1969 Impala SS 427 $54,900 Illinois, not mine

[JamesR]

1969 Chevrolet Impala 427 - #s Match

Beautiful Super Sport Impala

Finished In Factory Correct Lemans Blue With Black Interior

 

First Owner From 1969-1975

Second Owner From 1975-2012

In Private Collection Since '12

 

89,159 Original Miles

 

Second Owner Did Something Super Cool..

 

Had The Car Frame Off Restored & Finished the Chassis Beautifully As Expected 

 

However, The Floors Were So Mint & Rust Free Original That They Put The Untouched Floors Back On The Freshly Redone Chassis

 

"If It Aint Broke Dont Fix It"

 

427 390HP - Number Matching

[B Jake Moran]

A beautiful over restored car.   

[lhend50]

Beautifal car. I've had a 67 SS427, and 3, 1968 SS427's, set up correctly, they are fast cars. Never really cared for the 69 version since it did not really have any unique features like the 67 and 68.

[alsancle]

54 minutes ago, lhend50 said:

Beautifal car. I've had a 67 SS427, and 3, 1968 SS427's, set up correctly, they are fast cars. Never really cared for the 69 version since it did not really have any unique features like the 67 and 68.

What are the unique features?

[lhend50]

30 minutes ago, alsancle said:

What are the unique features?

1967 had a domed hood with a chrome insert that made it look like three carbs where underneath. It also had special SS427 trim piece across the trunk. The 1968 had 3 vertical gills on the front fenders, a different domed hood than the 1967 with a large chrome insert across the back of the domed portion of the hood. It also had a steering wheel with ss427 on it and a uniqued dash piece that had SS427 on it. On both cars the way the grill was painted was also different, wheels were often different as well. They also had suspension differences. The 1969 had no unique body features. 

Edited January 17, 2023 by lhend50 (see edit history)

[alsancle]

I like the car,  but swore off buying musclecars with automatics when I was a kid.  Of course, getting old means maybe automatics are in my future.

[B Jake Moran]

1 hour ago, lhend50 said:

1967 had a domed hood with a chrome insert that made it look like three carbs where underneath. It also had special SS427 trim piece across the trunk. The 1968 had 3 vertical gills on the front fenders, a different domed hood than the 1967 with a large chrome insert across the back of the domed portion of the hood. It also had a steering wheel with ss427 on it and a uniqued dash piece that had SS427 on it. On both cars the way the grill was painted was also different, wheels were often different as well. They also had suspension differences. The 1969 had no unique body features. 

be

Thank you for educating us.  I had little knowledge of these cars.  It is almost as if the 1969 is an afterthought before ending production, as is the case on some models nearing the end of production cycles.  

[TerryB]

Always liked these big v8 Chevys.  I had forgotten how good the 1967 version looks.  

[roysboystoys]

18 hours ago, B Jake Moran said:

A beautiful over restored car.   

Except the battery. Easily changed , but it stands out.

Very nice car.

[TAKerry]

18 hours ago, B Jake Moran said:

A beautiful over restored car.   

Judging from the few pics I would say nicely (not overly) restored. I would not be afraid to drive this.

I just read an article about one of these in Hemmings. It said how rare these are. Then I saw one go across the block at Mecum and now this one. OK, thats 3 I have heard about of the Million or so Impalas made but until a couple of weeks ago I had no idea on the significance. FWIW the Mecum car sold for around the asking price of this one.

[Jim Skelly]

Shouldn't the firewall be painted black, or did one of the assembly plants paint them body color?

[TAKerry]

I know nothing about these cars, but I believe there was a similar discussion regarding another car in this thread awhile ago. It may have been earlier though. I recall someone had pics of body coloured firewalls.

[lhend50]

1 hour ago, TAKerry said:

Judging from the few pics I would say nicely (not overly) restored. I would not be afraid to drive this.

I just read an article about one of these in Hemmings. It said how rare these are. Then I saw one go across the block at Mecum and now this one. OK, thats 3 I have heard about of the Million or so Impalas made but until a couple of weeks ago I had no idea on the significance. FWIW the Mecum car sold for around the asking price of this one.

Rounding off for each year there were 2200 67 SS427 cars, 1200 68's and 2400 69 cars. These are cars with the SS427 package. You could get an impala without  the SS427 package, just a 427 motor, didn't even have to be an SS car.

[lhend50]

1 hour ago, TAKerry said:

I know nothing about these cars, but I believe there was a similar discussion regarding another car in this thread awhile ago. It may have been earlier though. I recall someone had pics of body coloured firewalls.

