Found on Craigslist 1969 427 Impala Conv.

[atremblay]

Hello Readers, I was the owner of the blue impala convertible with the 427
1rst the first day i posted the car i had over 40 inquiries on the internet .There was no way to call everyone right away 2nd day i had anothe 30 or 40 calls from all over the country evryone wanted to negotiate on te phone I had probably 15 potential offers at 20000.00 on my email it was crazy i never had soo many people interested in a car .the priice was RIGHT for sure i left some money on the table but thats OK i did ok and so did the next buyer.
2nd The first person I called lived in maine and he owned a recon shop or a repair shop . We spoke on the phone and he said he was buying the car and he wanted to pick it up in two days and asked me to remove it from the web that it was a done deal ,so I removed it from craigslist for him ,a couple days goes by he calls and wants to renegotiate the deal he wanted me to pay for the maine sales tax i replied i was not going to do that . I was not happy because he didnt live up to his commitment
3rd i relisted the car the next day for same price 22500 and RAlph called and came upto my home in Amherst NH I offered him a floor jack he said no i can see the car the way it was . Ralph is very knowledgeable for sure.. I was the one that POINTED OUT THE TOP of the quarter where someone cut the quarter about 1 inch from the lip by the trunk weatherstrip Yes the car had a rear quarter and it the car was repainted probably by the first owner then was traded and was wholesaled I am assuming to a small used car lot in newport NH The car had a chase andf Avery sticker on the trunk and it had no tape line @ the chase and avery decal on the deck lid. so i am guessing the accident happened on the first ownership Then it was hit again most likely by either the secon otr the first owner and the quarter had been repaired and was not straight .
I told Ralph it needed a good bodyman to strip and redo the quarter and it probably need 8 hours of work on that panel . The 2nd owner parked the car in a barn in 1981 and it stayed there till i bought it in march of this yr .The owner was 88yrs old and passed away and left the car to his daughter , her husband tried to get the car running but he gave up and they listed the car on craigslist he probably was the one that patched the lower front fenders and he had taken a spray bomb to the wavy quarter panel .
I spent over 5000 in the car to get it on the road i replaced all wheel cyls brakes and drums and dist cap frontballjoint had nop rubber they were dry rotted, i reoplaced starter and spark plug wires and shocks and sway barbushing in front I replace the stru t bushing and u joints and rear end fluid, new engine mts and transd mount fuel filter gas line from fuel pump to carb ,new ac fule pump , reproduction floor mats trunk mat fI fix all the light s dash added a factory am fm radio, car had a 8 track from the factory but it was fone but the speakers were in the kickpanel so i bought new speaker grill gm covers . I took the radiator to a radiator shop to have it checked and it was in good shape I replaced radiator support bushings they were soft ,I added the rallys and coker redline Bf goodrich radials too I had it aligned and new tie rod ends , I went thru the car so i could drive it I did alot more to the car too. I had to remove the interior to clean the dust it was in the barn for 40 yrs with the top down.it was really dirty you couldnt even see the speedometer or read anything it was so dirty I repaired the crak in the steering wheel so it looked like new
The front seat bottom was bad and the top was the original; GM top and was JUNK dried out and cracked ..The car had all original factory rugs that were excellant after i washed them while they were out of the car hung them on my fence to dry even the heel pad was mint and the car was never smoked in the lighter was never used or the ashtray.
Ralph came over took some pictures and he started picking the bad spots statred telling me about factory red oxide primer and so on he was nice but he wanted a better price .
SO he says to me CAll me if you want to lower your price I LOOKED at him straight in the face and said what are you thinking he said 17000 i looked directly in his face and said I am not going to call you . He looked surprised by my response I said I know for sure i will get the money I am asking for the car. so Ralph left.a hnd as he leaving he says all me again if you want to lowert your price.
So i removed it from craigs and said to my wife i am just going to keep it and drive it and this winter i will take it apart and do the seat and paint the car and a new top. THE car i knew was worth @50 k with a nice paint job and a top It would have cost me 10k to repaint the car and fix the blemishes I have a frien who does my corvette paint jobs.
So come JUly i decideed to relist it on craigslist for 23500 ..1000 more than i listed it in june. I get an email within 1 hour a man from two twons away wants to come down right away to see the car. He came over walked arounfd the car looked at it i started the car showed him all the opriginal brakes shoes and drums and rgm radiator hoses etc even the original fuel pump, He bought the car for 23500, I had a new front bu8mper that went with the car i paid 100 for the bumper it was brand new NOS in the gm blue rubber coating that went with the car The guy two towns over brought the car tto a car show two weeks later and he sold the car for $37500 I was there when he was counting the cash . I was talking to him and while i was talking to him the new buyer came up to him and he introduced me to him and asked me to tell the person the history on the car so i did tell the next buyer about the car and the deal went down right there and then
The guy i sold it to paid me 500 dollars after he was paid I was not mad he made4 thee money he was nice to give me 500 . thats business. I wasin the car business for 45 years and sold thiousamnds of cars from 1973 till 2018 when i retired i use to sell 20 to 30 cars a month even in dec and jan i was selling 20 a month i had alot be back customers
So Ralph is nice but he snoozed on the deal I cannot blame him for trying to negotiate and pointing out the flaws in the body but thats what i do too. so its ok with me
I have owned a boatload of 4 66 and many 67 427 corvettes and fuelies and shelby s and i always tried to negotiate when buying ,it human nature,for a car salesperson I Knew this was a super duper party pooper deal and knew i was going to sell it
Tout of all the 427 i haqve owned this was the only one that didnt use oil I drove it over two thousandf miles and it dint use any oil . the trans was a 400 turbo and shifted like new the rear end was excellant i replaced all the gear oil and the rear cover i wanted afill plug on the cover after i took the cover off i could not get the fill plug off i tried for over an hour then gave up and bought the new cover with the fill plug on cover.
I sold it and i missed the car it was a blast to drive it was niot a 435 hp or a 425 horse corvette it was a 335 hp with hydrolic lifters ran good but not a rocket It reminded me of a 67 350 horse chevelle ss that i had in the 70s it sounde nice at 50 on the back roads
So thats the story on the car
It was in good shape passed NH state inspection all the galss was original including the windshield there were no pits or wiper marks on the windshield , The car was in limmerick maine and it was not even close to any hwys @ 30 miles into the woods on a country road in a big barn so i guessit never got any hwy rash on the windshield because of that. Tjhe daughter who ingherited the car told me the dad only used it for parades and she had never seen the car with the top up she was in her sixties she said it only came out if the sun was shining . I raised the top when i loaded on the trailer and that when she told me about never seing it with the top up. I Left my home in amherst nh at 11 am and returned with the car the same day at 1130 at night it was @ 650 mile round trip.
I highly doubt i will ever find another 427 69 like that it was rare .I got all the factory paperwork from canada




