He drove this impala every day for work and went on multiple road trips with the family. North Wildwood, NJ was one of the first trips they took. They’ve also took it to Lancaster, Margate, Pocono mountains. It’s been driven to multiple racing events to spectate the races, tracks such as Langhorne speedway, Trenton speedway and Indianapolis Motor speedway. In October of 1971, as my grandfather was picking up my aunt from a hotel after a trip, one of the engine mounts broke on the car and it started vibrating then stopped.
When Joseph bought his 3rd car, a 1977 Chevrolet Malibu, he gave the impala to my mother Christine. She actually got her driver’s license on the first try in this boat of a car two years before, in 1975. The first place she drove it to was Huntington Valley Dinner theatre. Throughout 1979, she drove it frequently to Riverfront Dinner theatre to participate in the plays they had there. In 1981 and 82, she drove it to Atlantic City and North Wildwood for her singing career with some bands. <More Content to add>
From 1983, It was her everyday car for work and fun, and she used it up until 1986 when she switched over to my father’s Oldsmobile, which is long gone. The Chevy became the special occasion vehicle for my family and then was relegated to the driveway of my parent’s first house. It was the project car for my parents who got it repainted and interior redone with the original fabrics. Since I’ve been born, the Impala was kept in running condition by my father, John and lived in our driveway. It saved him numerous times when his newer and modern cars would break down. It was going to be his project once again, but never really got there.
On March 25th 2019, what would have been my grandfather’s 100th birthday, I will be getting the title and insurance transferred into my name and I will begin a resto-mod on this car. With the help of my close friends, we’ll bring this car back to its former glory, and then some.
Going to rebuild the 283 engine and transmission. Redo the steering and replace the drum brakes with disks. The suspension will probably be replaced as the shocks are probably dead. New dual exhaust and fuel tank. We’re looking into a fuel injection system so we do not have to pump the gas to prime the fuel on cold startups. Electrical and audio have to be replaced. I want to attempt to add the equivalent of factory air conditioning, but if that doesn’t work out, then we’ll go with aftermarket, which is probably cheaper.
