It's an Impala, but not a sedan

I've taken on another project, but not completely by choice.  Loosing a garage for storage kinda pushes those "someday I'll fix it up" projects into "I guess I'll start working on it".
Anyways, here's my latest rolling New England rust bucket, a 1975 Impala Custom Coupe. 

Before I get the "That's a friggin demo derby car" let me give you a little background on why I'm fixing such a mess of a car.   My father bought this car new in 1975 and drove it pretty much daily until it was parked in my Grandmother's garage sometime in late 1999-early 2000.  In that time he racked up somewhere north of 225k on it, and yes the engine and trans are all original (2BBL 350 with a turbo 350 trans).  It was parked mostly due to the rust getting out of hand (hole in the frame among rotted panels) and it developed a bad vibration from the drive shaft.  At the time patch panels did not exist and it was parked as that someday project that him and I would work on.  Well, he passed away in September of 2003 and the car sat.  For whatever reason, this was the car that my Dad kept after owning much cooler cars such as a 1968 442 and his 68 Roadrunner.  I have every single receipt for this car including the dealer invoice and window sticker.
Growing up this is what I would help my Dad work on and I guess what got me into cars (especially yachts).
In 2009 my Grandmother passed away and my Aunt and Uncle inherited the house but were nice enough to let me use the garage.  I guess I overstayed my welcome as I was asked to do something with the car.

So here's what pics I took while waiting for the flat bed.  It's back at the house (which is now overstocked on cars again) and ready to be slowly fixed up.  My work actually gave us Friday off which worked perfectly for getting this thing home.  I hope to get it safe enough to drive and not looking like a ghetto cruiser.

So now it's my turn to pickup where my Father left off.









And it's home:


Walk around of the car:

looks like a fun project, filled with memories. You'll do it justice, take your time

Dave,

Can you get bondo in 5 gallon buckets?

Kidding aside, good luck with it. I understand the connection with your father. Will you have it ready for WF?

Tom

buickestate wrote:

looks like a fun project, filled with memories. You'll do it justice, take your time

I just have to get good at body work now

silverfox103 wrote:

Dave,

Can you get bondo in 5 gallon buckets?

Kidding aside, good luck with it.  I understand the connection with your father.  Will you have it ready for WF?

Tom

WF 2025 maybe.  Who needs tons of bondo when chicken wire and expanding foam is so cheap?

Great story...glad your able to save your Dad's car. Take your time and you enjoy the resurrection.

Great project. Good luck David!!

Nice vid, good luck on the project! I'm glad you are saving it. I see that dashbord has the "mark of excellence"