I've been driving by this 4-door for about a year now. It's been parked behind their house. It looks to be pretty straight. I've found myself thinking about it alot lately, but I don't know that much about 58 impalas. What would even be a good asking price? I don't know what engine or trans. it has, or if it even has one. What specifically do I need to look at on this model? I was thinking if I could get it cheap enough and re-do the brakes, fuel system,etc... it would be a fun car for what it is. I know that this is a one year model, but how hard is it to swap in another motor/trans if I need to? Thanks.
Well, lets see....most of the cars on the east coast where I live , the tops of the fenders over the headlights tend to rot out , thats a weak area , this is the X-frame car , so you need to think about the carrier bearing , or more about how to get rid of it...lol , if the car is complete , decent body , running , but needing freshened up , I'd say possibly around $4-$5000 , but that would be tops on a rtunning , driving 4 door , if it needs a motor , body work , interior , etc.. the price goes down , I have seen projects around the NC area as low as $600.00....hope this helps...
Engine and trans swap would be real simple since it most likely has a 283/powerglide in it. It's a regular open driveshaft/rearend, not like the 54-back cars which were torque tube. Pretty much any Chevy V8 will bolt in. If you luck out it'll be a 348, some also had an I6. As already mentioned, no 4 door Impalas in '58. Trim parts are sometimes more expensive and hard to find since there is a lot less reproduction for the '58 cars compared to the 55-57, so a complete car is a big plus, also windshields are expensive and kind of a bitch to change so check for all good glass. Check rust above the headlights, that's a common area and a tougher one to fix nicely. Brake parts and regular service stuff for it is readily available, so no problems there.
also , I have seen alot of these cars with the rear part of the frame rotted out (near the bumper) , the trunk pans were noted for not lasting too long , as well as the floorpans , hopefully it has the 348 , but it would be good with the 283 , in my opinion , if it had the 6 in it , chuck it and buy a V-8 , glass is pretty expensive for it toosince it has both the rear and front wrap-around windows...but , if I'm not mistaken , I think it can be converted to a 2 door sedan just like the tri-fives....
Most likely a Delray (bottom of the line) or a Bel Aire (top of the 4 door line). I don't believe there were many 348's in the four door models, other than the Nomad. I6 (in the Delray)or 283(in the Bel Aire) would be my guess, although there were exceptions.
I bought one about 15 years ago off of a creek bank , a 4 door Belair , had the 348 / turboglide in it , got a deal in it for $50.00 , but , it was a river car , so , you can guess the condition of the innards of the engine , but , I guess the creek kept the car sorta washed out when it would rise , and it had a cherry set of front fenders , as well as the underneath.....
Yeah, like I said, I am sure there were exceptions. I remember My Dad comparing a new '58 Nomad with 348 & turboglide to a new '57 regular wagon with a 283 & powerglide. Drove each of them for a few days and picked the '57. He didn't like the idea of the "truck engine" but I sure was hoping he would get that '58!
As far as '58's go, there's Impalas, and there's everything else. A POS 4-door '58 for over $1000 is no bargain, since you can get an excellent one for less than 10 grand.
Thanks, I was more worried about the service parts. I think I'll check it out a little closer next time I'm in the area.
As You probably know already, this is a one-year model as far as the body, frame and trim goes. Rear axle housing is a 3-link-design unique for this year frame also. The center section will interchange with 55-64 -models, though. Service parts are readily available. Engine could be an L6, a 283- or a 348 V8. The V8 -cars came with the "V" -shaped trim-pieces below the crest on the hood and the script on the trunk. As far as drivetrain interchangeability, this was the first year for Chevy with the engine mounts on the sides of the engine block, as well as the trans mounted by its tail on an actual crossmember on the frame. Means the frame will accept the later aluminum-case Powerglide, as well, but for anything subsequent to (=longer than) that, You will have to move the crossmember back and shorten the front half of the driveshaft. Other than that, if You want to find out what it´s worth and whether it´s a good deal or not, talk to the owner. Find out what he´s asking if he´s looking to sell it, look the car over and see how it is in terms of how bad You want to revive this car and how it suits Your capacity of doing so.
I happen to have a 2 door Delray 283 3spd. I bought a 2 dr biscayne 348 PG car for parts. If you want to see what type of rust repair to expect just check out my www.picturetrail.com account member name strtrdr. I also have a build topic here but its probably fallen into oblivion. The trunk pans are fairly easy to replace. Check the lower rear fenders between the wheels and bumper as they rusted really fast there. Inner rocker panels also rusted pretty fast. As mentioned the front fender tops and front fender lower corners are a bad spot. Passenger side lower firewall trapped water and rusted bad as well. Inner side of the hood behind the chrome bar rusted, as well as the trunk lower lip and seal area. thats the worst of the rust prone areas. I use Auto City Classics for my parts and they have a huge selection of used parts from a fleet of old cars they have on their lot. good luck and dont pay more then 2K if its a 283/348 car or 1500 if its a I6. The cheaper you can get a 4 door the better because they dont resell very well.
The Jalopy Journal
