The 1962 bel air & 63 Z-11 Impala cone Chevrolet’s of Hayden proffit

[M W Elky]

This pair was built 30 years apart. The 1962 bel air was built straight out the box.Thirty years ago I couldn’t wait for  this kit to come out. In my opinion the best super stock kit from ertl. As for the 1963 Z-11 Impala it is a classic kit bash of the Amt 63 impala and the super stock version of the 62 bel air. All of the parts came out of these to kits 

the modifications for the Z-11 include the following 

remove the front fender wells from the bel air body, and glue them on the bel air chassis you may have to file a little off the tops to get the right fit.

cut the center consoles out of both interior tubs. Then fit and glue the bel air transmission tunnel into the impala’s interior tub. Use the bel air bench seat, shifter , tac, and gauge panel in the impalas interior tub.

Use the bel air chassis with the raised front suspension parts. To get that super stock stance use either the stock front coil springs on the rear or cut them down to get your desired stance.

use the slicks and front tires, and wheels from the bel air kit 

use the bel air engine with the Z-11 intake manifold and headers this combination of these to kits fit together very well with just a little tweaking here and there, and now there both available at the same time. You can sometimes find the 63 impala at hobby lobby for 40% off. Get 2 or 3 as their are many aftermarket decals available for them. I got these from SMP decals 

until next time good luck building, thanks for checking this out. Mike 

[papajohn97]

Thanks Michael for posting these two builds. I grew up in So. Cal in the 50’s-60’s and Hayden P. was one of many local drag racing legends. These two all-red beauties are a fitting tribute to his very successful 409/ Z-11 racing period.

Thanks also for describing all the details to kit-bashing the ‘63 Impala Z-11 using the ‘62 Bel Air chassis, all your efforts really paid off, especially in the period correct front “jacked-up” stance on both cars.  You’ve inspired me to build these two in the near future to add to my growing super stock collection.

The one criticism I have is not with your build execution but with SMP’s decal graphics. They offer a wonderful selection of early super stock drag subject decals but unfortunately most of them appear to use really large litho rastor graphic files instead of vector graphics like Slixx uses. You can really see the difference if you zoom up and compare the clean sharp decals of the ‘62 Bel Air (Slixx?) with the fuzzy ‘63 Impala (SMP) graphics. Sure hope SMP can eventually address this issue.

 

[bisc63]

Nicely built pair of racers. Good job!

[Altered Ego]

Those are really awesome, nice job

[Vintage AMT]

Awesome builds. great kit bashing work.

[slusher]

Nice pair..

[M W Elky]

On 5/16/2022 at 11:40 AM, papajohn97 said:

Thanks Michael for posting these two builds. I grew up in So. Cal in the 50’s-60’s and Hayden P. was one of many local drag racing legends. These two all-red beauties are a fitting tribute to his very successful 409/ Z-11 racing period.

Thanks also for describing all the details to kit-bashing the ‘63 Impala Z-11 using the ‘62 Bel Air chassis, all your efforts really paid off, especially in the period correct front “jacked-up” stance on both cars.  You’ve inspired me to build these two in the near future to add to my growing super stock collection.

The one criticism I have is not with your build execution but with SMP’s decal graphics. They offer a wonderful selection of early super stock drag subject decals but unfortunately most of them appear to use really large litho rastor graphic files instead of vector graphics like Slixx uses. You can really see the difference if you zoom up and compare the clean sharp decals of the ‘62 Bel Air (Slixx?) with the fuzzy ‘63 Impala (SMP) graphics. Sure hope SMP can eventually address this issue.

 

Yea I know what you mean about the decal sharpness. The decals on the bel air are kit decals thirty years ago slixx was just getting started. From what I understand they subcontracted out the decal printing. I think some of their sheets are better then others. Not so much with the resolution but with the way they respond to setting solutions. Some crack and others soften, and settle right down. Right now I’m just glad to have all these choices from the different decal makers. Even with the difference in quality it’s way better than that time when all we had was Fred caddy decals and snail male. 

[TransAmMike]

Nice job on both...the Z-11 409 my favorite tho.👌

[M W Elky]

30 minutes ago, TransAmMike said:

Nice job on both...the Z-11 409 my favorite tho.👌

Thanks my it’s my favorite out of the two, and it’s such a easy conversion 

[ChrisR]

Very nice!

[PappyD340]

Nice pair!