Friend's 1963 409 Impala convertible

[Pro Stock John]

My son's best friend came over to hang out, and his dad dropped him off in this car. I didn't know him that well, and had no idea he had this car. He said his aunt bought it, and it's been in the family all these years. To my untrained eye it was mostly original other than the radiator.

[dykstra]

Super cool!!

[olredalert]

----Wow! What HP? What trans? Inquiring minds need to know.....Bill S

[Pro Stock John]

2 speed auto. Not sure the HP rating, was there more than one? I can ask.

[60sStuff]

Beautiful car, love the colors.

Nice Labor Day weekend surprise to see this show up.

Thanks!

[olredalert]

2 speed auto. Not sure the HP rating, was there more than one? I can ask.

----I believe the HP would have been 340 with either the slip-and-slide or 4-speed!....Bill S

[Bill Pritchard]

Definitely not the 425hp version if it had the Powerslide, but it seems to me they made a 400hp version in addition to the 340hp version. Not sure if the 400hp was available with automatic. Looks very nice regardless of engine!

[Pro Stock John]

The interior I think was way too nice to be original. I looked at the trim and it had the slight pitting here and there like original 50+ year old stuff.

I wanted to ask him if the car was originally white, I saw a spot where some paint was off the car and it looked black underneath.

He said it runs hot on 90F days so I referred him to a buddy with a shop who could look it over. I think it had 14" wheels.

[olredalert]

Definitely not the 425hp version if it had the Powerslide, but it seems to me they made a 400hp version in addition to the 340hp version. Not sure if the 400hp was available with automatic. Looks very nice regardless of engine!

----Bill,,,The 400hp version was identical to the 425 except single 4-barrel with an aluminum intake. Actually, they are rarer than a 425 but still pretty damn quick! You could not get a powerglide with the 400hp engine. My great friend, Wayne McCabe (RIP Wayne) from Provincetown, Massachusetts had a really cool 400hp black SS. Completely original in all respects.....Bill S

[Pro Stock John]

He showed me the engine, and it had a clutch fan like I would have expected, but newer radiator. Had this big ol' barrel of a shroud, wasn't actually touching the radiator edges. I'm going to google to see if it was stock. I'm going to ask him the miles and if it's numbers matching at some point.

[Pro Stock John]

I checked the google, has a factory fan shroud.

[Too Many Projects]

He showed me the engine, and it had a clutch fan like I would have expected, but newer radiator. Had this big ol' barrel of a shroud, wasn't actually touching the radiator edges. I'm going to google to see if it was stock. I'm going to ask him the miles and if it's numbers matching at some point.


The shrouds are steel and look like a culvert. This is a small block. The 409 is shorter, I just haven't cut mine down yet.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/q752/Stillwaterchevs/1962%20Impala%20SS/.highres/DSCN9829_zpsvxzmdb4d.jpg?width=450&height=278&crop=fill

[Pro Stock John]

It was like that.

[fsc66]

340 HP was the only 409 that would have come with a Powerglide

Paul