Just imagine showing up in this car to your next gathering of like minded car folks! It’s a 1963 Impala SS, complete with Torq-Thrust wheels and some dings and mild surface rust for that well-worn look. The auction listing here on eBay says it can be picked up from Nevada, Texas once you’ve purchased it. You’ll have to beat out some other enthusiasts, though, as a lot of bidding has this one up over $7,500 as I write and it hasn’t even met the reserve yet.
I remember a lot of Impalas (not Super Sports) on the road when I was little. I like the way the three tail lights add character to the rear. The wheels help this one out a lot as well. I’m not too worried about the rust I see here, but the seller also mentions that it’s “rust free” except for the driver’s floor. Thus, I’m thinking our definitions of rust are different; I’m guessing the seller means rust as rust through, i.e. holes.
The trunk does look very solid, which in my experience with these cars is usually not the case. You might want to take a peer below that spare tire just to be sure.
While the interior certainly needs some help in spots (curses to whomever added the radio speakers) and the carpet is admittedly bad, I see an interior that I could certainly live with until I had the funding or desire to improve it. Just look at the placement of the gauges; this is truly a car aimed at the driver’s enjoyment and the heck with passengers!
What I did not expect when I first read about this car was a replacement engine and updated transmission. This is a 1969 327 unit that has been rebuilt, and it’s attached to a late model 700R4 overdrive automatic transmission (that has also been rebuilt). The aluminum radiator and electric fan are also not original, and the brakes are brand new. It’s clear this car was intended to be a driver, not a show queen. How do you feel about that?
Had one of these years ago. I still kick myself for selling it.
No, no, NO! Make it look nice. ’63 was such a nice year for Chevy. While the 327, I read, was an option, this car may have had a 409, as that tach usually was for the 409( anybody?) This is way too nice a car, to leave it like this. What, isn’t there any car paint( or more accurately, no painters, many I knew are gone, thanks to no safety equipment) left in the world????
I had a 63 with a 289 with 327 heads . Boy would she fly .
I’m with you. Take it back to stock. Perfect.
my 64 ss has a tach! factory installed, and 327 high performance
Our 64 Biscayne wagon had the 409 4 speed and factory teach. If I remember right the redline was 5100 rpm
Nice project car for sure. The 327 is a nice engine so I probably wouldn’t do anything about it, unless, as Howard says, it was originally equipped with a 409. Then I’d be out searching for one of those. The 700 R4 would be dropped out and something more period correct would be put in. Same for the rad. Every time I hear those electric fans I can’t help but think; “Import!” The stock rad and fan on these cooled them down with NO problems….
This was a beautiful car when new, and can be again. Ermine White with Black Interior! Is there a way to tell if it did come with a 409? When I was in Junior High, my good friends older brother had a 63 SS 409 Convertible. It was red with a white top. Beautiful car. I was too young at the time to know how special it was, even then. Great body lines.
You could get the tach (an option) on the 327 cars and probably 283’s. I have seen several small block cars here locally with the tach.
Stock tranny if an auto would have been the Powerglide.There were many of these 63’s around back in, well….. ’63-’66 ( my high school years). I always liked them. A pals older bro Gary had a new ’63 SS 409 4 speed red on red rocketship. Never rode in that, but lots of draggin’ the gut miles in Bobby’s grandmas gold 4 door hardtop, 327 Powerglide Impala. The 327 versions were very quick for all their bulk. Quick enough to make other street racers beware of those crossed flags on the fenders. :-) Terry J
My parents bought a new 63 impala, shortly after I was born, same beige color. Not a SS! I used to lay on the back window ledge while mom or dad drove in the mid 60’s. Be interesting to see how long it would take today to have a parent arrested if their did did that.
WOOP…WOOP
Is there a problem officer?
May I see your drivers license and registration please?
(Driver hands documents over to officer)
Is this still your current address ma’am?
Yes officer.
