'67 Impala 4 door

[hedotwo]

I'd been working on this build along with the '61 Impala 4 door for the past couple of months.  This '67 build is about as close to our family's car that I could realistically get it.  Dad bought it new in early '67 and it was the car I took my driver's license test on my 16th birthday in October of 1968.  At times this was a frustrating build, trying to correct a number of issues that I found with the Supernatural kit.  At least on my kit there were issues.  I'm not embarrassed to say I built this into a curbside, although I'm sure many of you will roll your eyes .  I saved a number of photos while I was doing the build and after I've got them all up I'll do an Under Glass on the finished car.

 

First thing I wanted to try and correct was what I saw as an upward swing of the body line on the front fenders.  After some shaping I was happier with the look, however that was only part of the story with how the front end just didn't look right.  Too high and that upward swing.  I'll post pics of how I dealt with the whole body/frame/interior/windshield fitment.

 

 

Next I wanted to correct the leading edge of the fenders where they meet the grille trim.  My kit needed an extension puttied in to correct it. 

 

 

We had a vinyl top our car and this was the first time I've tried replicating one.  I needed to add the trim at the rear and the C pillar (or would it be the B pillar on a hardtop?) and ended up using Testors Fabric Black which I was happy with.

 

I wanted to try and replicate the stock Impala pattern on the front seat rather than use the Supernatural bench.  I used the rear seat from a spare '67 kit, filled the speaker, and then needed to fab a seat back and sides.  I used quarter round and flat sheet and I think it looks pretty good.  Not a perfect front bench, but at least the pattern is correct.  The rear seat was easier as I only needed to fill the speaker opening.  Our car did not have that option but had a speaker on the package shelf.

 

 

[espo]

Nice looking seat. 

[bisc63]

Will be following along; very curious about this kit. Seat is looking nice!

FWIW, I'll take a well crafted curbside build over a mediocre "detailed" build every time.

[slusher]

Nice work Rich, enjoy watching and reading about your repairs. Will be following along...

[hedotwo]

Doing test fits of the glass/dash/interior tub to the body/frame I noticed right off that there was a problem getting the body down to the frame at the front fender well.  To me, not getting it down would keep the front high.

 

There was interference at the spot marked where the dash met the body.

 

Filing on the corners of the dash and part of the tub.

 

Interference with the vent window glass kept the body from being flush with the top of the tub at the door panels.  I cut a section out of the glass and filed until it all fit.  I've marked in red the material I needed to remove.

 

Also needed to remove part of the package tray for the tub to sit high enough in the body/glass.

 

I used wheel covers from the SS annual but wanted to replicate the stock bowtie center.  I punched out small discs from 015 sheet, painted black, and added homemade decals to the discs.

 

 

[charlie8575]

Good highlighting on some of the pitfalls. Following for more build tips.

Charlie Larkin

[doorsovdoon]

Some very nice work here, I really like the matching front seat mod.

[Spottedlaurel]

Your photos of what needs to be trimmed look horribly familiar from the '67 coupe I'm building at present!

Edited March 4, 2021 by Spottedlaurel

[MrObsessive]

Hmmm...............VERY good and interesting WIP! I had no idea the front end on the kit (likewise with the coupe) was an issue.

Thanks for pointing this out!

I too get crazed over woefully wrong body lines and would probably do the same thing you did when it came time for me to build this. One interesting thing is AMT did get the rear fenders on this MUCH more correct than they did the coupe. If I did build the coupe, that would bug me enough to simply turn the four door back into a coupe with some rather in depth bodywork using both kits.

Just drives me nuts when things to my eyes are way out of kilter. ?

Keep up the great work!

[1930fordpickup]

Thankyou for the great photos of what needs fixed and where to do it.  This is going to be very cool when done.