Jump to content
Model Cars Magazine Forum

1958 Chevrolet Impala custom coupe


Peter Lombardo

Recommended Posts

Short version of construction

Kit : AMT 1958 Chevrolet Impala

Modifications: Poor quality resin Chezoom roof grafted on with a sun roof cut out of it. “Gull wing†fins extended outward with strip styrene. Trunk opened. Most design trim items removed, along with nose and tail markings and door handles. Pose able front steering. Lowered stance, Hoppin’ Hydro wheels. Electric remote control operating sun roof with motor, battery and control board in the truck. Custom computer designed scallops in pearl white and a pink to blue flip-flop pearl paint job. HO scale MV lenses for headlights and kit supplied taillights.

Long version of construction:

This is my latest, and one of my most ambitious undertakings to date. This started out life as an AMT 1958 Chevrolet Impala kit. The first modification was to remove the top and replace it with a very poor quality resin re-pop of the Chezoom roof. I have always loved the way that roof completely modernizes the look of a 50’s era car. Next, I added styrene (see picture) strips to the small “Gull wing “ fins of this car. This addition, I think, fits better between the 1957 upright fin and the larger lateral fins of 1959 and 1960 designs. I have always loved the 1958 Chevy and think it is the best looking design of the 1950 era Chevy’s and Ford’s, but that is just my view.

Next I removed all of the unnecessary (my view) little design clutter items that obstruct the smooth flow of the cars design. The only design items I retained are the full length chrome side spear, as it makes the car look longer, but it almost fell to the Dremel sander drum, and the chrome rocker panel trim, which I think makes the car look lower.

Next, I thought that if I were modernizing a real car like this, I would like the modern convenience of a sun roof, especially because there was a long enough roof to support one. So, I patterned an opening from a previously built car that had a sun roof scribed in it and cut into the very thin resin. This resin re pop was so thin that I had to add styrene sheets under the roof to support it. Once the roof was opened, I knew that I had to make it operate; you know, open and close, so I set out to build the tracks and guides for it to slide on. As I was working on the mechanism to guide the roof window, I could not shake the thought of motorizing the process to add that little extra something to the car.

Now, I need to drop back a bit here to review a previous build. About 5 years ago I built a 1999 Ford F150 Lightning pickup as a roadster. I added a motorized top that retracted into the front of the pickup bed that had an opening cover, kinda’ like the Chevy SSR. I also had the hood and both doors open and close electrically and all of the lights, including the dashboard light up also. This was all very nice, but to accommodate the 5 motors and 2 battery systems necessary to power the truck, the truck was permanently mounted to a “box†(it was a very nice custom made box with a neat checkerboard pattern on the top). There were 5 switches mounted on the side and it was, I thought pretty cool. But it always bothered me that the unit was not self contained. Granted, with all of the operating systems, there was no way that would all fit within the vehicle. But, certainly, one motor should fit and that was sticking in the back of my head as I was progressing with the 1958 Chevy you see here.

So, my goal for this build was to install a motor, remote control electronic board and a battery within the trunk of this car and have the sun roof open and close remotely. I dug out an old “zip zap†remote control car that my son had. It was a simple car that had a forward and reverse direction and used an electrically charged magnet to turn it left and right, which was unnecessary for this application. The main problem with these cars is that they are designed to go very fast, and I wanted a motorized system that moved relatively slowly to accurately portray the speed of a sun roof. I removed the motor and the electrical transmitter board from the car along with the 8 or 9 inch wire antenna but discarded the rechargeable battery ( it was old and incapable of holding a charge) that was replaced with a changeable battery. The next obstacle to be overcome was finding a suitable speed reduction gear system that would fit in the car, and reduce this high revving motor down to a manageable speed. The solution for me came, as usual, from an unexpected source.

Back in October, while in Florida, I had to replace a battery powered clock in the den of our condo that is rented for the winter. My son took the motor mechanism out of the clock to see what made it tick and ended up bringing it back to NJ with him. I saw it on his workbench and the idea hit me that those gears might work for my current project car, so I commandeered it from him. I opened up the gear box and began removing all of the excess material to see if I could get it down to a manageable size and gear speed reduction. What I eventually ended up with was a 5 gear reduction system that significantly slowed the motor down to an acceptable speed. I wish it was a little bit slower, but this was the most gears that I could fit into the space allowed.

The next step was to permanently mount the motor to the gear drive train and fabricate some additional support pieces to hold the gears in place. I made a “swing†arm for the shaft of the last gear that would attach to the rod that would attach to the sun roof. The design was fairly simple, as the swing arm would move forward and back, the roof would move forward and back. I located the motor assembly on the truck floor in the center so that the rod and swing arm would be on the centerline of the car. To accommodate the gear train, I had to cut out a section of the truck floor so that the unit would sit low enough for the gears to fit in and the swing arm to clear the top of where the truck lid attached to the car. I glued the unit in place and fabricated a surround for the unit bottom that protruded a small and acceptable amount below the truck floor line. The control board was located under the rear seats and I fabricated a battery holder and extended the wires and included an “on†“off†switch in the spare tire wheel well so that I could shut down the system when necessary. I then ran the antenna wire under the chassis so that it looked like the fuel line and stripped off the insulation for the last inch or so of the wire where it came up out of the right fender to replicate the radio antenna of the car. I really like the fact that this antenna is real for the remote control and I used it to replicate the radio antenna on the model…I know, I am weird to find pleasure in that.

