It's 9:08 and a nightmare is started...the Overhaulin' boys have just dismantled an original 409 '65 Impala that the owner's dad had purchased new back in '65. Chip says he's keeping the interior "stock" and will rebuild the 409 instead of slammin' his typical bitchin' crate motor...but damn! It's a bit rough but apparently a survivor car. I hope the guy ultimately likes what they do to it but I'd freak if I had that car and they did what I suspect they'll do to the paint, suspension, etc.
Fooseified '65 409 Impala
1 - 20 of 31 Posts
Chip did "respect" the heritage of the car. The owner seemed to genuinely LOVE the car...used the words "bad ass" on several occassions. It looked good painted black, but the silver rally stripes were an unwelcome distraction. The original motor became a "jewel" in the black box of the engine bay and looked great. The suspension was updated with springs, tubular arms, Baer brakes etc...obviously better handling and safer. All in all not as bad as I'd expected, but I hope he kept those original parts and I'm not sure I'd have built a Hot Rod out of something that had made it this long without being thoroughly molested (quarters being the exception). Maybe a careful restoration...but that's just me. As long as the new owner, and the original owner (his dad) are happy. As we always say...it's YOUR car, do what you want.
Joined
·
92 Posts
that girl can look as good as she wants, she should hook up with jason priestly, cause she's got about enough zest to bore a donkey.
bring courtney back at least she had some zest, and was no mono toned,
jake
bring courtney back at least she had some zest, and was no mono toned,
jake
It's 50/50 with Foose...sometimes he'll go overboard and make some nice classics into that thug, low-rider, 10 million watt stereo look but on the other hand he really has cleaned up and updated alot of cars that needed it. The Bel-air he did was awesome. Now as far as the new girl...I wonder how the camera crew feels about having to use cue cards now, because she goes through alot of them! She's terrible! She's the kind of girl you'd expect her to worry about if her "headlight fluid" is getting low! :clonk: Bring Courtney back! By the way, Courtney is still gainfully employed. She has a monthly automotive tech article in FHM or Maxim, each with a picture of her showing off her chassis! <----hopes wife doesn't stumble on TC 
Joined
·
108 Posts
I'm not sure if I should be offended by that remark or not!Tex66 said:
All I could think of was how rare that car could be. Didn't they introduce the 396 later in the '65 model year. I love what Foose did to the car, but he might have just "modified" a not so common car. Anyone out there know how many '65 Impala SS's had 409's versus 396's?
Joined
·
229 Posts
Your right Red, the 409 was in the early 65's, and the 396 was a introducted mid year in the big car line. I remember when my stepdad brought home the first 396 Impala from the local Chevy dealer. Kinda odd in itself in that it was not even a Super Sport, just a regular Impala; but the first 396 that the local small town dealer got in the big cars.
As far the car Foose did, I watched the show in interest, and I did applaud him for leaving the interior stock. The exterior looked fine EXCEPT for the stripes, the stance, and of course the signature big wheels. To me, anything over a 16 or 17" wheel on a 60's musclecar just doesn't work. I thought the engine color looked crappy, and I didn't car much for the induction system on the engine. 2 4 barrels would have been in keeping much more in character of the car, IMHO.
As far the car Foose did, I watched the show in interest, and I did applaud him for leaving the interior stock. The exterior looked fine EXCEPT for the stripes, the stance, and of course the signature big wheels. To me, anything over a 16 or 17" wheel on a 60's musclecar just doesn't work. I thought the engine color looked crappy, and I didn't car much for the induction system on the engine. 2 4 barrels would have been in keeping much more in character of the car, IMHO.
Joined
·
3,204 Posts
Anyone can restore one......it takes a REAL designer (FOOSE) to make one BETTER!!
I wouldn't care how rare a car iz, as long as I like what I or in this case FOOSE did to it. Numbers....numbers.....numbers.....is that all you guys worry about??
Brian
I wouldn't care how rare a car iz, as long as I like what I or in this case FOOSE did to it. Numbers....numbers.....numbers.....is that all you guys worry about??
Brian
That's certainly not all I worry about. But there are fewer and fewer '65 Impalas out there, and there were apparently very few 409s to begin with, and now there's one less. "Better" is a subjective word. As I said, the owner was stoked(that's what ultimately counts most), and Foose did seem to give it more respect than most...that should tell you something in itself. My Vette was thoroughly modified (molested is the word used in Vetteland) before I bought it...making it worth a fraction of an original car. But then it's fast, and handles great, and suits MY needs and wants...not those of an NCRS judge. So I wouldn't mind Chip doing his "designing" on my "worthless" Stingray, but I'd be thoroughly ticked if my girlfriend turned Foose loose on my Camaro..or any "original" car I happened to own...at least without my consent or knowledge. To each his own.CHELKAMINO said:
Joined
·
4,781 Posts
Rainer said:
you know? i wonder if this is like Z 28's? i heard somebody on t.v. the other day, say there is 40,000 more 1969 Z 28's on the road than were made, and eveytime i go to a car show, i see dozens of 409 cars. i don't even remember seeing a 409, car as a kid, but somehow they are eveywhere around here. some say 80% of the g.t.o.'s on the street are clones...
Possible, but not likely. I see VERY few 409/348 "W" motors out here. Even going to the Pomona Swap meet or Super Chevy Shows...a rare sight. Try to build one? Quite the chore. Blocks are hard to come by and expensive. Other engine parts, same deal. And when you can build a more modern more powerful motor for less...who needs the hassle?1BLACKHARLEY said:
Z/28s? No doubt...at least to look at them. But how many actual facory 302 motored Zs do you see? How many Zs that conveniently have Auto Trans, or air conditioning? NOT a "real" Z/28. GTOs? Put a hood and change the taillights, and a LeMans/Tempest pretty much "looks" like a GTO...but it's not. Needs the 389/400/455 motor from the factory to be "real". Brings us back to the "cloned" Chevelle thing all over again. A hood, some badges, and a motor is all that seperates "real" from cool but "wannabe". No doubt "built" cars can look at least as good, and perform at least as well, and make the owner very happy, but a real Z/16 or real Z/28, or real LS6 is valuable not only for what it was but also by the sheer fact that it still exists without being "hot rodded" by someone who thought their idea of cool was more valuable than the heritage of the genuine article.
That being said, I have NO interest in original Model Ts but when Mike and the boys on American Hot Rod found a carefully restored/detailed green Model T Pickup and promptly tore it apart and changed out the diff, the brakes, the motor...EVERYTHING! Well it just killed me. Take a ratty one and do what you want but by this point let the survivors alone. Reminds me about 10 years ago I listened to a man who played piano in speakeasies as a teenager. I'd heard younger musicians play the music before, but this guy played it with a differnent feel...probably an "original" feel...the same but somehow with more "heart", less technique. You can't learn that, can't build it, you have to have lived it. Just an opinion, and noone's gonna die because someone built a hot rod.
I agree with Skip. If you're going to radically alter a car and make it special, start with something that wasn't all that special to begin with. Boyd Coddington did a similar thing on his show with a 59 Chevy Bel Air or Biscayne. The car was an all-original 20-some thousand mile survivor, and Coddington paid top dollar for it (in the $20s) and then proceeded to gut it and cut it up. For everything that was done to the car, they could have started with a $5000 basket case and gotten the same result. If I'm at a show, I always appreciate seeing a survivor car, as I'm sure many others do as well.
1 - 20 of 31 Posts
