Projects 1959 Impala Hardtop

Any updates on this car?

 

I have a 60 hard top waiting for me to start... can't wait to see more of your 59.

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Wow, just read this whole thread. What a nice car to start with , and you have done a SHIT TON of work....nice to have it all in order like that...

Don't leave us hanging....

 

only update so far was that I managed to paint and clear coat the face plates on the bumper kit when I clear coated the steering column on my 48. but that's because I spent the last 3 months taking my 48 from rotting away complete project to 98% finished car. but the 48 is days not weeks from completion. and when it is, this one will get my full attention and if you really look, its not far from completing either, under a month. so give me a few days then ill jump back on this, I wont leave you guys hanging and I wont disappoint.

and Herbert most of this I done on here applies to your 60 too, only changes are mild body changes, everything else is exactly the same so you can use it as kind of a guide =)

and thanks shadams, ton of work. hope it didn't take too much of your time going through it all, its a lot of pictures I know. I cant wait to finish, spend some road time more than garage time. and I have a few girls ive been holding on to to do my photo shoots with that I know you guys will love, so because the car will be done doesn't mean the thread will die out if anything itll come alive =D

 

I have read the entire thread. Have found some very helpful information on cleaning products and methods that I never knew.
You have a great work ethic that should do you well in life. Watching for updates, Brian

 

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Hey gallogiro, thanks for the heads up on how to take anodizing off of stainless. I've been working on my '63, and that will help a lot. I like your '59

 

thanks guys =)

 

o and this build will be back on track in about a week finally, am done with my other car

 

In one of your first posts.. you mentioned a disc brake conversion kit.. what kit are you using?

 

it was a kit I got from a guy in upland ca, 220 bucks without the booster and master cylinder. turned out pretty good, and other kits online run over 500 bucks. he still sells them out of his shop if you need his number I can get that to you

 

and thanks guys, I will be back on the car real soon, just redo my gas and brake lines on my 48 and rewire the dash and im done with that one and back on this one

 

looks like this build will be back on track starting Thursday, i have to now i have 20 days to finish it. its now mandatory I get this car done, and my other ones.

I screwed myself going to the dmv to check on the total to register the 59 and 48 and renew the tags on the 65. well its good and bad news. good news is the girl saw pictures of the cars on my phone and wanted to see them in person so she set me up to have all of them verified there at the dmv not at the chp even though I had already started the registration on the 48 back when I first got it and was sent mandatory chp referral verification. i heard theyre very strict, you take it to get the vin checked and sometimes if you have a tail light out or your gauges not working yet they wont verify you till its fixed. so now i get to avoid any of that bs and just go straight to the dmv where shell verify it =D

that's the good news, bad news is since i started the registration, i have 20 days to get them verified and pay the fees to complete the registration and also get the original plates issued to each



20 days i can do it, but will be long days and nights. i need to pay $317 for the 59



$221 for the 48



and $180 for the 65. now im pressed for time. got 20 days to have the timing set on the 48 so i can have it finished and drive it there, and also to have the 59 done and drive it there which means finish putting in the interior, put in the bumper kit and all the moldings and finish the rewiring. that's all they need, will repaint the 59 but after i drive it for a bit a few weeks to enjoy it.

so i guess its bad news because of time, but good news because they'll be done by then in 20 days. being forced now but its a good thing now i can go full force with no breaks and get them done. i start tomorrow 8am

 

o if i fail the 20 days i get fined, girl said it was a lot. don't know how much but also don't want to pay so im on it

 

pulled it off, got my tags, registration and pink slip

 

now after a year (april 1 makes a year I stopped working on it), im back on it! and motivated. 48 is done now im on this full time 100% just like I was on my 48. opened up the hood after that long, wiring mess I left a year ago



felix was happy to see me again



first priority, rewire the whole car. got perfect practice with my 48 chevy in that department. i needed a 80 amp fuse to put from the battery to the fuse box. auto zone said they had one for 35 bucks with one fuse in it. fuck that the indoor swapmeet had one with 5 fuses for 10 bucks and it matches my car





after a year i worried the airbags were going to pop or leak, i needed to raise the car to work on the bottom. the car dropped is so low i cant fit the jack under there, its about half an inch from the floor to the frame and belly. hooked up the battery, worked like the day i first put them in lifted it fine





and up it goes





was playing with it, has a nice snap to it when the tank is full

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKqt3J1ibXA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4_5a3UrPfc

going to be a double build, half day one 59, other half on 65. want to spray both of them on same week, moved it back to take it down to bare metal. you can tell this one hasn't been moved in a while too. but i plan to have both ready to paint on same week

