This is a 1966 Impala SS convertible.

But as you can see, she's rough when it takes you 13 years.

Lots of time to think about different options in different things.

Women take different roads.

But yeah, it really happy.

The carriage turned out good, nice and shiny.

Every car has a story.

like the best thing ever.

For some, they end up here.

These are just some of the stories about those who collect and restore vehicles, giving them a renewed lease on life so that their stories can be told right here on Radical Restoration.

Closed captioning provided by Cre-Oil.

On line at Cre-Oil dot com.

Funding for Radical Restoration is provided by (Music) Rakabot sources sustainable materials to create boot racks that organize footwear that allows drippings to go in the bowl.

Models designed for home, work or recreational settings are available on line at Rakabot dot com Joe's Hand Cleaner Manufactured by Clean Products supports Radical Restoration With our without water Joe's Hand Cleaner cleanses to ingredients that are food or cosmetic grade A family business since 1948.

On line at Joe's Hand Cleaner dot com.

Tire tag.

Re Usable labelling to organize tire rotation and re-mounting.

Tire Tag.

(car honk ) Tire dash Tag dot com Additional funding provided by Nutrafarms and Hagerty Insurance This this is a 1966 Impala SS convertible.

But as you can see, she's rough.

We actually got this out of a basement under neath a house in Georgetown a few weeks back, and this body shop was on a stand, which wasn't supported properly, and the body was actually twisted front to back and side to side.

So we've been able to straighten it out.

We're now in the middle.

As you can see here, we've been cutting the floors out so we're cutting the floors out.

Take them right down.

And this will also have new quarter panels, which you can see we're just trying to fit here to make sure everything lines up.

This car has a considerable amount of rot, and now that we've cleaned it up, you can see in here it's all going to have to go all the way down the front and it's all in here as well.

So we'll make all new pieces for in here.

New quarter panels, new floor.

The trunk is also got issues in it as well.

As you can see here, all in here, it's all rotted.

So I got to ask, why why would someone want to restore a car like that?

these cars are are hard to find they originally came with a 409 in them which we have a 409 for it.

So the value of these cars is considerable once they're done properly.

And this this gentleman in particular, this was a project he was going to do with his father.

And his father passed away.

So he feels that is something he should finish for the family.

So we're going to help him sort that out.

That's come a long way since it absolutely first came in, although it's going to be a long boy.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

It's looking very good for Street.

Going from a stand bent like a banana.

It's.

Yeah, it's a lot better when we first brought it to you.

No kidding.

First brought to you it was twisted Twisted and both front to back and from side to side Yeah, now the quarters are straight quarters are brand new.

Quarters were out of it.

Now it's looking like a car.

Once again.

It was all rotted out.

The floor Front one's done.

So you just came from Florida and you bought a motor?

Yeah, well, the car was originally a obviously it's a 65 Impala SS convertible.

When I bought the car, it was complete, except it had a 283 in it with a power, power, glide transmission.

Right.

And the car was complete.

The only thing I was missing was the 409.

So originally a 409 SS car.

Yeah.

Took me ten years.

But I finally found a 409 engine down in Florida.

Yeah.

Because they're as rare To rebuild Yeah.

Because they're as rare as Hen's teeth Rare as Hen's teeth I paid a pretty penny for it, but I think we'll be on the road this spring, hopefully, Gary and I think probably sticking with the actual 350 Chev that's been rebuilt that's in the car now currently.

Yeah, but I think we'll probably be back here next winter.

And what kind of shape is the 409 and has just been rebuilt.

I couldn't tell you.

It's a 61 409.

Yeah.

I run the numbers on it.

It's not seized.

The gentleman who bought it from actually had it running for me on the floor.

It sounded good and healthy.

Well, even if we just do a clean up on it for now and you know, I want to go in there and I want to rebuild the whole thing from scratch.

And then that way we'll put it back together.

And I ran the numbers on it.

In the numbers, it's an actual 280 horsepower 409 Yeah.

So it's one of the better healthier ones will have to juice it up better.

I did actually buy a 59 348 dual carburetor intake for it.

So we're going to run to four barrels and make it look real good when you pop the hood.

So we have a bit of a scheme going on.

Yes.

It's going to be, we've done two spray outs for Andy the torch red, which is Corvette color and a Viper red, which is a really nice bright red as well.

And the color combo going into the interior is going to be red and white and that's one of the things we're going to discuss today is sort of the pattern in the seats as far as you see how it has the waterfall effect in the seats.

These are the original you see how it flows in the middle and down We're going to decide where we want the red and the white in it And I think we're going to confirm the color for the top Top colour as well.

one of these two reds is good because we can then work on, you know, once the body works done here, we're not far off spraying the dash.

