65 Impala SS

Here we are again… heading out on a road trip to pick up an original 1965 Chevy Impala SS with an original 327ci engine rebuilt, original interior and body, SS VIN number… oh might I add, all the original documents proving OG status, as well as, being in the same family since birth? It’s approximately 8:30pm Saturday night and we have a 8-9 hour drive ahead of us – wheeeww – lets go over our checklist:

1. Red Bull / Monster (for driver) – check
2. 5 Hour energy drink (for passenger) – check
3. Road Map / GPS – check
4. Tunes – iPods – check
5. Petro – check

alright everything’s checked and we’re on the road again! The night flew by and at 6:15 am, we reach our destination. Not much time for sleeping as we had to meet the seller by 10. I can’t lie, I probably got about 2 1/2 hours of sleep due to the fact that 1 1/2 hours was me sitting in bed thinking about this gem we were going to see.

The next morning was exhausting, we had no sleep and knew we had a long ride home ahead of us, but we weren’t going to let the small details get in the way of us buying our 65 Impala SS. It took about 30 minutes to find the sellers house and we introduce ourselves and got all the formalities out of the way…. and frankly got down to business.

“Now that’s CHERRY”

A million thoughts ran through my head – was this car going to be another dud? Was this guy truthful on the phone or did we leave out any details when asking the “right” questions? What is this ride going to look like? I hope he doesn’t say something like… oh, the Impala I described last night was sold earlier this morning, but we have this one in it’s place…. please don’t say anything like that, please.

We walked up the driveway into his garage and there it was, I felt like Richard Dreyfuss and Ron Howard in American Graffiti – now that’s CHERRY, I can definitely dig this ride.

Let me start by saying; you don’t find this type of SS in this shape, this original and for this price anymore – you just don’t do it. But to our amazement, this 65′ was all original and had all the parts to restore it to make this a real beauty. It had the original 327, interior, body, quarters, fenders, undercarriage, hubcaps, radio, tires, with the Protect-O-Plate and owners manual. ….and to top it off, additional treasure in the trunk; extra parts, documents, emblems, etc…, he then tells us the whole history of the car, Sharing with us, stories of he and his family taking trips in the car, laughing and having a good time. While talking, we could see in his face, he was definitely going to have a hard time letting this heirloom go. I don’t think we could have gotten this 65′ on the trailer fast enough, we wanted this car and we were going to buy it.

To make a long story even longer, we ended up negotiating, and in the end, buying a piece of classic automotive history for a great price and having some great stories to tell in the future. We made some friends along the way, and are currently in the process of restoring this classic back to its originality. What a fantastic and worthwhile 18 hour trip to Georgia to find a real piece of American treasure – thanks again seller for being so honest and upfront, I wish there were more people like you out there.

As we’re getting everything ready for the trip home, he and his daughter say to us “please send us some pictures once you complete the renovation, we would love to see it.”

Now my friends, that right there, is worth the trip alone.

So, this time, my partner and I are sitting in the truck ready to go home with a different checklist:

1. Red Bull / Monster (for driver) – check
2. 5 Hour energy drink  (for passenger) – check
3. Road Map / GPS – check
4. Tunes – iPods – check
5. Petro – check
6. 1965 Chevy Impala SS, 327ci, on the trailer ready for a new home – check

Click here for photos

Mecum Auction Block

I wanted to write and tell you about my experience at the Mecum auction two weeks ago. What a great experience; Let me first start by saying, this is the largest and most extravagant auction Mecum holds every year. If you ever get a chance to go to the Indianapolis or Kissimmee auctions, I would strongly suggest doing so. The cars or I should say, creatively restored “to mint condition” cars were amazing!

Starting Wednesday, there were approximately 1500 cars that went across the block that weekend, and 80% of those cars were unbelievable. This was literally the “Holy Grail” of muscle cars! Everywhere you turned, there was a car that brought you back to your good ole’ days; Chevy’s, Buick, Pontiac, Ford, everything your heat desired.

The auction prices went anywhere from $2,000 – to 6+ MILLION! This was Indianapolis’ Concourse De’ Elegance, not the same type of classics, but they held their own with the big boys in Pebble Beach. Oh and by the way, Mecum set a record with the most cars sold by this company and the most revenue produced for the auction.

Lights! Camera! Action!

If you had a pulse, being in their environment, made your heart race! The anticipation, speed of the auction, the lights, the camera’s, the gestures, the people, the auctioneers, the experts, the clapping and applause was something surreal! You really have to be able to contain yourself or you can get caught up very quickly and find yourself going home with a beautiful car you couldn’t afford.

Before our car went across the block it was extremely intimidating. I decided to walk along side our car before it got to the block, but that also meant, I had to walk side by side with some real heavy hitters too, which were, a Chevy Impala 409 and a 70’ Chevelle Convertible, not that we didn’t have a beauty to sell, but if you know about muscles, you know how intimidated I was.