 

put in 10 hours just today doing up all the wiring. its 90% rewired now, just stopped here. turn signal and headlight switch. I got the og clips to just clip on the harness on the switch. but stuck, I can see the colors of each wire, but I don't know what goes where? on the wiring diagram it don't tell you where it goes or is labeled it just tells you the color, which I already know. anyone know what each wire hooks up to? 59 - 62 is the same switch and harness.using a painless wiring kit



everything else including the ignition switch clipped right in. this too the dimmer switch the harness came with the clip that goes right to it. was nice I didn't have to go under the car to do this one



redid my bulb housings. the plastic on them is really hard and brittle so I wrapped them in shrink wrap to seal them

















also made the ignition wires, its a universal kit so I had to cut them to size and put the ends on them. man was it a pain in the ass getting the boots on =/



and today when I came home from work made a stop to my flake supplier, now im REALLY motivated. one pound white flake. not coke but just as good! white metal flake for the roof, trunk and side stripe. will be laying this in a week man I cant wait to see it lay =D









man am I motivated now. will be done with all the wiring by this weekend, will prep and flake the roof and trunk this week coming up, the following week prep the body to respray the blue it will be solid no flakes, while the paint and clear cure I will polish up all the moldings and finish the interior and god willingly car will be done in about a month. only thing left really is the paint. car was so close to being done, shouldn't have never stopped but im back on this full force no stopping me again now

 

Dude it's so cool to see you back on this project. I have checked in so many times, seen all your pics, found your YouTube videos and used heaps of your info as reference for my build.

We got this car in February 2013 as a stripped but driving shell. It was painted, assembled, and legal in December.

The tow car probably doesn't look familiar to you, but that truck is pretty common here in New Zealand.



Like you said earlier, throw some flat paint on it! The interior has a rattle can rescue, and the carpet is new. It has turned out better than I hoped and the feeling of accomplishment driving it is unbeatable.

You were a huge inspiration for me to get out there in the shed, even when it was getting overwhelming. All work was done at home by us, including prep and paint.

Looking forward to the next update.


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yea, im back on this and has my undivided attention now, none of my other two will get in the way till this thing is completely done. I shouldn't have stopped, I can only imagine how this one would look right now if I hadn't, but building that 48 was good practice and gained experience I needed that now will make me blow right through some of the stages of this build instead of trying to figure anything out. took me 2 weeks to rewire my 48, this one in 10 hours was 95% done I already knew what went where and how. also with painting I got a good feel now of my paint gun and laying paint so im more confident in repainting it. I thought of doing my 48 as training for the big fight, getting ready to tackle this car. now im ready and shouldn't take long

love your ride, nice =) love the flat look its why I went with that look on my 48 and was my first intention for my 59 was flat black like yours and maybe flake the roof and trunk. the best part is you are past the mechanical part of the build which even though can be fun, can be work at times. now you can enjoy your car, and when you are driving something you put your work into whether it was big or small work, feels great. also I know the scarcity and how rare 59s are in your part of the world so im sure you feel extra proud of yours =)

im glad I motivated, was my whole point here. you can definitely use this as a reference, I think I posted every single step and still have more I have to post. but if you have any questions or issues let me know and ill post it on here. there will be progress every day, so check in around 9pm u.s. pacific time. hope you guys enjoy =)

 

Hi Mate, also glad to see things are moving along. I'm about to fit up the side roof moldings and the rear windshield glass moldings. I had to take out the rear glass seal as the molds would not fit in place because the sealant had gone too hard over the last four years since the glass was put in, a good lesson in not leaving things too long I guess!
Anyhow I am looking forward to getting to finish the interior, and I may only need to get new door panels made up instead of the whole lot. Also, I finished refitting the front section of the hood liner after fitting the windshield molds. That tack strip was pretty RS so I got some material from the hardware store that they use to separate pavement sections in a driveway, cut it thin and used that.
Looking forward to more posts, Cheers, John

 

very excited to see how that flake lays out. I'm really close to pulling the trigger ob flaking the roof on my 59 white also. Awesome build.

 

I just read your entire post. It looks as though you've done a nice job on your '59. This post, and your workmanship, are well thought out and executed.

I'm a fan of the '59s myself. I hope you enjoy your car and you get your due compliments on the changes you've done....Mike

 

hey john, glad to hear there is progress. sorry for taking so long on getting back on this and showing progress you had questions with. as for the rear glass seal you mean the rubber gasket that holds the rear glass on? I know the only way the molding clips go on are with the rear window out. but with the clips on the rear moldings should pop right on. this Monday im going out to buy the the materials I need to paint my roof, so I should be at the stage where im putting on all the moldings back on by Saturday and ill post how that's done since I keep hearing the side roof moldings are a pain in the ass.

as for your interior, if you can get your hands on a standard home and garment sewing machine, its possible to make the door panels and any other panels yourself. the reason you would need an upholstery industrial sewing machine like mine is for seats, because you sit on them and put stress on the stitches and if the stitches are too small or close to each other they will tear open but there is no stress on the stitches on the panels. is the board on the door panels ok? do they look water warped alittle? when I make the doors next week ill take pictures and will upload a diagram of the door panel cutouts if you decide to make them yourself. and good thinking on the hood liner, again glad to hear there is progress

 

thanks r1fighter, yea If I had the materials I need id be spraying it as we speak, but I have to go find the right primer sealer, base, intercoat clear and clear. I know what to get, just need to wait till tomorrow Monday to get it. test panel will be the face on my bumper kit so ill know how many passes to make and I don't spray more than I need to at one point. I have some relief that even though 59 is a huge car, the roof is a small section because of the way the roof, back window and windshield are designed. I realized that when I jumped inside of it and undid some of the headliner to wire the dome lights. I was like wow this is tiny compared to my 48.

