Page 3 of 8 ... January 2000 - August 2004

July 2000 - New Interior and After Restoration Photos

Photo of the new interior Another photo of the new interior

The interior is nearly completed. The door panels were not installed in the above photo because the upholstery shop was still waiting for us to round up enough buttons to finish them. The original decorative buttons have a flat back and were heat molded (basically melted into) the door panel vinyl so there was no easy way to re-attach those to the new panels. We bought some reproduction buttons that have split metal pins on the back that go through holes in the panel and get bent apart to secure them in place. However, the heads of those reproduction buttons were noticeably larger than the factory buttons so we decided not to use them. Instead, we went on a bit of a scavenger hunt through several local junk yards looking for 1962, 63, and 64 Chevy cars with decorative buttons on the seats. The button heads are the same size & style but the ones used on the seats have a metal stud protruding from the back that is secured with a snap-on retainer. Although with there being considerably more buttons on the door panels than on the seats, we had to remove seat buttons from several cars in order to have enough to complete the panels.

A photo of the finished engine and under-hood area

And here is the finished engine compartment.

Photo of Dad's 63 Impala SS parked beside his 66 C10 truck

Dad's 1963 Impala and his 1966 truck. The restoration of both vehicles is essentially complete at this time. However, we do have a few future improvements planned for both of them.

Another photo of the finished interior Another photo of the finished engine

A couple more photos of the finished interior and engine. These were taken by a friend who came to visit in March 2005.

August 2004 -- Engine Swap Plans

Dad purchased a 340HP 409 that we'll be rebuilding and eventually swapping into the 63. The 327 that's now in the Impala will be getting swapped into the 66 pick-up.