I've done a bunch of these cars and they all had a black firewall,  but, apparently some factories put them out with body color.

Edited January 17, 2023 by lhend50 (see edit history)

[JamesR]

10 hours ago, lhend50 said:

1967 had a domed hood with a chrome insert that made it look like three carbs where underneath. It also had special SS427 trim piece across the trunk. The 1968 had 3 vertical gills on the front fenders, a different domed hood than the 1967 with a large chrome insert across the back of the domed portion of the hood. It also had a steering wheel with ss427 on it and a uniqued dash piece that had SS427 on it. On both cars the way the grill was painted was also different, wheels were often different as well. They also had suspension differences. The 1969 had no unique body features. 

 

Yes, thanks for the education, Ihend50. I didn't know that about the hood...or didn't pay attention. My first car was a Super Sport Impala - a '66 with a 327 - and it didn't have any special hood. I'm pretty sure the the big block for '66 (a 396) didn't a special hood either. My questions are:

1) Did small block SS Impalas in '67 and '68 also have those special hoods?

2) Did they even offer small block SS Impalas in '67 and '68?

3) Did they still offer the 396 engine in '67 and '68 in the SS Impala model? If so, did it have the special hood?

 

I'm thinking those hoods must be insanely rare nowadays. It's my impression that by the late '60's a lot more SS packages were sold in the Chevelle and Camaro than the Impala, though I could be wrong.

[lhend50]

47 minutes ago, JamesR said:

Yes, thanks for the education, Ihend50. I didn't know that about the hood...or didn't pay attention. My first car was a Super Sport Impala - a '66 with a 327 - and it didn't have any special hood. I'm pretty sure the the big block for '66 (a 396) didn't a special hood either. My questions are:

1) Did small block SS Impalas in '67 and '68 also have those special hoods?

2) Did they even offer small block SS Impalas in '67 and '68?

3) Did they still offer the 396 engine in '67 and '68 in the SS Impala model? If so, did it have the special hood?

 

I'm thinking those hoods must be insanely rare nowadays. It's my impression that by the late '60's a lot more SS packages were sold in the Chevelle and Camaro than the Impala, though I could be wrong.

The SS427 option was a Z24 option the special hood on the 67 an 68, along with  the gills and special dash plate on the 68, only came with  the Z24 option. Not available with any other motor. Small block SS impalas were offered in all the years that the SS was offered. SS396 was also available.  

A really nice hood for 67 or 68 will bring 10000 without  the insert,  which is easily 2-3000 more if nice. 

[George Smolinski]

1 hour ago, JamesR said:

the the big block for '66 (a 396) didn't a special hood either

1966 Impalas had the 396/325hp, 427/390hp, & 427/425hp. No special hood & no way to tell which 427, except by looking under the hood.

[lhend50]

You're right, total sleeper. 

[JACK M]

I had a 66 Impala 4 dr hard top with a 427 and a straight stick on the column. This would have been in the late eighties.

It was an odd deal. I bought it for one dollar and other considerations. (work trade) From the original owner who ordered it that way.

I had to bore it because a wrist pin had floated into the bore and was knocking. (Owners grandson must've wound it out to far) I also had it repainted in the original dark green.

Very rare combination. I would shoot whoever stole it from me,.

I still have the title. There was matching numbers on the title and block.

[JamesR]

39 minutes ago, JACK M said:

I had a 66 Impala 4 dr hard top with a 427 and a straight stick on the column. This would have been in the late eighties.

It was an odd deal. I bought it for one dollar and other considerations. (work trade) From the original owner who ordered it that way.

 

That reminds me of this other amazing Impala for sale at Harwood. It's a '68 two door ht with the Caprice style roof (whatever that's called.) It's numbers matching I think, and has the L36 big block 427 that was ordered with the car. Apparently those engines were a bit less powerful than the ultimate versions, but still had around 390 hp. What's really cool about the car is that it still has original paint, which looks to be in fantastic shape. The engine bay appears to have been cleaned up and the engine may be rebuilt, but I think the interior is original, too. Pretty awesome car.

 

Harwood Motors :: 1968 Chevrolet Impala - $32,900

[lhend50]

That's a nice car that seems very fairly priced.

[Jim Skelly]

it's called the Custom Coupe

[JamesR]

 

8 hours ago, lhend50 said:

That's a nice car that seems very fairly priced.

 

That's what I thought. To see a nice two door ht Chevy from the sixties with a 427 from the factory at that price is a little surprising to me. Chevies like that are generally very high priced, but I admit I don't understand higher end old car pricing. The nice original paint is what what I find really appealing.

