Remember high school English? You learned the term “oxymoron” at one point. It helped you interpret poetry, and it might help you understand what you’re looking at with this 1964 Chevrolet Impala SS. The car is located in Connellys Springs, NC and is for sale here on eBay with live bids moving past the $6100 mark and no mention of a reserve. In other words, someone new is going to own this needy but desirable coupe.
Oxymoron means a figure of speech where things that look contradictory are mentioned together, as in “organized chaos.” How does this apply here? Contradictions abound. The car itself might be bettered by the non-SS parts car you get along with it. The seller names the hood, windshield, driver’s side fender, and dash as superior on the donor. That car could possibly be part of the lure to bidders, who might be imagining selling the whole thing to recoup some of their investment. Also to consider: the floors of the SS are rusted to the point of there being gaping holes in parts of the trunk. But the blue leather (as claimed by the seller) seats are quite tidy. The trunk lid is a mess, but the rear panel looks almost like it has already been restored. And the bottoms of the fenders are eaten up, but the car sits on a set of nice-looking wide whitewall tires that are either remarkably original or just out of a catalogue. Oxymorons all over the place.
Still, if you’re the person to restore this car, you’ve got an SS model as verified on the data plate with an engine that might be a 327, but which will need a complete rebuild, even if it’s original and the 60,000 miles that appear on the odo are correct, neither of which is confirmed. The car has been stored in what the seller describes as a “sweaty barn” for 45 years, so you can imagine the condition of the power plant’s internals, and you can plainly see the condition of the sheet metal. Note that at one point in the listing, the numbers “409” appear, and if it were so optioned, that would make resurrecting this shell more than worthwhile, but it’s not possible via data plate information to verify this engine choice, it doesn’t appear. That doesn’t take away the choice to rebuild the car as a 409 “tribute” car, of course, especially if the crusty-looking 327 is beyond help or not the factory mill to start with.
Finally, there’s no title to either car, which might be an issue in the state you live in. The seller will provide a bill of sale. Then, lots of stripping, welding, and rebuilding from now, you’ll be on your way to a “She’s real fine, my 409” Beach Boys cruise night special, or a restored 327 Impala SS.
This one’s got a long way to go before it would ever be a real fine 409.
………..or a real fine 327………..or anything
No worries, most of the bids are scammers. Sure is a ruffian. Would be a nice car with a 327 4 speed. What I have done in a few cases where i’m selling, I’d get a call from someone who wants me to end the sale early and I’d take his contact info, and in a couple of cases, the winning bidder was a scammer, I’d go back to the person who called me and finish up a legitmate deal. Did the same thing when I bought my ranchero- while the auction was on In called the seller, and later when the sale didnt come anywhere near what he wanted, we made deal agreeable to both of us, and I got my rancho. These scum scammers are trying to ruin it, but with a little finnagling we can beat them. I still dont know what they get out of this, maybe their jollies. They should stick to sheep and goats.
Cheers
GPC
Gee am I dumb. I sold a mint turquoise 64 Imoala zero rust in 1981 for $1,500.
This must be rust week at BF.
Somebody had to say it,Love Macheen
409 is really good means it’s probably an American Chev but the water damage from the leaky barn is sad but not the end of life for the car. I’ve seen dry stored cars in really good shape is always good when that’s the case.