Outstanding 409. One hell of a hot rod and those fender well headers bring joy to the world. Nice car man.
Thank you all for the wonderful comments. I'm glad you all enjoy my 63. I am humbled. Sadly as of right now there is no progress as we are waiting on the engine to be finished. I do have a couple pictures of the painted block with camshaft installed as well as the glyptal?(I think I spelled that right lol) in the lifter valley and front timing cover area.
I realize that the 409’s probably didn’t make as much power as a 426 Hemi. That being said, they are like The Hemis to us Chevrolet guys. Only built for a few years and forever immortal. I love the W’s. Quick trivia, according to my “Complete Book of Chevrolet”, published in 1970, thanks Dad!, the engine in The Beach Boys song 409, was actually a 348. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Andy, I remember hearing someplace that it was a 389, that belonged to a friend of Brian, but that may be a faulty memory.
That would not surprise me. That’s just what the book said, but they could be wrong too. Whatever the engine actually was, it sounded great! I wish I knew more details of it. I like and respect Pontiacs too, but I’m a Chevy engine guy at heart. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Ok....UPDATES!!!! WE HAVE A SHORTBLOCK!! WOO HOO!!! Pistons have a wee bit if a dome on them. Lol. Plus it's been zero decked. Should run pretty decent.
Those pistons are prettier than jewelry. What a sweet sound that engine will make. Beautiful car, great engine, thanks for taking us along. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I was crushed when I saw the bit in your posting about the 409 song being based on a 348 car. This caused me to spend some time searching to find the roots of the story, and behold, this is what I found. This is a quote from Gary Usher, guy who owned the car, on the site called Song Facts. I can't be certain that this is 100%, but I thought I would post it because it is claimed to be a direct quote from Gary. An early Beach Boys song, Brian Wilson wrote this with his early collaborator Gary Usher. Wilson knew very little about things like surfing or cars, but Usher did, and he was able to help Wilson tap into the California culture. In 1971, Usher told Gene Sculatti: "Dennis Wilson was the first Beach Boy to pick up on surfing. He was aware of Dick Dale, the Pendleton jackets and that whole shot. It just rubbed off. I never surfed. I was a hot rod freak. I had a 409. One day we were driving up to Los Angeles looking for a part for my car, and I said 'Let's write a song called '409'. We'll do a thing 'giddy up, giddy up,' meaning horses for horsepower,' just kidding around. We came back and put it to three simple chords in five minutes, and it developed into a million-dollar car craze." --------- I hope this makes you feel better, it did me. Chevy did offer 409 engines later in 61, and I have seen two. Both were 2 dr htps with SS trim. The one I saw back in 62, was running the streets of Vancouver. The other one was a corpse that I considered buying back in the 90s. I finally decided that the only way I could make it a car again, would be to buy a donor and switch the tags. I decided that if I couldn't use the proper body, it would just be another clone, and wasn't worth doing. In the 61 model year, Chevy built 142 SS cars with the 409. Man, I love those bubble top Chevys. Bob
Oh, but I still believe the engine sound at the beginning was a Poncho, I'm gonna have to research that, it is stuck in my fading memory.
Bob, thanks for the information. I got that from a 1970 book that Dad gave me called “The Complete Book of Chevrolet”. It anyone’s guess where they got their info. It was a Hot Rod published book. I like your information much better, thanks for the research. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
There's a local 62 drag car for sale that I came across today https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/315617646072816/
I have the same book, and like it a lot. When I did the search to see if I could find more information, I found that there were several stories on the internet. The only reason I felt that this information was more credible, was that it was a direct quote from one of the author's of the actual song. It can be difficult, and sometimes impossible, to get to the real story. Bob
I think i have been in your shop several times....it used to belong to a friend of mine...Chris50 on here....nice shop!!
I cherish that book! This is where my love for the Small Block Chevrolet came from. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Beautiful Impala. About the only change I'd make is to chrome or paint the rear wheels a different color.
half sack you nailed the mid 60s look beautiful car. To the guy who said he never seen the raised reverse hood treatment was not around in the mid 60s when i started driving (1964 to be exact) every 61 62 63 64 impala,belaire, or biscaine that wanted to be cool had theat treatment never seen much on 65 and later. Tom
Great looking '63 and 409"...I've had two '62 409's and currently own a .64 Belair with the 425hp 409" Nothing like them. Nice job!
At age 22 I bought a new '63 Galaxie 427. Barely could make the payments so couldn't do anything tricky, but I did do the raised reversed hood trick because I saw it in a magazine and figured it would make me look racy.
you mention a/c in that car. dad's '62 had a 327 and the a/c was an under-dash, chevy unit that featured a throttle control that you had to pull out to keep the engine idle up when a/c was on. did the '63 have the same setup?
409 in my coupe is a 63. have the small port heads on it so i can run the 348 tri power but i do have a mint GM aluminum dual quad intake sitting for safe keeping. One day i'll do the Edelbrock heads and throw the dual on there... My Dad had a 62 Impala super sport all through my early years and my uncle has my great grandfathers 64 super sport that he did a full rotisserie resto on. All numbers matching red with black interior. Guess you could say Impalas and W motors run in the family...
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