Projects 1959 Impala Hardtop

that last picture are personal friends of mine, I go out to party with them we went to this show in LA. but now you see why I don't chose to compete, these guys would kill me.

back to work tomorrow, almost there =)

 

Different ball game man .... but realistically ... you in a bikini would be hard to stomach. BUT, if your car was behind you ..... maybe ? Dude, your car is awesome. These guys ? Well, yeah !! I'd take yours any day of the week. Drive anywhere, anytime, anyplace. Now what ballgame ? Yep .... you win !

Thanks for the pictures. Those riders are something else. And, the boobies ? Priceless. Me like-y.

 

How are those bias tires staying seated on the bead?!

 

Wow, that's a lot of cashola spent.

 

Must be a ton of air pressure, surely they cant drive on those tires like that?

That flake blue one has got a zillion in engraving, wow

 

o no not compete in bikini lol, I mean cars kidcampbell =b I cant compete with those cars, some of those 59s have over 100,000 in customization, candy frames, EVERYTHING engraved, everything chromed, completely painted underbellies, on some even the rotors are engraved. that's just what my camera got before my battery went low. and one of those fully customized cars was a original 59 fuelie convertible =0 there was some that even topped some of these away, my camera died but I stayed mesmerized on them. I think ill just stick to my little stock build with my minor customization, I'm not going against that ill kill myself trying although I do plan to enter it next year, maybe get a paper certificate saying thanks for coming, you tried =b I did a lot of work beyond stock, but still intended to drive the hell out of it and I am this car will live a full life once again =)

and as for those tires, those are premium sportway 5.20s, they make them again. super small tires, they pump up just a bit more like this



believe it or not its a very strong tire. but its what allll the top cars had. its the tires used in the 70s and 80s but back then they were 15 bucks each, now they are 650 the set of 4. before you put them on, you have to let them sit in the sun with coke cans widening them up a bit to mount the bead on the rim. once the bead is on its on pretty tight the psi rating is 50.

did some more work today, getting there I should have pictures by Saturday afternoon. we are having 100 plus degree weather, even under a car canopy its too much I have to keep taking break and sit inside for a bit. I need it to cool off a bit too before I can spray anything or else itll dry spray (paint molecules literally dry before it hits the surface) or dry too fast and have major orange peel. so given that I cant spray anything till next wed when it drops to the low 80s.

to be honest, I was excited about this build and still am I love this car and enjoying building it. but kind of bums me out itll never bring a trophy. that would have been nice, something that would have given me that "you worked really hard, here you earned this". that went away when I went to this show. but I'm happy for those guys, glad they made it to the top, they truly deserve and earned the recognition =) as for me, still excited, still motivated, still loving what I'm doing. my reward will be when I'm on the road finally, playing some tunes while driving to get a burger or the park on a sunday in a car I built and created, brought back to life =)

 

another remider why I cant compete






I have been looking into car rotisseries. theres one for 900 bucks that will spin a body 360 degrees and when put away just takes up a space of 4 feet by 1 foot if layed against a wall after you collapse it. so I definitely am looking into that. I wanted it to do floor work and spray red oxide to make cars I work on more factory but I see I could paint as well. but that will be after I enjoyed my car for a long while

 

that last one, the frame is molded to the body, turned unibody =0

 

Ridiculous

 

Holy sh#t Gallo' .... what the heck do those guys do for a living ? !! Just the labor hours on that engraving .... is frekn' bank killer ... let alone the plating. Damn ! Brother, my girl's panties can't even compete with that.

 

Amazing! I have no doubt you could build a $100,000.00 car. You just need a 100K. I see the guy standing behind you sneaking a picture of the girls. Thanks for the coverage.

 

Or he's taking a picture of the guy....

Nice cars though, out of 99.99999999% of our league though...

 

Looking good can't wait to start on my 59.