As I look back on this process, it all moved along fairly easily until I encountered the two most difficult obstacles to success. The first problem was keeping the roof moving in a straight line, sounds easy but trust me, it was difficult and second, and more of a challenge, once the roof was moved into the shut position, having it move up at the rear to seat properly. I did not want a big gap at the rear as that is not very prototypical. The difficulty surrounds the fact that It needs a short up and down motion at the end of the run when I was only generating a forward and backward motion.

After a lot of experimentation, I developed an diagonal shim on the inside of the sunroof that hits a bar suspended from the roof that forces the roof up into the opening as it shuts. The car was primed, sanded then painted white, block sanded again and then painted with Mopar Pearl white where the scallops were to be. Once dry, it was clear coated and once that was dry, computer cut painting masks were applied for the scallops. Then the car was painted with a Jacquard dry pigment of pink / blue flip flop pearl mixed with clear lacquer and thinner with my airbrush. After that just started to dry, the painting masks were removed. When that was dry, the whole car got a light sanding and then a rub out with Tamiya compound and later a rub out with finishing wax. Bare metal foil was applied where needed and the interior was made ready to install. The interior has gray flocking on the floor and dash top and rear package shelf. The seats were painted with Tamiya flat white and the inserts where painted a wild magenta pearl color from Jacquard that has a very “alive†vinyl look to it. I added speakers to each door and the package shelf. A slit was opened on the rear package shelf to accommodate the actuator that opens and closes the roof. The windshield is acetate sheet and the rear side windows and rear window are acetate sheets painted with Tamiya smoke tint through my air brush.

The suspension was lowered and Hoppin’ Hydro wheels were installed with Pegasus drilled disc brake rotors. The headlights are HO scale MV jewel units and the kit supplied units, without the chrome ring are used for the taillights.

The engine is the 348 block from the kit, with the dress up finned chrome head covers. In hindsight, I should painted the inside of the fins on the value cover with the body color, but I didn’t when I could and I can’t do it now so…..oh well. The tri carbs have a triangle air cleaner from a Corvette kit. The engine was plumbed with most of the wires and stuff. I added a brake bolster from a parts box unit and a battery from a Viper kit, I think.

That is pretty much it. I love the color, I love the scallops, I love the body modifications and most of all, I love the remote opening sunroof. I just love this car and achieved everything I set out to do. It is far from perfect and I do not think I could produce a perfect model. I always find a way to get a blemish or two into the picture, this is no exception, but, yes, I love this car and am very happy with the outcome of my effort…now I have to top this at some point. Next up is a neat 34 Ford chopped 3 window coupe, I did from the standard 5 window car and I am working on a custom 62 Ford Thunderbird, but Chopper has stolen the thunder, get it thunder…thunderbird, anyway, I have a nice custom with a chopped t-bird hardtop roof grafted onto the convertible body, but it is more conventional then Choppers wild custom T Bird of two weeks ago.

3120514859_bab7221a2b_b.jpg

3120515621_abea263f77_b.jpg

3121344160_32e8cb8839_b.jpg

3120517201_7d34e63311_b.jpg

3120517683_3c0613224b_b.jpg

3120518231_754ef82c36_b.jpg

3121346586_86800a1ee3_b.jpg

3121347290_e969b329cd_b.jpg

3120520411_4f0f082d9e_b.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Dave, thanks, the Sci-Fi Spinner is my sons project....I spunge off this Flickr sight to post my pictures. Here is the link to his project http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpl3k/sets/72157609837020504/ It's a pretty neat project...he is into the sci fi and Jeep offroad builds. I guess the apple didn't fall too far from the tree. The good news is that he can't raid too many of my kits because we are building slightly different directions. P.S. he ripped off the bubble top from one of my shelfed kits...I gotta' watch him.....he's sneaky.

Edited by Peter Lombardo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah? Is that all you got! :P

Kidding, just kidding. Very cool actually... Design is great. Mechanical working features are a home run!

Paint fantastic and overall look very good.

I like the fins the way they are incidentally.

Great build, you should be proud!

;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alright!! Now I HAVE to do power windows!! :D:P

Excellent work Peter!! At this stage of my building, I don't think I have the patience to do that sort of work now!

The dark tinted window is a clever idea------and the remote control yet! I don't know what the range is, but you could astonish folks from across the way as they're looking at your model and all of a sudden the sunroof starts to open! :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bill, you read my mind…..the only show I ever go to is the NNL East and I was thinking that it would be kinda’ fun to open or close the roof while someone is looking at the car without their knowledge just to watch their reaction. I think it would be fun. The remote works from at least 15 feet away so I could step back a bit. I just took the remote apart so I can paint and detail it to look like the car. I have to tell you that I was so impressed the day I saw your 58 Chevy convertible at the NNL East a few years ago with the opening windows that I knew I had to make “something†work one of my cars.

Anyway, thank you to all of the guys that commented on this car, I really do appreciate the kind words…I was very happy with this build and I am glad you guys liked it too…thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...