[Matt Harwood]

Thanks for posting my car, I like it a lot, too. It's priced like it is because its pedigree is a little cloudy. I believe it's the original engine, but it was rebuilt some years ago before "numbers matching" was a thing and they decked the block and then stamped it with what appears to be a rebuilder's number. So I can't prove it's the original engine. It does have its original, numbers-matching TH400, which means it came with a big block from the factory, so that's a note in its favor. And while the interior appears to be original, it's just so darned nice. I mean, not a frayed seam or a split or even any significant wear.

 

So given all these little details that are ambiguous, I couldn't price it like a matching-numbers car. It's also not an SS, just a regular Impala with the L36 engine. It's definitely an original car with some freshening under the hood, but the lines are a little blurry, you know? I think it's awesome, it drives like a million bucks, and it's loaded with options. I'm sure someone will fall in love.

 

Here's the engine stamping pad so you can see what I mean about a rebuilder's mark instead of original stampings:

[Ed Luddy]

When I was in high school a friend of mine who came from a well do to family with a penchant for cars had a 1968 Impala 427 SS 4 speed convertible. It was a different model than a Impala SS with a  427 4 speed.

It was red, white top, parchment interior, power windows, buckets console, 4 speed. Unique badges, louvres and hood from the regular 427 SS cars.

[George Smolinski]

20 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:

they decked the block and then stamped it with what appears to be a rebuilder's number

A good machine shop can deck a block without decking the front pad and removing the numbers. We had it done on a 1966 Caprice Estate Wagon with a 396.

If I was in the market, I’d seriously look at this car.

[lhend50]

Very nice car, curious, does the date casting on the block line up with the production date of the car. If motor was rebuilt early in its history, no one cared about the numbers on the block. 

[EmTee]

4 hours ago, George Smolinski said:

A good machine shop can deck a block without decking the front pad and removing the numbers.

That was my thought.  Seems like laziness; particularly on a car like this one.

[Matt Harwood]

4 minutes ago, EmTee said:

That was my thought.  Seems like laziness; particularly on a car like this one.

 

I think it was probably done in the '80s or early '90s before "matching numbers" was a thing. Nobody cared. It wasn't until the Corvette guys went crazy with it in the late '90s/early 2000s and then it caught on everywhere else. Before that, it was common to just deck the block and wipe the numbers. I've had a number of cars like that with older rebuilds where the engine builder didn't see any reason to preserve the numbers. I even had one Corvette with a fairly substantial stack of legal papers from the owner suing the machine shop years later for wiping out the numbers. It happens.

[Steve9]

I always loved these big Chevys. This one was in the neighborhood and I always drooled as I walked the dog past it.(pun intended) It’s no mystery they are low production because the pony car thing hosed the sales of large performance cars.

[STEVE POLLARD]

Really nice SS, but it's missing the bodyside molding and I'm looking at those quarter panels, not sure if it's original or not. The '69 full size had those " bulges " around all four wheels...  And documentation is everything with this model year... as noted above, production figures on the SS model was 2455, but unfortunately there are many clones out there.  I'm currently restoring one now and I'm seeing the values climbing !

 

 

here is a picture of the bulges:

 

 

[George Smolinski]

4 hours ago, STEVE POLLARD said:

I'm looking at those quarter panels, not sure if it's original or not

They aren’t the original quarters. Missing the bulge-aftermarket.

 

[STEVE POLLARD]

2 hours ago, George Smolinski said:

They aren’t the original quarters. Missing the bulge-aftermarket.

Yup.....here is a better picture what they should look like......

 

[JamesR]

1 hour ago, STEVE POLLARD said:

3 hours ago, George Smolinski said:

They aren’t the original quarters. Missing the bulge-aftermarket.

Yup.....here is a better picture what they should look like......

That's the great thing about the AACA forum.  Some genuinely knowledgeable folks here will be able to spot the little stuff that the rest of us would miss. Thanks for the close scrutiny and insight, Steve!

[STEVE POLLARD]

1 hour ago, JamesR said:

Thanks for the close scrutiny and insight, Steve!

Thanks James. This was a very common area that needs rust repair work ( ask me how I know LOL ) Those rear windows would leak water into the trunk area and before you know it, rust was forming on the lower quarters.

 

[George Smolinski]

The 1970 Full size Chevys had the same bubble in the rear quarters. You can use 1970 quarters and graft most of it to the ‘69 quarters to get the bubble.