Ma’am, do you have any idea what would happen if you slammed on the brakes going 30 miles an hour with your child riding on the reardash like that, even if you don’t hit anything?
No officer. But I’m a real careful driver.
Well ma’am, this is what would happen. Your child would fly forward like a missile, and would be severely injured, if not killed, after he hits the dashboard or the windshield.
Well land sakes o Goshen! I figured that he would just simply fall into the backseat.
Ma’am, I am not only citing you for not having your child wear his seatbelt, but also for reckless endangerment.
Reckless endangerment?! Isn’t that a little extreme officer? You make it sound like I intended to hurt my child.
The statute does not require that you intended to hurt your child, but only that you committed acts that can easily be foreseen as likely to physically injure somebody else, in this case your child.
But officer, I was not even aware that he was back there.
Ma’am, I see you have a rearview mirror. Are you telling me that you never check your rearview mirror?
Well not every second.
Ma’am, I have followed you for three blocks before I pulled you over. Your kid was on the reardash that entire time. Are you telling me that you have not checked your rearview mirror during three blocks of driving?
Well I guess I didn’t need to. I wasn’t backing up.
Well ma’am, as a matter of fact, I clearly saw you looking at your rearview mirror several times while I was following you. Yet I saw nothing that would indicate that you were not aware he was back there, or that you ordered him to get off the dash, nor did you slow the car down, or even turn your head around briefly so as to face your child and demand that he get off the rear dash.
I believe you knew he was back there.
Well officer, just give me the ticket. I’ll just have to get me a Philadelphia lawyer and beat this thing in court then. I ain’t got no time to argue about this with you!
Hi Marshall, you seem to know this scenario pretty well. From experience maybe? We used to ride on the rear package shelf all the time, matter of fact, we’d fight for it. And yes, the old man DID mash the brakes, and we DID go flying into the back of the front seats( never remember making it to the front) we thought it was fun. (quite frankly, I think the old man got a charge out of it as well)
Well written! Laughed while reading it. I support, admire and respect women. They just can’t drive. No, Danica Patrick can’t drive either.
The 700 r4 trans would not bother me any our the rad ether .Its not going to ever be orginal with the 69 engine ,with new carpet and some body work ,new paint job it would be a fun car 😬
One way to tell if it was a 409, there would be the chrome emblem “409” on the front fender below the crossed flags. Also it would be coded into the cowl tag numbers. My cousin had a red 63 Biscayne with factory 409/425 two fours, 4.11 posi and a four speed. Bench seat with radio and heater delete. One of the fastest cars I’ve ever driven. Like a boat when you powered down on it, just hard to keep those rear tires from smokin and the car fish tailin. He sold it back in the late 60’s for $1500.
I have never seen a super sport with the gear shift on the column before. I owned one when younger and all I ever knew of with bucket seats always had the automatic shifter located on floor and it was also a very different one year only design.
nice starter for a ’63. BUT I would say that this is an Impala sport coupe with bucket seats installed. At least it has (had) factory air
Super sports all had floor shifters, unless it was a 3 speed stick,
The tach could be ordered with any of the V-8’s, but you got a 6 grand tach except if you ordered a solid liftered 409, then you got a 7 grand tach.
Hard to tell by the trim, but remember that the ss’s had machine turned moldings, rear body trim, and dash moldings.
The tilt steering column was a mid year addition, but where did that ’67 steering wheel come from?
Like I said, nice starter project, you could build it into anything you want, depending on the depth of your pockets!
A/C does seem like an odd option for a SS car.
It might have been a 3 spd stick as there is no automatic shift quadrant. The steering column appears to be original although the wheel is not.
The interior door panels are 64 SS.
The SS my Mom had was equipped with 283 cid, ps, pb, auto, and a/c maroon with black interior.
I have had 2 67 impalas. One a hard top 289 3 speed and now a 67 convertible 327 powerglide. I always believe that this cars should always be driven not showed. I drive mine every day and if I had this I would do the same just not the electric fan. They made this car right from the factory. All they need is a cam swap. And that’s it. As for this. Give it a paint job. Not a
$30k paint job bit one that you can drive every day and not feel scare to scratch. Enjoy it till the grave.