when I do spray, I keep hearing if you use intercoat clear as a flake carrier its really easy since its designed to dry quicker and be able to work with and handle easier because its for guys painting different paint tones and airbrushing, dries fast so you can mask off and spray different tones quicker. also supposedly its easy to correct if you made mistake but I don't know if thatll apply with flake but as long as you don't drip it you can correct it easy if it were to lay too light in one section just make another pass and youre good. being that flake is meant to lay uneven not perfectly flat, kinda hard to stripe it if its all sprayed and layed good. but when I spray it ill take pictures and document the steps in detail and post on here then maybe itll encourage you to pull the trigger as well =)

from what ive been told by guys that spray flake, you can use any base but the common bases are black and silver. black base youd need to spray more flake to cover the black but gives the flake job a darker tone because any very small specs between the flake where the base shows will be dark as with silver base it would be a light tone. and if you don't want to use that much flake, use a base as close as you can with the flake you are spraying which is what I intend to do.

the most used primer and sealer that is direct to metal is the xtreme one, and the clear used after the flake (well was recommended by most) is the transtar one



but that being here In southern calif where we can only get our hands on low voc paints and clears, im sure in other states you can get better quality. and the intercoat clear to use as the flake carrier is sg100 from house of kolor. ill post pics and details of the process with mine, it can get confusing if I start to explain without pictures some of the steps

 

and thanks mike, im trying. whether I get it right or not im loving every min of it. definitely a learning experience, a lot of the work was my first time and im learning as I go. that's where youtube and forums like this one come in this site has been a huge help for me and im grateful for all of it =) just hope in a few weeks when I step back and say its done it will look good, and glad you guys are enjoying the thread

 

the guy giving me the flake advice and sells flake does these, skim through his and his customers work. pretty impressive and all from home. some explain what bases they use so you can see how you can turn out light and dark tones of flake

https://www.youtube.com/user/ELSPOCK1/videos?shelf_id=1&sort=dd&view=0

 

Hi Reyes, I've put up a couple of photos of my coupe under the moniker Aussie cruiser. I'll put up more once I make sure it works. John

 

Just finished reading your build, very impressive.
Have you taken it to any shows yet? Rotolo is next Saturday, 4-12. I'd love to see it in person.

 

hey aussie, nice cruiser cant wait to see more if it =) and stig thanks, no no shows yet, getting ready to repaint it I neglected it for far too long now im back on it. luckily when I left it it was pretty far along. rotolo as in rotolo Chevrolet Fontana? I heard they were having shows but wasn't sure if it was true. if I don't take my 48 you can come see it here at my house, I can see the rotolo Chevrolet sign from the roof of my house =)

no progress the last two days, rained off and on, sometimes heavy sometimes light. but not off enough to allow me to work on the car. definitely not good weather for any body and paint work I have to wait till Monday when the weather is back up in the high 80s. for now what I can do is prep and spray primer to the small pieces like dash pieces and the lower bumper valances and steering wheel.

did some shopping =D feels good knowing I got this out of the way



1 gallon gm 59 impala frost blue with reducer





1 quart white with reducer





1 quart shimrin sg100 intercoat clear for the metal flake



1 gallon body filler for any dings and scratches



1 gallon primer and thinner for small pieces and skirts



1 quart clearcoat and activator for dash



mixing cups, strainer and mixing sticks

took them this, so was able to match the color exactly











still need a gallon of euro clear coat that im getting on Monday and one gallon direct to metal primer. im spraying the inside and small pieces and skirts first along with the steering wheel. then im spraying the door jambs and under hood and trunk (im redoing the felix image under the hood better), then the doors and hood. after that im not sure if im spraying the roof, trunk and wings first or the body first. I figure itll be easier to mask off the roof and trunk than the whole body.

but for now, still raining so im relaxing inside. because of my work hours in the past I never got to see a show called breaking bad but always heard about it so yesterday I watched the first trailer on Netflix and now im hooked, cant stop watching it I got as far as the beginning of season 3. got a new tv hero I like walter white aka heisenberg =b no progress till sunday, so no updates till then but the next updates will be good, same colors but better so big changes

 

Hi Mate,
I've put up another three photos of the car taken a while ago; before all the side molds went on, and before the headliner was secured to the front windshield. Being a dark colour it is a bit hard to get good photos but will do some more outdoors this weekend I hope.
The dashboard was fun, I replaced all the light bulbs with bayonet style LED lamps that are brighter and come in different colors. I got them from a place called Hi Po Parts Garage in Michigan. Also changed out the bulbs for the dome lights as well, what a difference it made.
(By the way, that "62 Convert. I have had for years, I put pink flouro tubes under it back then, still works great, also an orange flouro licence plate frame. That was a ground up restoration, and I did a lot of that myself.)
On the '59 I still have to change the flipper window rubbers, and replace the driver's door window lower frame as it is rusted.
Also, that original radio works fine as electronics was another interest of mine, even the wonderbar bit is ok.

Cheers, John