Here’s a story worth reading. It’s about an 84 year man in Kansas who has been building old cars since 1976 and has built nearly a car a year since then.

Some of them are replicas,  and some are originals.

http://kansastravel.org/grandpasoldfordgarage.htm

I love it when a plan starts to come together. I don’t need a lot of parts for my 64 Impala anymore since I’ve been on the hunt for the last 3 years or so. The parts I’m looking for now are the nice to have parts.

I found someone on Craigslist last week who was parting out a couple of really badly rusting 64 Impala SS and he had a few common parts listed for sale. He didn’t mention the 64 Impala SS door panel trim until I asked, but he had the 64 Impala SS dash bezel I was looking for.

He didn’t have the SS style trunk cove inner and outer edge pieces I was looking for either.

He turned out to be from Newark Delaware so I decided to meet him halfway. It made more sense since I could see the parts first before buying them.

We met at the Maryland House rest stop. He brought a few extras so I could pick the best of them all.

Finding nice original parts like this can be hard, in fact it can be impossible depending on what you’re looking for.

I’m one of those guys that prefers original, even if it’s not perfect. I can usually clean them up and restore them though. I’ve settled for “repops”, or reproduction chevrolet restoration parts when the price is right however.

Not everyone has the kind of patience or time to locate parts like that though. True, it does a lot to slow down the restoration. I think I must like the process of locating parts and restoring the car more than the objective of restoring the 64 Impala so I can get in it and drive.

For anyone who wants to just get the car done and get in it, picking up the reproduction  chevrolet restoration parts is the way to go.  Being a stickler about factory original 64 impala parts WILL definitely slow you down.

I would know.

This past fall when I went to Fall Carlisle I ran into the metal rescue crew and gave them a rusty 64 Impala parking lamp to test. It was pretty badly pitted and even had holes in it.

Here’s some video they shot when I came back to pick it up.
Metal Rescue strips rust off 64 Impala parking lamp