1965 409 Impala 2 Door

[BowtieGent]

Looking for some opinions here, Good, Bad OR Ugly. I expect no less from the MANY knowledgeable members here. Here goes:

I have a good buddy that came upon a '65 Impala for sale. Born a 409 2-door, NON SS, NON Posi diff (Dana?), Cypress Green Metallic (JJA) with Green cloth & vinyl Bench seat interior (826G). It's in need of full restoration, but is a solid platform in which to build on. Built 5th week of Dec '64 (12E). Has the 1/4" return fuel line from pump as well as the ballast resistor on the firewall, which i'm told is 409 ONLY. (396 had no return line).

The car needs full interior, hood, trunk lid, floor and trunk pans as well as some patching around the front and rear windows (typical for his neck of the woods), and paint.
Engine and trans have long been removed.

Looking for any and all thoughts and opinions about what to do with this car, considering only 2828 were built with 409's in '65. He is thinking of selling it, and would like to know what a respectable asking price would be, as it currently sits. He bought the car as a parts car due to it being a 12-bolt, but once he found out it was a 409 car, he changed his mind; and the fact that it was a non-posi Dana diff.

Thanks in advance everyone.

[BowtieGent]

Anyone?

[BowtieGent]

Nothing?

[Ryan1969Chevelle]

I would throw out a number if I knew more about big cars.

She needs all the stuff.

5K to 7K ?

Ryan

[tom406]

That's a neat car, and the '65 409s are always interesting to me. With all that said, they're a somewhat obscure car. That car needs quite a bit of work and you really just described a circumstantial 409 car-an early build with some telltale signs. That's not enough to justify a full tilt restoration because the buyers will consider it a maybe/probably 409 car. Unless there's some paperwork to be found or original engine to verify originality, I think it will probably remain unrestored. I hope it finds a happy ending! Thanks for posting.

[BowtieGent]

I was hoping that it would garner some input from those here that might be familiar with the 409 cars specifically. I agree that with the circumstantial 409 evidence being what it is, it IS still there as proof and has been unmolested.

I realize that 2828 units produced does not make it a super rare platform, but doesn't the fact that it's a bench seat NON SS make the production number even less?

I'm not looking to use this forum as a platform to just find out what it might be worth to sell, but to also learn more about the car itself.

[BowtieGent]

Being that 409s seem desirable, maybe someone here knows of a 409 that could go back into this car?

The car was purchased in Ohio.

[Lee Stewart]

Rare does not always equate to being valuable. The big news for the 1965 Impala was the brand new L78 396/425 HP engine option. This killed the 409. Plus the 1965 409 is a "lower performance" engine with just a single 4BBL carb @ 400 HP as compared to the 1964 409 with dual quads @ 425 HP.



https://www.mecum.com/lots/SC0516-24.../#&gid=1&pid=1

This 1965 409/400 HP 4 speed Impala sold for $40,000 in May 2016. So how much money does your car need to get it into this shape?

[BowtieGent]

Ah, Here we go. Thanks for the reply, Lee.
My buddy's recent purchase happened to come with the powerglide as opposed to the 4-speed. I know that in itself hurts it. I know that if I were to live closer to him, I could get the metal work done for a decent price, but paint and upholstery would need to be farmed out.
Getting a hold of a 409 produced as close to his cars production date wouldn't be easy, but just having a 409 in the hole again would be cool.

[Lee Stewart]

Originally Posted by BowtieGent

Ah, Here we go. Thanks for the reply, Lee.
My buddy's recent purchase happened to come with the powerglide as opposed to the 4-speed. I know that in itself hurts it. I know that if I were to live closer to him, I could get the metal work done for a decent price, but paint and upholstery would need to be farmed out.
Getting a hold of a 409 produced as close to his cars production date wouldn't be easy, but just having a 409 in the hole again would be cool.

Cool yes - but probably a money losing situation.

In My Opinion . . . I would sell it as is for whatever you could get for it and call it a day. Projects like the one you are suggesting take lots of money and LOTS of time to complete. I would think you would want to at least break even on the money and frankly I just don't see how. You car needs so much because it has so little to start with.