1968 L72 M21 Impala Custom Coupe

[Tarrytown SS427s]

I thought I would share my latest project with everybody on here. It ‘s a Matador red 68 Impala Custom coupe L72 M21 3:73 posi. I’ve been in contact with the previous owner since last February and finally got a chance to pick it up after Christmas. The trip was 4272 miles and we had a blast. The car sat in a field in Cameron, TX from about 1973 until 2008 when it was removed and brought to Burleson TX. It has 42000 miles on it. The engine and tranny were pulled for a 69 Camaro drag car in 1973 and the owner of the property passed away shortly after leaving all the cars to sit on the property until a few years ago when his wife started selling things. I am very excited about the car and I thought you all would enjoy seeing it. Other options include U14 special instruments, 806 full vinyl interior, F41 special performance suspension, N40 power steering, and ZJ9 auxiliary lighting package (front fender lights, ashtray, courtesy, underhood). A black vinyl top was added to the car early on, and that is what got the roof so bad. I have no idea what wheels/tires it came with originally, but I plan to go with ZJ7 rallys and redlines.
Additionally, I was wondering if anybody in Texas knows if a car’s history can be traced by the license plate. The car still has one 1972 plate on the front.

The rig in MD on 12/27

I finally get to see the car! Burleson TX 12/28

I spent a few days last week cleaning the car out and getting the drums hammered off the rear axle as they were both locked up. Made the car much easier to move!





This is one of the branches which had squeezed up through the hood-fender gap..




Plain style round pedal pads. The upgrade was square pedal pads with stainless trim.

Mylar dealer sticker from Dan Steakley Chevrolet, Temple TX. The middle of the sticker reads “BEST DEALS IN TEXAS”

Original keys

4 speed specific crossmember intact and clean

4 speed interior stuff was in the trunk

original LH manifold and engine pipe


original deep groove crank, waterpump pulleys

Original BB fan shroud

Some 69 smog stuff was in the trunk

This was a cool surprise! We found the Flint Fisher body broadcast card in the seat the other day! This was done specifically by Flint, and we have found several examples in the same location. During seat assembly, a worker in the soft trim shop would stick this card between the RH front seat back skeleton and spring. They were only concerned about the color cover to install, but as you can see the card also shows the vehicle body number and M21.



Power steering pump with its original cast iron deep groove pulley. I also found the original dated power steering belt in the trunk.

Z bar with clutch fork push rod stuffed inside

M code (L72) core support emissions sticker

Single 3/8 fuel line


JP code F41 rear spring tag

The guy who owned the farm with this car put wood blocks like this under every car in the field.

Disassembly begins!

[mockingbird812]

Wow! Great find. Great project. Best of luck Steve. Keep us updated with lots o pix!

[StriperSS]

Cool car, but wow....... I've never seen a roof that bad!

[markjohnson]

Man.......that's really a neat car, but good luck with that one. I know that I could never commit myself to project like that. The best you could do is to find a really decent donor car to sacrifice so this car can survive. I commend you on driving 4300 miles to bring that car home. It shows that you just may have the enthusiasm to finish the car! By the way, Steakley Chevrolet was Kelly Chadwick's sponsor on his flip-top Camaro Funny Car.

[markinnaples]

Great! Best of luck with the resto.

[69L78Post]

Congrats Steve, I followed this thread on the Impala SS427
website. Neat car, lots of work ahead!

[Stefano]

Cool find. That is one rare car!

[lwkitt427]

GOING TO BE A LOT OF WORK BUT WHEN YOUR DONE YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ANY ONE HAVING ANOTHER ONE LIKE IT AT MOST CRUISE NIGHTS GOOD LUCK . HOPE THE GUYS ON THE SITE CAN HELP YOU FIND THE PARTS YOU ARE GOING TO BE LOOKING FOR AS THE RESTO GETS GOING.

[Postsedan]

Steve,

I congratulate you for finding such a rare car and taking on this project. Seems to me the right guy found the right car! Best of luck. Keep us posted with pics of your build.

Dan.

[Donutblue]

Really nice find, If that resto was left up to me there would be condo's in those fields before I was done lol. -- I see that's a true "radio delete".