 

its beyond what work I can do, id need yea about 100k to do the plating and engraving and a lot of the labor work id need to pay to have multiple things worked on at once, even if I had the money if I attempted to do it on my own one job at a time id be working on the car for 10 years. look at the driveshaft and even the mufflers





I watched that engraved car get built its from texas. the frame is completely plated and engraved, and the gold isn't paint its actual real gold plating. this and all the work on the other cars from the show, all chevy and GM cars not Lamborghini or Mercedes or Ferrari, your everyday American classic car. and they are not just show, they are go as well. they throw out the stock v8 and put in ls1 ls3 and 409s in them they can keep up with the best of them. and they dress them up to look museum quality. and upgrades too, I don't know what it is but some of you will, look at his independent suspension upgrade



yea, I will never bring home a trophy. will just enjoy seeing these cars shine in show room lights =) every year they seem to raise the bar, bigger and fancier customization. this show has zero street cars all show turntable cars and there were 2600 cars showing, the best of los angeles. after gold plated engraved frames unless they plate and engrave the body, i think it hit its peak i cant see what upgrades will top that. one car that I know of and I know the owner that wasnt in this show, has real diamonds encrusted in the paint job and bumpers and its not gawdy like a cell phone case its distributed tastefully, over 60 thousand dollars in diamonds but he doesnt like to show his car much its an impala. as for the work, yes 100k easy. would be more but thing is a lot of these guys network. one guy paints, so he paints the plater and engravers car so they trade work. one guy does upholstery good, so he upholsters the plater and paint guys cars and get the work done on his. big bucks spent but some also network. I work on my own, so no networking for me. and if I do start to do other peoples work itll be by the time my car is all put together and on the road so I doubt ill go back and take It apart again so ill do it for pay. back to work on my street level car =b

 

Hi Reyes,
I was amazed at the AWESOME cars at that show you posted.
Thing is, thought, those cars long ago stopped being cars and became works of art!
You and I are into building cars, those guys are are more into the decoration of cars so I'd say to you don't worry one bit about trying to be as flashy as theirs, we are not in that game.
I just want to end up with a nice cruiser, mostly stock original, maybe with some add on bits of bling but nothing over the top.
And, to cruise around in it for the fun of it. I's great to see those cars but they are trailer queens, loaded up with all that gold plating they need big engines to move!
I reckon that the cars at that fins show last year are more like what a typical enthusiast would be doing. My thing is to put the car back together the way is was mostly. Others like to resto mod thing, and so it goes.
Enjoy your car and be proud of it as it has come a long way for sure!
Cheers,
John

 

This ^
Well said Sir.

 

Thanks!

 

thanks guys, I needed that =) I am just happy itll fit what I want and makes me happy =) car will have a whole new life, like this

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=895865167169178

oh, and I haven't been asleep just haven't checked in









this is where the real fun begins

 

i got set back a day, plan was to wet sand primer with 600, spray sealer, spray base coat then spray clear coat on the same day. well I started early, sprayed the sealer, shit only made me have to start over. it sprayed with alot of texture and orange peel. sealer isn't supposed to be sanded you spray it wet then an hour later spray the base coat directly on the sealer. I couldn't the orange peel and texture would have shown through the base coat even after I wet sand and buff the clear. so I had to spend the day and go back and block it flat. but its cool tho, nothing wrong with a few more mils of primer thickness







after that, got to work. put my gun to work and busted out my mask. works good to keep the fumes from going in your lungs and out of your face but makes it hard to spray, you cant see that clear out of it.



but ill post pics after its done. so far so good

got this in the mail, a few more shit for the car for display

fragi'le, must be Italian







like I said, ill post pictures when I finish what I'm doing. I don't want to post pictures and jinx myself cause I'm happy how it turned out and showing you guys then some shit causes me to redo it. but ill post pictures tomorrow of whats going on the car

 

shit. couldn't wait. here you go. still needs white metalflaked stripe on the side, busting that out tomorrow. o and this is BEFORE wet sanding and buffing, doing that Friday paint will shine like its wet

 

nice!

 

Some fine work you are doing paint looks outstanding.