So I did advertise the car as GOOD not mint or excellant . I bought the car with 53412 miles and put over 2000 miles driving it in 6 weeks the car ran like new

I spent

[atremblay]

I spent over 5000 in repairs on the car to get it raod ready i didnt want to break down and didnt wan t to take any chances so i spent some money on the car and many hours cleaning
Pleas excuse my long deatils about the car i am not the best author
and you can see that by my writing i can do the longest sentences with no periods or commas thats just who i am . As far as the cloudy pics the car was at hampton beach it was a cloudy day @ 9 am and my 10 dollar track phone does nto take good pics
I wouldnt even know how to turn on a smart phone so i use the wal;mart trac phone thathas 3 g technology its a flip phone

[atremblay]

One more thing the fact that it was hit in the qurter and the fender was no big deal to me or the second or third buyer after me >TRY TO FIND A 52 year old car that didnt have a ding or an accident , They all have been hit . Even at barrett jackson or rm auction the high priced cars have plactiv in them they all have work done to them . The frame was excellant no scale original factory undercoating the floors were excellant all the body mounts were mint the floors and under the rear seat was excellant so was the trunk floor the dash pad was excellant and the plastic that hold the guages in was perfect no cracks and the door panels were mint it needed pant and a good body man to redo the panels work and front seat bottom was bad and a top The doors were mint and the side glass was mint no scratches they were down just like the top for 40 plus years in dry storage in the barn. It was what it was a good 69 impala cvt to have a great driver you could have driven it cross country it was that nice mechanically

[atremblay]

i also replaced the front pump seal on trans it was seeping and leaving a quarter size drip overnight also replaced the torque converter while i had trans out Had door panels off to clean all window regulator and white lubed the regulator tracks the power windows worked like new after i cleaned and lubed them . everything worked even the trunk light . I di all the mechanic work myself i can do alot on a classic cars been working on cars since the 60's

[69LM1]

Thanks for the updates!

Rich