1962 Impala Specifications Length

1961 Chevrolet Impala – Real Fine 409 – 62 « V8 – drag racing, hot ...

Second Solution

It all started in 2002 when a 16-year-old Auckland lad, Jack Rainbow, started building a ’55 Plymouth station wagon. He began by lowering the roof 2-inches and turning it into a two-door. That’s when the money ran out.

Fast forward two years, and a now 18-year-old Jack decided the Plymouth would never be worth the money he was going to sink into it, and so the hunt was on for a new project; one with style enough without chopping the roof, and with the correct number of doors to begin with. Jack went to have a look at a red 1961 Chevy Impala Bubbletop that was being pulled out of a shipping container after 20 years of storage.

He bought it on the spot.

Blister In The Sun

The Impala wasn’t running, but that didn’t matter because Jack had no intention of cruising around in a mundane 283ci-powered Bubbletop.

After taking a few photos of his new purchase the Impala was stripped down, and the first thing to get the Rainbow attention was the chassis. This was sandblasted and painted, and new bushes were installed throughout. A couple of coils were cut off the springs and everything was pieced back together.

With the chassis looking like new, it was time for the body to get some attention.

Before going into the container in which it sat for 20 years, the Chevy had been partly restored and had already been sanded back and repainted, but two decades of sweating in a container had taken their toll. The new paint had blistered badly and had to come off.

Hi Ho Silver Lining

Jack and his dad, Ian, were keen to get the body soda blasted but didn’t know a lot about the process, so took one of the front guards to the soda blaster to see what it was all about. They couldn’t believe their ears when the guy told them to take it home and wash the excess soda off with water, then give it a good wipe dry. Hold on, you can’t get bare metal wet, it will rust right before your eyes; but he guaranteed it wouldn’t show any signs of rust for at least three weeks.

They did what they were told and left the newly blasted guard in the corner of the lounge, which is where it sat for six months without showing any signs of surface rust. Jack and Ian were converted.

Overall the body was in pretty good condition, and after soda blasting there were just the normal dents from years of use to take care of. As with most of the build, the panelbeating was done at home, but the task was handed to Graham McNab who came by to get it sorted. The Impala was also primed in the garage and only then did it leave home to be painted.

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