1971 Impala. - Project

[76 Caddy]

Try to post pictures of my latest adoption but not doing so well.

Thought I would share some photos of the car before I have it brought home.  One family owned since new.  Original owner passed in 1986 and his wife didn't drive but kept the car until her death sometime in the nineties.  Their son got the car and brought to where it is now.  In 2006 he had it "restored", complete mechanical overhaul and repaint but unfortunately became ill before it's completion and never got to drive it but was taken to his eightieth birthday party in it in 2008.  Sadly he passed in 2012 and the car has not been moved since. 

I will try to post some more photos.

 

Tim   

 

 

[76 Caddy]

Here are some photos. 
 

Tim

 

Edited February 9 by 76 Caddy (see edit history)

[46 woodie]

It's not a good idea to post a photo of a title. People have been known to use a copy to file for a lost title and use it to gain ownership.

[rocketraider]

You can certainly do worse than a 70s GM B-body. Sure, there were thousands of these plain jane four door light green sedans but they were good cars and good-looking cars. I especially liked the dash and interiors on these big Chevrolets.

 

Looks like a repaint is in order. What has happened to this car is one reason I despise basecoat/clearcoat paint.

[JACK M]

Whats the pink stuff?

[Andy J]

Jack M,are you referring to the dirt dauber nests on the radiator shroud and radiator hose? A common pest in the south that get into and stop up everything.

Edited February 9 by Andy J (see edit history)

[JACK M]

Thank you.

Never seen that in pink before. Ours still look like mud.

[rocketraider]

11 minutes ago, JACK M said:

Whats the pink stuff?

Upstate South Carolina red clay!

 

6 minutes ago, Andy J said:

Jack M,are you referring to the dirt dauber nests on the radiator shroud and radiator hose? A common pest in the south that get into and stop up everything.

They like to build nests in my Ferguson tractor's key switch. I've taken to sticking a folded piece of slick paper in it when not in use to keep the "mud waustses" out. Otherwise it's dig the mud and wasp eggs out with a small pick and then flush out any remaining dirt with WD40 or PB blaster, and hope none got into the electric part of the switch.

 

Let's hope the waustses haven't gotten that deep into this Impala!😄

[76 Caddy]

17 minutes ago, rocketraider said:

Upstate South Carolina red clay!

 

They like to build nests in my Ferguson tractor's key switch. I've taken to sticking a folded piece of slick paper in it when not in use to keep the "mud waustses" out. Otherwise it's dig the mud and wasp eggs out with a small pick and then flush out any remaining dirt with WD40 or PB blaster, and hope none got into the electric part of the switch.

 

Let's hope the waustses haven't gotten that deep into this Impala!😄

So far all I found was what you see.  Can't wait to get it home give it a good cleaning then the process of waking it up.  Only has 74,458 miles and I'd bet 74,400 were put on by the original owner between '71 and '86.

 

 

Tim 

[Mark 2]

Just down the road from you in Easley.

[Jim Skelly]

4 hours ago, rocketraider said:

Looks like a repaint is in order. What has happened to this car is one reason I despise basecoat/clearcoat paint.

I wonder when it was repainted since GM didn't use clearcoat that far back.

[rocketraider]

Looks like 2006 or so per first post. I'm guessing decklid and upper sides got the brunt of sun and made the clearcoat peel.

[Frank DuVal]

On 2/9/2024 at 2:17 PM, JACK M said:

Whats the pink stuff?

 

On 2/9/2024 at 2:38 PM, rocketraider said:

Upstate South Carolina red clay!

 

On 2/9/2024 at 2:26 PM, JACK M said:

Ours still look like mud.

Obviously Jack, you do not live where there is red clay! I have rarely seen brown mud dauber nests, they are usually pink to red around here.👍  Of course ours is Virginia red clay...

[rocketraider]

Around 1928 my great-uncle Rob left Person County NC for the Sandhills area of NC. Pinehurst area. Said he was tired of trying to scratch a living out of that Person County red clay dirt.

 

I don't know how much better he fared in the sandy soil around Pinehurst, but a lot of that branch of the family are still there! 

 

Hm. Wonder what dirt daubers use in places like that?

[76 Caddy]

Today I had it brought home. 
 

[rocketraider]

Make sure to give us regular progress reports. As I've said many times, a nice old car is a nice old car. So what if it was just an ordinary car when it was made? This one of a bazillion Impala sedan has made it 53 years.

[76 Caddy]

To rocketraider;

 

NO! I'm not changing the hubcaps.

 

Tim

[rocketraider]

Not even for a set of these? Hey, they were on the 71 option list...😄

 

The wheelcovers your 71 has suit it perfectly. They're well-styled, unlike a lot of cars whose standard wheelcovers were so plain as to detract from the car's overall appearance.

 

That may have been by design and intent, to sell a buyer extra-cost optional wheelcovers!

[76 Caddy]

I like those and would consider them.

 

Thanks

Tim 

[EmTee]

Be warned - they're HEAVY!

 

[greenie]

Heavy? Back in the day (‘75?) I put a set on my ‘68 Camaro that featured a 250 six. I could tell it slowed the car- so I ditched them. But they sure look good. 

[rocketraider]

5 hours ago, EmTee said:

Be warned - they're HEAVY!

 

And there's hundreds of individual pieces in them! I've never been able to count the total number of fins without losing count somewhere between half and three-quarters of the way around from the valve stem hole.

 

I see these on Corvettes, Monte Carlos and 67-72 Chevrolet pickups more than on the same era big Chevys.

 

Buick had a version of these too with Buick or Riviera center plastics. Just as heavy and just as complicated. Imagine working in the factory that produced them.