Everything goes through your mind at that moment; did we pick the right paint color? How does the body look? Should we have put the top up or down? What mistakes did we make in the process? Why is this person looking at the car that way? Did we set the right reserve price? Did I turn off the oven when I left the house on Thursday? Everything and anything goes through your mind – you really find yourself racing for answers before it goes across; and then all of sudden….there you are, in the front of everyone – Lights! Camera! Action!

I found myself yelling inside my head!

I thought; “Holy Smokes, my car looks HOT” but, there was no time for admiring my prize at that moment, it was game time! I had to put on my game time face! I had two guys asking me question after question. One guy was the actual auctioneer, leaning over the stage looking “larger than life” asking me, what’s the price? Will you take lower than the reserve? What color is the top? I found myself yelling inside my head “re-iterate the key points to them!!!!!” So I blurt out “make sure to tell the audience, it’s a 4 speed, bucket seats and a convertible” What? I thought “of course they know it’s a convertible you idiot – the top is down.”

I didn’t even notice how fast the price was increasing by $500 increments. Ok, Ok…calm down clammy hands! Breathe in, breathe out. At this point everything’s in slow mo and this guy’s talking to me as if I took some Hallucinogen…”dooooooo yoouuuuuuu waaaaannnnt tooooooo seeelllll iiiiiit aaaaaat tttthhhiissss priiiiiiice?” And then complete silence – I couldn’t hear a thing! I wanted to ask them my own question… “Can I go back to my Mother’s womb where it’s nice and warm?” But, you’ve got to answer the question now, remember…game face! Wake up, look at the screen and make a decision! I said, in slow mo…“nooooooooo” and he said “how much is it going to take to sell it?” I gave him a figure, which was lower than what I really wanted to sell it for; he then told me the price he thought I could get for it. After about, what felt like, an hour of silence I shook his hand and walked off the auction block with my beauty. The price wasn’t right for either of us and we ended up where we began…back in the waiting facility where all the cars go to the famous “the bid goes on”.

What a Rush!

It’s over! I looked at my watch to check the time, thinking “wow that seemed like forever” came to find out I was up there for 3-4 minutes. 3 to 4 minutes! All the driving, flying, restoring, preparing, discussing, decision making, thinking, worrying and everything it took to get to this point…it took 3-4 minutes. But what a rush! it was like being on some kind of extreme adrenaline drug for only 3-4 minutes. I would do it all over again just for the experience and the things I learned. It really was something amazing!

So next time you’re watching the Mecum auction on television, just remember, each person standing up at the auction block is going through the same thing that every other seller is going through; thinking…”can I go back to my Mother’s Womb where it’s nice and warm?”

63 Chevy Impala Super Sport

I was thinking back on a trip me and a friend took recently to Indiana to look at a  Numbers Matching 1963 Chevy Impala Super Sport on the web. We knew this SS probably needed some work, but we decided to take the gamble and fly all the way from Florida. Other than running into some scheduling problems with the owner of the vehicle the traveling and trip itself didn’t have any speed bumps.

Click image to see photos from our Indiana trip

When we lost our foggy gazes we quickly snapped back into focus and realized we were here to FULLY inspect the entire vehicle. You could immediately tell the paint was starting to fade and the chrome striping was dinged and missing in some parts.  I thought to myself, it wasn’t that big of a deal and if everything else was good we would soon own a piece of American history. Once we opened the door I was surprised at how good condition the interior was for being a 46-year-old car. I decided  to start the engine and I tell you what, when I turned that ignition and heard the engine roar: I was in pure bliss, possibly even Heaven itself. I was immediately transported back to a time when the American Muscle Car reigned and was the fastest, most beautiful beast on the streets (and it still is in my opinion.) Needless to say the engine sounded excellent, we popped the hood and looked like two kids at a candy store. The sound of that engine was simply put… mesmerizing. As our eyes continually scanned the rest of the engine bay we noticed some rust spots but shrugged it off as wear and tear, nothing we couldn’t fix.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to and end. We quickly realized why this was a,  “too good to be true moment”. The owner probably didn’t want us to know that the entire underneath of the car was completely rusted out. To give you a good example of how much you could probably stick your fist in a hole where the shocks are mounted. The floor panels looked weak and about ready to cave in. The drive side door had two 8″ sections of Bondo where they had to piece the door back together.

Rusty Bottom

It doesn’t get any better from here on, as the trunk itself was missing the whole bottom. It looked like someone had tried to spray some black rubber material on the back quarter panel to hide something. These are things you should warn people about before they travel 900 miles to come see your vehicle. He knew that we were planning to drive this vehicle back and didn’t think of our safety, not only was this thing rusted but all four tires where dry rotted. I’m sure it would have fallen apart once we got on the highway.

We decided to hang our heads and walk away on this one. We spent the rest of the day looking at other classic cars such as a 69 Firebird and a 66 Impala Super Sport, but found the same problems of rust. Now let me ask you, is this typical of the Midwest? We see rust here and there in Florida since we are so close to the ocean but man, it sure does seem like these classic cars are sitting in the snow too long and are being destroyed by weather. Should we stay out of the area, or can you still make some good finds up North? Click here to see images of our trip