You know, inside the door jams and all that stuff first.

So we're, you know, this is sort of decision day as far as colors and things go.

So because we've kind of tossed a few ideas around actually today's decision down paint.

Yeah We're going to do the wheel well trim Yeah.

Do the wheel little trim which will crown this.

We're going to put some nice size rims on this.

Yes.

So that'll look nice.

This will sort of finish that off.

Have you decided to go with the white top?

We're going to the white top and we're going to stick with the conventional SS interior.

Right.

It's going to be probably three quarters white with the red carpet, red lower door trims.

Right.

And then we're going to do the red waterfall with the for the majority of the seats will be white.

And so you want this all white, you the waterfall will be red for the outer edge.

Yes, the complete waterfall.

Right to the outer edge.

This is all going to be red?

That'll be red.

And then we'll do the outer piping in the seat red as well.

And this will be red too.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Nice.

So red carpet and red carpet.

And then we're going to take the car because on the power doors, the carpets on the bottom, We're going to drag that color into the bottom of the doors.

Yeah.

So what about things like armrests and stuff like that?

The armrests I have already actually haven't ordered those, but the armrests will be the door panels will be white with the red carpet on the bottom is for the SS.

But the door panel, the armrests will make them the bottom basis.

Chrome.

Chrome will do a red that on the top have to get a little more offset.

Yeah, sure.

The dash completely red.

Yep.

And the console like I said before, we I have located a I have an original 65 console because it's an SS car, it has a floor shifter.

Right.

But I'm going to go with a 66 console floor console which I found which has the actual gauges which come up and meet the the dash, like the the Corvette style.

Right?

So I'm going to roll the 66 console, but that is painted blue right now.

We're going to paint that red to match the dash that comes to the 65 Impala here.

My father and I were searching I want he had a 60 Impala, brand new and he was about 27.

And I came along and he had to sell it.

And once I was about 25, we decided to start looking for another 1960 Chevy Impala convertible.

Couldn't come across when I was good enough to buy restore drive.

So we just spent the next 15, 20 years looking for, I guess, a 65 reason why we settled on a 65 is because that's the last year for the spaceship tail lights where the actual lights protrude from the trunk.

We're done.

And I wanted the car as old as I was.

That meant a 66.

But the 66 Impalas don't have the protruding.

tail lights any longer.

They have the square tail lights So we decided to go with a car that was as old as when I was conceived in 65.

So we settled on a 65, took us about literally 22 years to find one that was good enough to restore.

And we started the process.

My boys, my father and myself.

And we got to the point where we stripped it down, got it off the frame in our actually in our own garage.

And we took it up to a gentleman that we knew of in Georgetown and kind of got the stall put on us.

Unfortunately, that point of time, it sat there for about five years.

Yeah, unfortunately, my father fell ill with cancer and passed away a year and a half ago.

And at that point I said, you know, the car has got to get done once and for all.

And I knew of Gary from a couple three years ago.

He passed by shop in my travels and see what kind of work he can do.

And and I was amazed at the amount of work and and the quality and paint jobs I seen come out of the shop and said, okay, Gary, it's time to take on the Impala and let's get it on tires and rims are really going to make this car.

Yes.

You know, that's one of the things it's got such a big wheel well you know, you could easily do 18's or 20's on it and it would really fill the wheel well up and just change the look of the car completely We're going to stick with something tasteful.

Yeah.

We're talking, you know, like a torque thrust or.

Yes, that's a big legend or something like that Torque thrust 2 I believe.

Torque Thrust 2.

They have an M or a two.

Either one of those was a terrific on this car, especially the gentleman father, my two boys starter, Nicholas and Jonathan.

You know, they're both in their early 18 and 20 now.

So they're both they're both heavily into the American muscle cars.

My son Jonathan, he's basically the stolen my 87 Trans-Am.

He's the guy who takes, been driving that car for the most part.

My son Nicholas is 20 he's got a 90 convertible Mustang, LX, with a Dutch package on it.

And that's his his little gem that he runs around Mississauga, beating up on all the little Honda Civics and whatnot.

(laughs) So we're all a we don't we don't believe in the .... How should I say it Gary, we're American muscle guys (laughs) We're American muscle guys.

(Grinding) (Sanding) (Music) Well, we're at the first stage basically of our of our paint.

The car has been three coats of of single stage base and then it's got two coats of Ueal clear on it.

And then what we're going to do is we're going to let this set up a little bit, probably for three or four days.

And then we're going to cut it with some sandpaper, give it maybe an 800 finish block, finish.

