This all started late in the summer of '06. I was driving through town when I spotted the car. I didn't know the exact year, but I did know it was an Impala. I had only recently become a fan GM muscle cars. I liked the aggressive styling that almost all 60's GM cars had, but the Impalas seemed special to me. The car was for sale, but I didn't stop right then. The next time I passed, someone was looking under the hood and the the time after that, she was gone. I figured I missed my opportunity, but I kept a look out for over a month and then suddenly there she was again. I stopped immediately and started looking it over. I didn't know any areas of importance on a 40 year old car but I did noticed that the drivers quarter was filled with bondo, the front floors were missing, and rust had eaten a few holes in the hood. These things didn't seem so bad (yeah right) and I wanted it badly. It did have a V8 and it did run. The owner was asking $1200 and that seemed reasonable. When we spoke he didn't budge on the price (although I didn't try very hard) and I eventually agreed to his asking price.

Getting the car home was a little difficult because the radiator was trashed and wouldn't hold coolant. But after a few stops to let the engine cool, we made it with no damage done. My original plan was to redo the blue interior and paint the car white (it was blue/primer.) I started stripping the car down and sanding on some spots that looked suspicious. I discovered bondo in all of the doors, a lower passenger quarter created with wire and bondo, and small holes all over the bottom half of the car. I was ready to part it out and cut my losses, but then I saw an episode of 'Supernatural'. Was that heap in my yard really the same make and model as the beautiful car that the Winchesters cruised in? It was! I was amazed that I had bought a random junker (of a relatively unpopular year and body style) that was featured on a weekly series. The Winchester brothers car on Supernatural is a beautiful jet black 1967 Impala 4 door hard top big block car. After watching the show for a few weeks I really fell in love with that car and new what I was going to do with my car. My original plans for the car were dumped in favor of building my own Metallicar. During that winter my job at the time tought me the basics of sheet metal fabrication and bodywork. Now I felt like I might actually be able to do this.

During the spring of '07 I began tearing my Impala down. First came the interior, next the exterior trim, and then a little sheetmetal. I got the car to a fairly well stripped stage (or so I thought) and then I put it at the edge of the yard for storage. Work kept me very buisy (very tired), so the Impala remained untouched until Jan '08.

I've moved out recently, I now have a good amount of space to store and work on vehicles. My new house has a nice carport area and a separate garage. Things are coming together to allow me to use a sandblaster, so once again its time to work on the Impala. We moved the car to the 'shop' so we would have access to some tools and began the total strip down. My friend Co was helping me and we managed to remove the rear glass, the inner fenders, core support/radiator, front bench seat, dash, wiring harness, gas tank, driveshaft, Engine and Transmission. Woohoo!!! What an accomplishment!

BAD NEWS:
After the final strip down, the upper and lower cowl are now visible and its obvious that there are serious rust problems to some important structural areas in the front of the car. I think a lot of people would sandblast the surface, paint it and continue on, but I feel that would most definitely be the wrong way to go about this. I have full intention of disecting the 'A' pillars and lower cowl to completely eliminate all traces of the cancer and to fabricate any necessary pieces. Once this is done I'll be able to install the floors and begin work on the quarter panels.

UPDATE:  11-21-08

I've been aquiring tools and supplies for my project. Recently I've picked up and engine stand, creeper, chain hoist, cherry picker (engine hoist), mig welder, welding table, undercoating and primer. I'm in the process of getting electricity to my garage, and when that is done I'll be blasting the Impala.