About the 62 Impala
Shoestring 62' project
Follow along as I do a restro-mod of a 1962 Impala SS.
I am a Architect by training, and this is my first car restoration. I will be doing as much of the work as I can. I will be learning new skills (welding, body work, etc.) This is my hobby project so there are no time constraints just the pure joy of building and . I have always loved old cars and always wanted to restore one.
The goal for the car is to make a nice cruiser for weekend outings, and local car shows. Also I am planning on finishing the car and taking my Dad who gave me the car on the Power tour.
Ok I have been lax on the updates but here it is. I was able to have my family over on July 4th of 09'. had a BBQ and removed body here are my Dad and Brother and I discussing the best way to do this. I am going to add two pulleys to the roof for lifting the body back on to the frame. WE used a engine lift on the front and man power on the rear and Slid my home made body Cart under the body. I am not entirely happy with the body cart, but I will make changes to the design later. The soft tires are not the right way to go I am going to replace them with a hard tire for rolling the body around.
the frame is now ready for powder coating. I had the car body and frame media blasted and found a few more issues with the body that will need to be addressed. I found additional floor damage on the passenger side and it looks like someone took a post down the entire passenger side of the car so there is a long crease from the door to the rear quarter and the rear quarter had some poor body work done that will need to be fixed at some point.
My work bench & view from the rear of the shop
So I was thinking last weekend as I worked on my car that I would like a bigger shop, now I built my garage with a specific shop space to work on my car. It is about 12 feet wide by 35 feet long. Now if I did it all over I would have added at least 3 more feet to the garage to make it 15 feet wide. But as my dad told me hot rods have been built in smaller spaces then this. so here are some pictures of my garage space I tried to capture the space. The good thing about a small garage is that you are forced to be organized. So to all of you out there that are thinking of taking on a project but have a small garage I say go for it and do not let that stop you.
Birds eye of the Shop
Well I made it to a milestone this last weekend. I have everything out of the car (except for the
Windshields) and I am am ready to get it
blasted and start the restoration and putting parts back on. The plan is to remove the windows this weekend and be ready to go with the car. I also have purchased a welded and am working on a body cart for the car so I can take it off the frame