And then and then we're going to put two more coats, a clear on top of it.

So it'll give us in total about four coats of clear, and that'll give us enough to cut and polish and give a nice rich finish and to let us know that there's going to be enough UV protection and enough so that when we do remove some of the some of the coating that we're going to have enough build there to give a good polish and a show finish.

So it's coming along pretty good.

We had a little bit of issues in the beginning with some of the things like body lines.

This car has such a large surface area on the back quarters and to get these lines straight, there has been a lot of metal work done here.

And to get these lines straight was was a little bit of a challenge right from the Right from the point of the fellows that did the panels here at Radical Rod and and then Michael did most of the bodywork on it.

I did the final finish.

And, and for every one of us that touched this car, it was a real challenge to get this thing straight.

So hopefully when we get down to the end with it, everybody that had their hand on it will be proud of what what we've accomplished.

It's it's quite a large car.

(Music) There's a little bit of texture in the paint.

It turned out pretty smooth, but there's a little bit of texture any show quality paint job needs to be cut and polished.

And basically what I've got is a pad with 2500 grit on it and some water and what we do is we sand it until the the surface becomes smooth, if there's any little pieces of dust that comes out.

And then once once I finished doing this, I'll go over it again with another pad that's about 3000 grit.

And then after that, I'll start polishing it and it'll come back to a mirror finish and it'll be really, really flat.

Like, I don't know if you can see further on from where I've worked here, you can see a little bit of peel a little bit.

I call that orange peel and it's hard to get away from I mean, the best gun and the best painter in the world will still get a little bit.

And you want this to be really smooth for a show car.

So?

So once you do this surface prep and you sand it, when you get back to polishing it and turn it back into a mirror, there's no texture.

It's just flat like water.

So that's that's kind of what we're looking for.

This is a really a really nice car.

It's a beautiful color red viper, red.

So we want it to be as flat as possible from the customer.

So a tedious sanding you don't want to over sand it because you can actually blow through it and you stay away from the edges as much as possible.

You don't want to sand right through because then you wind up having to repaint it again.

So it's kind of a patients thing.

Just slow and steady wins the race (Music) Rear quarter pieces for the red Impala So you can buy this piece, with the the vinyl with the cardboard backing and then you have to reuse the original top piece with the existing chrome.

So that's that.

And then these ones I sewed up myself sort of How does that go.

So it goes something and there's another, there's a third piece.

So but that's those glue setting up on this one.

So you have to wrap all these edges and make it look all nice, just like that.

(Music) It's best to do a test fit, first.

So it looks like that from the other side.

You get an idea of what it's going to look like like that Will be nice.

Way better than the brown and beige that's for sure (tools banging) I'm going to stretch it over the weekend.

And then I just stretched it again another half inch at the front.

So now it's it's pretty it's pretty taught.

So now I'm just doing what the sun would normally do because I got this thing really tight.

That's, that's, that's pretty damn tight.

So now I'm just trying to work out any any it's hard to tell on a white top, but you can see there's a bit of a stretch stretch.

So heating it up will shrink the vinyl in between the two in the valley but got to be really careful because you can melt the top or let your guard down for a second.

Actually, dent the top touch it with this it'll be bad.

So (fan of heater) (Music) Looking really good.Looking really good, nice and shiny.

Starting to look like a car once again and looking forward to driving it and supposed to be about a week.

So we'll see.

It's been almost all it's been since 2005.

I bought it.

Start taking it apart.

And so it's a long time coming.

We're down to a very short list of switches and clips and stuff like that just to finish it off.

Yeah we could use a bunch of shims, right?

Yeah.

So I really want to go back.

I like, would you you like to look at the seats.

yeah, seats look great seats great that two-tone combination we did Really makes the car stand out The right arm rest, that's why we had held off is oh, they sent us her for a 64 Impala instead of the 65.

Okay.

So and this is going to look nice here.

We're just trying to get a a brush finish for the center.

Yeah.

Like on the other the guy is supposed to be back to me today on that Hopefully it will match the SS Yeah.

The dash across flags at the back yeah.

Look a lot better.

This looks better.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's a detail.

It wasn't there.

But you know what?

I'm trying to see how there's a way we can improve the look of it.

On GM's 65 design, they could have put a couple extra details here and there to make it look that much better.

I think it looks really sharp.

I'm just really down to the short strokes on it.

Thank God.

Finally, it's been a marathon.

That's been a while.

Yeah.

One of the ratchets is out of it.

This one, doesn't (metal clicking) do ratcheting, you know, why is it going to the car?