 

thanks guys. I'm a beginner, first actual real job I got my practice on 2 stage from doing my fenders so I was ready for the body, well I thought I was I took that leap of faith and looks like I came out ok. people that came by said bs I done it before, but I haven't. yes I painted my 65, but didn't clear it didn't know how to shoot and cut/buff clear. yea I painted my 48, but how hard is painting flat, goes on wet, dries flat so what can go wrong? and yea I painted this one the first time, but again was scared of ruining it and starting over so I put on clear so thin you could scratch it off with your fingernail if you tried it. I got the hang of clear coat after I did my woodgrain dash and outer windows on my 48, so now was able to pull this off. but I was asked what made me come out ok on my first job. answer is simple. besides good body prepping..

a good gun.

a good gun can make a beginner spray like hes done it before. what makes a good gun, and is the difference from a cheap gun to a good gun is simple, atomization. that means it breaks up the paint good from fluid into very tiny droplets. the spray pattern is even from top to bottom kind of like if you blew mist or smoke on the panel so it lays down nice 100 percent even and flows even when it settles on the metal. a bad and cheap gun spits, doesnt atomize good so the spray pattern lays in chunks that is thicker where the drops fall and thin where it doesn't after it flows out. so not only does it give you horrible orange peel but has light and dark spots in the spray pattern and because its not even it causes tiger stripes in the paint job.

with a good gun, all you really have to worry about if you get down how to run the passes, 50/50 overlap sometimes 75 overlap, 6 inches from metal, and steady even movement is just not dripping it. you can drip a bit the clear coat, you cant drip basecoat if its metallic. and spraying metallic get down how to fog/drop coat the last coat and you even it all out. not hard trust me. a good gun makes it all easy and makes you pull the paint job off. a good gun works at 6cfm to 14cfm. the only low cfm gun i know that you can run off a 110 home compressor is the one i use the concours from eastwood it runs off 4cfm and now they have a concours pro thats 6cfm. cfm is the amount of air the gun uses to break the fluid to droplets, cubic feet per min. i see it this way, if youre paying less than 150 bucks for a gun, youre getting a cheap gun and you get what you pay for. a good gun is from 150 bucks all the way up to 700 like the iwatas. but yea, I'm very beginner but thanks. not perfect but I'm very happy with it, 100x better than the old paint job

still waiting for the clear to dry fully. might work on my doors, they are horrible I let them sit and not rot but look crappy. o and put the inner and outer fenders together

 

Look better now than when they were brand new.

 

Looking really sharp!

 

Very nice work!!

Ryan.

 

thanks guys. wish I had updates to post but I need to paint the stripe and other few things and I live in so cal in Fontana right by lytle creek. anyone that knows the area knows my area is a place where winds at times are funneled between the mountains through lytle creek and right through my area, winds so strong its common for them to tip over big rigs and uproot trees its a common occurrence common sight. its only in a small strip that the winds are that strong while neighboring cities are calm to no winds. my ez up is gone, and my car cover is starting to shred. so for now no updates, just been wet sanding a few parts needing paint when wind dies down like the cruiser skirts and steering wheel

got a question guys, I read this morning that el nino thing is going to hit so cal with powerful storm after another like a conveyor belt of storms. storms are said to last from jan to march. gives me a month to have the car body painted completely, any other small parts I can paint under shelter. I don't want water getting on it and since itll be storm after storm the water wont get a chance to dry for a long time and I don't want it to settle and start to rot metal or affect new paint.question is, being the car will be so newly painted I was planning to wrap it in thin plastic sheeting painters use, thin and flexible like a giant trash bag. is that bad? ill keep the water from landing on it but will it be worse will it trap humidity under it? if I buy a good outdoor car cover and still wrap over it a waterproof tarp will it still be bad? trying to avoid any damage over the rainy season

 

I've had good luck with car covers. Dad has ... anyway. If you like to put it away until spring, then I don't know ... but if you are the type to happily polish paint on occasion or want to check up on the ole' Impala a few times during the winter, you'll be fine. My dad was, and still is super anal/attentive(?). Spotless cars covered, and frequently molested whenever he was bored during the winter. We never had a problem with car covers. Indoors or out. Again, always undressed, checked, and redressed. My dad waxes his wheelwells. Yep, he's awesome !! That kinda' guy.

With your wind issues, I would be careful with whatever frictions that wind will put on your cover/covers. Definitely put the soft stuff on your first layer or two ..... then waterproof cover. Good luck !

 

got it kid Campbell =)

changed out the wheels, put the tru rays on. some guys at the tire shop remembered them from older 70s 80s corvettes. but boy did it drop my car


























































still needs 59 spinners and the ports and stars on the skirts, and paint the white stripe on the body to put the trim back on, but you get the idea. and o yea I finished repainting the skirts