Projects another one comes out of the barn...yeah, its an '09

Just added this to my endless collection of projects. It was put in a barn in 1990, after my uncle bought it in Chicago for $5000. My father and uncle drove out to pick it up in '90, then my uncle started tearing it down for a resto. Shortly after purchasing it my uncle died of cancer and his son inherited the car. As you can see, the car just sat for a couple decades.

I've tried to get my grubby little hands on this for years, he said he'd never part with it. That it untill now, i traded him my '65 GTO project even.

'63 Impala 409/2spd, power steering, power brakes, posi rear, tilt column, radio. I dont know if the '09 has the special cam in it, whats the easiest way to tell? I have the complete car, it took me 3 days to collect all the crap.

I figure im the atleast the 5th owner of this car, it has an inspection sticker from North Carolina in '71-'72, then was titled in Wisconson, sold to my uncle from Chicago, and now resides here in NY. If anyone thinks they have anymore info on it, please share.

 

Here she is after a quick pressure washing, and some tires that actually hold air.

 

The 409

 

We need to build more barns.

 

Congrats, she will be lovely, and fast.

 

you'd think someone could invent a special magnet that had a range of at least a mile and would work from the highway or at some altitude that would identify old steel through wooden or galvanized metal walls. Then we could all just drive/fly around all week pointing our 'vintage metal detector' at all manner of structures and fences. We should have all the cool stuff gathered up in a matter of months.

just an idea...

dj

 

Nice score!

 

I thought 409s were only available with manual transmissions.Is it a factory 409/PG?

 

In 63, 64 and 65 you could get a Powerglide if you got the 340hp version of the 409.
That looks like a 340hp 409. The high performance 409's (400 & 425hp) had aluminum intakes and large port heads.

 

My bosses dad has a '63 409/409 SS in the back corner of the shop. He is the original owner similar in color to this one with same color interior. Apparently it had quite the street racing history and is sitting on 4 window magnesium wheels with cheaters on the back.

 

FOUR 09.. I was thinking 1909.

 

Wonderful. Did you come out on the better side of the trade? I'd hate to see what you had to part with... Great car!

 

She's real fine! ( I can't believe I'm the first dork to say that). Nice score!

 

You stayed the course, and reaped the reward. Resto? Semi-mod? That tilt wheel has to be super rare. Oh, you rule!

 

Yep, that's a 340HP. Hydraulic cam, "small" port heads and cast iron intake with a Rochester 4GC carb. The heads are the same as used on the original '61 360HP 409 and earlier Hi Perf 348's. For years there weren't any "good" performance intakes for those heads but Edelbrock now makes a single 4 bbl. manifold for the small heads. Lots of potential there.

 

screw the car, i want the motor!!!!!!! that car has some slight rust issues lol.

good luck with it all!

 

The Impy has a rotten frame(rotten since my uncle bought it in '90, worse now) The floors are also in need of replacing. and the seats need new skins.

I traded this car, it needed front floor pans and a trunk pan, M20 long gone, interior totally gone, and had a not numbers matching 389. Good Drag car.

 

There should be a mandate that says on one day a year every one should open there barn/garage/shed doors for the public to see.

There still out there, about a month ago i was driving past a farm and i noticed the gleam of a windshield coming from a delapitated hay shed. No one was around so i took a look see(probly not the smartest thing ive done) Inside the shack was a '54 Belair convertible with 34k miles. Only has some small rust on the lower fenders. Weeks later i drove by and a man was walking down the road, i asked about the car and he said "dont waste your time, that guy bought it new. Its not going anywhere"

Its ashame, the barn is going to cave in on that car. A wet fart could bring that shack down.

 

This one almost got crushed, by all the crap piled on it that is. It took me and two of my buddies 3 hours just to get the car outside. I used winch on my '63 Scout to yank the car out. one of the front drums was seized.

Before extraction....

 

That rust looks minimal and repairable, try finding a decent shell from this neck of the woods! She would be lace from the door handles down, and some on the roof probably!

 

Yup!! You've got the 340 hp 409 and they DID come with a PG trans from the factory. My father-in-law took my mother-in-laws '54 Merc 2drht for a ride one day in the spring of '63 and brought home a white 2drht Impala with a 340hp 409,pg. He just surprised her with it and didn't make a big deal. I was beside myself as I had no idea he knew anything about performance cars. Turns out he didn't.............it was sitting on the showroom floor and he remembered she had mentioned she would like a white car. I tried for years to buy it from them but it was always a no-go. He gave the car to the autobody shop class at the junior college after moving to Florida and I was pissed until the day he died about 8 years ago.

Frank

 

We work with what were given. Some of you West coast guys would consider this car a total loss due to rust. Here in the NorthEast we just deal with it.

For example http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=391595&highlight=willys

 

That's what my garage looks like... I think I have a Mustang in there somewhere...

 

So what would the Edlebrock intake gain me? Im kinda bummed with the whole 340HP deal. Originally i had planned on putting some 60s in rear and some Americans.

Now im just fishing for ideas, i want to keep it period correct to an extent.

If it were yours.... what would you do?

 

For that Impala or the Goat?

 

disregard the last question.
Look what we have here....
http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive_...-348-409.shtml <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

 

Rusty or not, that's a pretty good piece, you don't find a numbers-matching 409 car every day. I wouldn't be too bummed about it being the regular 409, the value guide says "add 50%" regardless which 409 it is.

All the GMs of this era are prone to frame rot issues, I had a '64 Gran Prix I pulled out of a yard not far from you in 2007 that the floors were actually decent in, but the frame was missing about three inches of the rail under the rear seat on the left side. Eventually I parted it out and found that even though it had been parked in like 1972, the quarters had already been redone once (just covered over with patch panels of some sort). The only good thing in this case is being an X-frame you can probably save the one that's in it, they like to rust under the trunk... I actually gave a guy I know a piece of the Pontiac frame to use to patch that part of his '62 Impala SS convert, if I remember right he got that car out of the same yard the Pontiac came from - but like 15 or 20 years ago.

 

With a decent intake, cam and headers the "lowly" 340 HP is no slouch, the smaller heads make it a lot nicer around town and in traffic if you plan to cruise it much. If you want go racing Edelbrock also has aluminum heads and I've heard rumors of an aluminum block. Good luck with whatever you decide.

My first car was a '63 Sport Coupe with a 250HP 327 and PG. It had less rust than yours but that was in 1973 and it was a $200 car on a good day. When the engine puked I bought a '64 327/250HP Sport Coupe for $350, put all my good parts on it and sent the '63 to the crusher. Wish I had it now.

 

The Brits and Swedes seem to be more, uh, oxide-tolerant, than any of us over here; they'll rebuild some oddball little Austin or Fiat from two bumper brackets and a headlight lens.

 

Awsome!

I love the fact it had so much dust on it I couldnt even tell it was a red color!