Has the wrong housing, the whole thing properly?

Yeah.

Completely different and shorter.

Yeah.

Is it really?

It doesn't look that bad.

Yeah, I know it's.

Yeah, but it's then this also has to mount to the dash so you understand.

Right.

So it's out a bit you see.

Look at here.

Yeah.

So, I mean at this point here all we can do is try and get them.

Yeah.

Because you can see like it's actually right through, you can see right through them.

And I haven't even leaned on these with the sandblast or anything.

So you can and we haven't been able to find these anywhere.

We're going to keep digging a little bit longer.

But and this stuff's pretty much rotted out, so we're going to have to try and see if we can get it to work in the water that.

if we can get it to work I will weld it on Okay, well, it's not too bad.

It's not that at all.

So again, 50 years of wear and tear on it, but well, the problem is they sit low on the car.

Right.

So all the road debris comes up and hits them because they're right underneath the bumper.

So and of course, funny, they reproduce all this other stuff, but not the parts that wear out the easiest.

So.

So what will happen we'll spend money fixing these and put them on the car.

And then yeah, six months from now, the pop up in the new classic in the street, look at these new parts.

We have.

(chuckles) We're getting closer.

Just we're finding some hurdles with some of this other stuff.

here, but .... over the next few days, we've actually got a couple extra guys coming in to give us a hand.

Okay.

Trying to pump a couple of these out.

So pretty much show it at your car show next weekend, right?

Yeah.

Yeah, I work magic, but I don't know if I can get it ready that fast.

(Laughs) Looking great, nice and shiny.

Just we're looking for.

13 years ago, we started this adventure.

It's great.

I can't complain.

It's long worth the wait.

It's great.

Nice and shiny before I go and get compliments.

I can't drive down the street more than two blocks, people putting their thumbs up and wave and say, Hey, nice car.

(chuckles) Yeah, we're taking you home today so they can just fix this a little Gas problem.

We have and... Off we go back to Mississauga.

I was going to go with a regular standard Chevy rally rims until we saw the paint come out nice and shiny I thought the wheels were too dull I don't do it justice.

So I went out and got some Furst rims set it off that much further.

It was some consideration of doing a black top just to keep it cleaner.

But compared with the white interior and the red interior we couldn't, if I put a black top on it would set it off When it takes you 13 years, Lots of time to think about different options and different things.

You can take different roads, but yeah, really happy with the car it's turned out good.

Nice and shiny I'll take it out any time I can the only thing I'm scared of is rain the only thing I'm scared of is rain (chuckles) (Music) I'll bring it back when I want gold flames next winter (laughs) (Music) (Music) (Car Engine Revs) Runs great.

It's got a 69 350 engine in it with about 375 horsepower.

Originally it was a 409 car which I have the engine in the garage.

Just haven't found the extra funds to get it rebuild and installed in the car to bring it back to full original.

That'll be probably another year or two, (Producer) - It's got a lot of pep It's all right.

It's not a road-burner.

But we didn't do it in design.

Didn't want to build it to be a road-burner I want it to be a cruiser or as my wife calls it, the retirement car.

(laughs) Some guys wait till they retire before they build the car.

I want to have it done.

So when I retire, it's ready to go.

(Horn Honks) Horn works.

(Car Engine Revs) Yes started in 2005 when I bought the car didn't start disassembling it down to the frame until 2006.

And fortunately I had it at a shop in Georgetown which just basically sat on it.

and didn't do anything, and unfortunately the body got a little bit worse because of that.

And until I was able to get Gary's shop and then things worked So actual fact was three years to the weekend, it was three years to the weekend when Gary got the car and when he finished it, I took it home last summer Happiest holiday, put on good mileage, been stuck in 40 degree weather and traffic jams and hasn't choked or stalled or acted it up or anything.

It's great.

(car driving by) Funding for Radical Restoration is provided by (Music) Rakabot sources sustainable materials to create boot racks that organize footwear that allows drippings to go in the bowl.

Models designed for home, work or recreational settings are available on line at Rakabot dot com Joe's Hand Cleaner Manufactured by Clean Products supports Radical Restoration With our without water Joe's Hand Cleaner cleanses to ingredients that are food or cosmetic grade A family business since 1948.

On line at Joe's Hand Cleaner dot com.

Tire tag.

Re Usable labelling to organize tire rotation and re-mounting.

Tire Tag.

(car honk ) Tire dash Tag dot com Additional funding provided by Nutrafarms and Hagerty Insurance Thank you for joining us.

My name's Gary Nichols until next time, may all your rides be radical.

(car squeals away) (Music) (tires squealing) (Music) (Music)