289’s were made by Ford, 283 was a chevy engine!
Wow,, Being a Body Man & spending most my career as a painter. Done my share of restores and custom paint jobs. I have a greater appreciation and I Love the original look of the Body and Paint condition of this ” Diamond in The Rough” The Mechanical rebuilds and upgrades make this 63 one I would have a grin from ear to ear every time I had a reason (Excuse) to grab the keys n CRUZE
I had a 62 convertible 327 Drove it as was for a year !! Spent one year on restoring it. It looked so good that I only got to Cruze one week after the restore. Someone else really liked what I had done and decided that they should have it and took it of my hands no charge or ownership !!!
I don’t think the brake and accelerator pedals are stock ’63 either. My ’63 SS had very mundane rubber pads with no chrome I’m guessing there were several donor cars from whence the steering wheel, pedals, door panels, and who knows what else came from. This car was a shade tree project that provided lot of fun for someone.
the factory tach was included on V8 equipped manual transmission impala SS for 63, though I have never seen a 3 on the tree with that option? I am pretty sure you guys are looking at a 327 impala SS which has the same flags as a 409 but no numbers to denote that it is/was equipped with the 409. had a 62 impala SS with 340/409 and M21 tranny it had the factory tach.
I like these 63 Impala’s. Had a 64 SS with the 327ci 300 hp and 4speed. It was a great driving car. There are some inconsistencies on this car that need serious researching though. You got an A/C dash, but no A/C plumbing or access under the hood. I too have never seen a column shift on an SS in 1963, ( I think it was available on 61’s but no tach option ) the problem here is the shift quadrant should be right were the tach is. The console looks like it came out of a 61 and as mentioned, the door panels look like they are from a 64, steering wheel looks like 67 or 68. Reminds my of an old Johnney Cash song “I got it one piece at a time”. That said I expect this will bring $13 to $15k.
Wow! Two commenters in one thread who had Ford 289’s in their Chev’s instead of 283 Chev motors! One even had the extremely difficult Chev 327 head swap onto a Ford engine!
It’s not common Chuck, but back in the day some guys put those 289 Ford motors in their Chevys to slow them down.
I would clean it up on the inside, new carpet and made sure the seats were good. Paint the car and make it a driver. It looks as its been put together as everyone has pointed out. It would be a fun car. I most say if I came across SS that was to far gone or find the original power plant that would have been in it. It could be easily restore I think. It has little rust but that’s the only way I would change it. It would a nice driver with about 4000 put in it.
At first, I thought this might have been Dan Restodan’s (“Restodan” on YouTube) ’63 impala. He made a series of videos that you can see on YouTube in which he restores his ’63 Impala into a nice decent driver. In one of his videos, he says a dealer offered him $8000 for it as is. I believe he intends to sell it soon (if he has not already).
In another one of his videos, he films one of his 1957 Chevys turning over 100,000 miles. It actually shows the odometer with 99,999 miles turning over to 00000!
A 327 in 69? Since the Camaro in 67 came with a 350! It would not have been a 1969 327ci.
327 wasn’t phased completely out until mid-69.
Now that’s when it got confusing. (Correct me if you know more details). The 327 had a small journal forged steel crank. The 350 went to cast cranks, but also large journals to compensate and also to 4 bolt mains. But in that 1968- ’69 period, I’ve come across 327s that had large journal cast cranks. Anybody else? :-) Terry J
327 went to large journal when the 350 came out, there were no small journal small blocks after 67. And the 327 definitely was available in 69 but only as a low compression 2 barrel engine.
327s were still being produced in ’68 because my ’62 Impala has a 327 with T350 from a ’68 Camaro. I verified by checking the serial number on the block. Runs great.
Reserve not met at $9,300.00. 51 bids.