and the decals for the seats, I de-chromed the rear seat radio speaker grill and painted it red.  Then I added some foil to make it look more like the speaker grills I have seen in photos on the internet. The wire sticking up is the coil wire from the coil on the firewall. Thanks for looking! 😎

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[kyledehart5]

So good. This all going to mesh wonderfully with that black exterior. Great work

[handiabled]

Your attention to detail is outstanding! The added foil to the trim pieces really makes this interior look the part