 

Strangely, as much as I like upgraded factory wheel treatments, I've never really warmed up to Chevrolet's 71-76 wire caps. They're not ugly, they just don't seem to have the detailing a factory wire cap should have. If the center had a Bowtie instead of just incised "Chevrolet Motor Division" lettering, that would give them better brand identity. A black or dark gray background would help too.

 

They did that with 67-68 wires.

 

Back to 76 Caddy's new Impala, the first step up from dogbowls wheelcovers on it suit the design of the car and its times well. Good Bowtie brand identity, with enough detail to make them attractive and interesting. 

 

Unfortunately that was about time GM started cheaping out on their standard dogbowl hubcaps, with thin metal and unimaginative design that made the cars look like bottom feeders. It wasn't only Chevrolet either. All four of the junior Divisions suffered from it. Again, may have been a ploy to upsell more expensive/profitable wheel treatments.

[West Peterson]

12 minutes ago, rocketraider said:

I see these on Corvettes, Monte Carlos and 67-72 Chevrolet pickups more than on the same era big Chevys.

 

 

From what I've learned, the Corvette turbine-style hub caps are slightly different than the regular Chevy hub caps, that appear to look identical. I have a couple in my garage. Absolutely love the looks of them. I probably will not be putting them on my Camaro, so if anyone is looking for a couple to complete a set, let me know.

[West Peterson]

On 2/15/2024 at 2:56 PM, 76 Caddy said:

Today I had it brought home. 
 

My winter beater while in college was the 2-door version of this car, with the concave rear window. Driving down the freeway during hard snow falls, that rear window would completely fill up with snow. Poor design in that regard, but it looked really cool. The 400cid V-8 sucked a lot of gas.

 

[rocketraider]

I know others who say that about the 400ci SBC. 400ci SBC or 402ci BBC, feeding 400 cubic inches is feeding 400 cubic inches.

 

SBC 400 has never been one of my favorite engines, but to its credit it beat the bejeezus out of the same-era Ford 400. Between early-onset high oil consumption and a tendency to detonate itself into oblivion, the Ford 400 was a truly miserable engine.

[EmTee]

I've had experience with two small block 400s; a high mileage '70 and my parent's '74 Caprice convertible (20K mi.).  Both were good runners and never had any problems.  My best friend had a 402 in his '71 Monte Carlo.  That ran good too, but was much more impressive to look at! 

[EmTee]

4 hours ago, rocketraider said:

Buick had a version of these too with Buick or Riviera center plastics.

[rocketraider]

Pontiac had a finned turbine wheelcover in the 70s but I don't think it was quite as "involved" as the Chevrolet and Buick versions. Still, can you imagine assembling these things 40 hours a week?

 

 

They look great on 70s Pontiacs but they wouldn't do a thing for the subject Impala!

[76 Caddy]

Unless I stumble across a set for a price I can’t turn down, I’m staying with the originals. Anyone notice that the rims are painted the same color as the car?

I wonder if those wire caps are as heavy as the ones on my Cadillacs. 
 

Tim

[EmTee]

26 minutes ago, 76 Caddy said:

Anyone notice that the rims are painted the same color as the car?

I thought they only did that for the 'dog-dish' style caps.  Weren't rims with full covers typically black?  Anything could happen at the factory though...

[rocketraider]

In that timeframe GM typically painted wheels black for cars ordered with any style full wheelcover and body color for those ordered with dogbowl hubcaps. There were probably exceptions depending on what was happening at the assembly plant.

 

Now that I think about it, my folks' 69 Impala had body color wheels and it was always a full wheelcover car.

[JamesR]

Great Impala! Fantastic shape. Congrats.

 

I had two full sized early seventies four door Chevies when I was younger. I really liked them, but didn't appreciate them then as much as I do now. I remember them being very well built cars, comfortable and solid even though they had higher miles. There are some people who consider that era a high point in build quality for big Chevies. I wouldn't disagree.

 

 

[76 Caddy]

JamesR

 

Thanks

 

Tim

[ex98thdrill]

That's a nice looking car.  Every time I see something like that I think that if it was a Chevelle or Camaro SS that age and condition, the car would be a gold mine that none of us could afford.  Someone took very good care of that car for a long, long time.  I have a friend who has a '72 two door that he bought brand new that is in very nice shape too.  Those cars were a good running, dependable car.  I think GM screwed up when they quit making them.

[76 Caddy]

Let me say that this is the first non-running car I have ever owned so I may be asking some dumb questions on here as I wake it up.  The day it was brought home, I didn't have room in my garage for it so all I did was check the fluids and they were all full thankfully, oil a little darker than I liked, and I pulled the plugs (it had autolites, such sacrilege) and sprayed oil in the cylinders.  Finally, Saturday, with help from my son, we were able to push it inside and I attempted to see if I could turn the motor over by hand.  After I removed the seized belts from the pulleys, I was able to turn it with little effort, YEH, no seized motor!  

 

Here is where I need a little advice. Looking at the fuel tank, it appears to be a "new" tank that was maybe installed when it was "restored" in '07/'08??  What would be the best way to clean the inside?  I've watched every video of how to clean one till I'm dizzy.

  

Thanks

Tim

[George Smolinski]

There are shops such as Tank Renew that will clean, check for leaks and seal a tank. I had it done to a ‘55 Nomad of mine with no issues. Also, if it was mine, I’d probably just buy a new tank and sending unit. May be fewer issues in the long run.

[Rusty_OToole]

Blow air into the tank and smell what comes out. If it smells like gas ok. If it smells like old stinky varnish STOP do not use the gas it can damage your motor.

 

Or you could get it running by disconnecting the fuel line from the fuel pump and putting a line to a small gas can.

[Frank DuVal]

Don't smoke while doing that!😮