Peter Lombardo Posted January 16, 2011 Posted January 16, 2011 How does inspiration for a build come? I guess it hits us all in different ways at different times. This is a build that came to me in a series of unrelated thoughts. First I always loved the 1962 Chevy Impala. I think the ’62, ’63, ’64 and ‘65’ Impala’s are just the four best looking cars, with uniquely styled bodies, in a row ever built. I know many would argue this and show why they think that four other consecutive year cars are the best looking. And that is fine….we all have our favorites, and these Chevrolets are mine……you are free to list your picks as I am sure you are thinking of them now……but that is not the point of this post…and on top of that, it is not even an Impala that I am building here, but the impala was the seed that started it all, and after all, I just want to point out the string of unrelated thoughts that lead to this build. Back to this build and it’s inspiration. I was in the middle of building my 2 seat roadster runabout which had a stretched Corvette chassis. Then one day I was at the local hobby shop one day and saw the Revell Impala coupe kit and just had to pick it up…..it looked so nice, it had to come home with me. Once home I was looking it over and figured I would cut open the doors while waiting for some paint to dry on the 2 seat roadster. Since I had the 2 seat roadster chassis on the workbench, I just for the heck of it, put the Impala body down on top of the chassis…..surprisingly, the wheelbase was almost exactly right for the Impala body. Well, it gave me the idea to build the Impala on a stretched Corvette chassis with all Corvette running gear. I thought a modern running gear ’62 would be really nice. You know the classic lines of the ’62 with modern road hugging underpinnings….sharp paint and a nice low stance…hey that works for me. So, it was back to the hobby shop to pick up another Corvette donor car. They had a C5 Convertible (the Indy pace car edition) so I picked it up for its chassis, interior and engine. Well, while I was looking at the Impala on the longer Corvette chassis from the 2 seat runabout, the thought occurred to me that this might look better with a Belair bubbletop coupe body rather than an Impala coupe with it’s more “formal†roof line. I dug out one of the AMT Belair coupes that I have in my stash and thought this was a better basis for the modern retro coupe mainly because the bubbletop roof line. First, I cut out the doors, and I have to tell you that the area around the vent windows was very delicate and difficult to cut around, but it came apart with no mishaps and the doors were opened. Then I shaved almost all of the trim off of the body. I want it to be as smooth and clear of frills as possible. This car is getting a two tone paint job that is silver on top and a custom mix of 4 different Jacquard pigment powders mixed with clear lacquer on the bottom half. I used silver, turquoise, medium green and green-blue duo to make a nice pale greenish, grayish, blueish pearl to cover the bottom half of the car. The engine and suspension running gear is highlighted with bright turquoise to set off the subtle silver and custom mix greenish body. I attached the inside panels of the Corvette to the Belair doors. I thought the plastic on the doors was a bit too thick to be realistic so I grinded away excess from the inside so the doors would be thinner. Notice there a two red marks on the doors and the interior panel. I “dry†assembled the interior into the body to test the fit of the doors. I lined up the door panels to the interior and put two small marks on them. Here you can see the thin door lip I made from very thin sheet styrene. I glued them in place around the inside of the door opening and then cut and filed them smooth so there is just a small lip to hold the door at the proper depth when in the closed position. That way I could remove the doors and be confident that I could glue the inner panels in place and not have them misaligned. After the glue set up, I mixed up a small batch of Bondo to fill the gaps between the inner door and the panels. Once the Bondo set up, but hadn’t finished curing, I cut away the bulk of the excess with a sharp knife blade.
Peter Lombardo Posted January 16, 2011 Author Posted January 16, 2011 (edited) Then when the Bondo was fully hardened, I sanded off the rough edges and the end result is a nice smooth transition from the panel to the door. Next I took a pair of rearview mirrors from a Prowler and drilled a small hole up into the stem. I super glued a piece of brass rod into it. Then I drilled a corresponding hole in the door panel and glued the mirror in place. I thought about using the Corvette mirrors but thought they would stick out too far and maybe look a little awkward, so I went with the smaller Prowler mirrors, just to be on the safe side. Next, I added a section to the chassis to make the wheelbase line up with the Belair body. I cut out the tube that connects the engine and transmission and replaced it with an aluminum tube. I cut out the molded on front inner fenders on the Belair body to be replaced with the one piece Corvette unit. Since I decided to use the Corvettes interior rather than the Belair’s, it needed to be stretched so I could add a bit of a rear seat. The interior was enlarged and I found a rear seat from an old Firebird that could be adjusted to fit the little space on either side of the rear transmission bulge. I trimmed the seats and added an extension between the two seats. Next in line came the engine which I did not want to leave as a stock Corvette V8. I thought about building a supercharger like the ZR1 has….but decided on a set of twin turbochargers with an intercooler because I think all of the plumbing will look pretty sharp under the hood and because the engine sits toward the back in the engine bay, there should be enough room to house the units and plumbing. Besides, I have never scratch built turbo’s so it was another “first†for me…..and I love “firstsâ€â€¦.I need to keep expanding my limits. I will scratch build the components that I need for this. I know a number of guys have posted a “how-to†on turbo’s so I will only explain what I did to make mine. We all know there are many ways to accomplish these, so I am explaining this method…you use whatever style you like if you build these. Most of the turbo’s I have seen usually have a larger diameter turbo for the exhaust side, which is the turbo that drives the boost. Because of that, I used two different thicknesses of solder to make the turbo’s. I wrapped the solder around a piece of plastic tube which was cut to have a little overhang on either side of the turbo. The two units were built as mirror images of themselves so there will be a left and a right side unit. I am reversing the exhaust manifolds so that they direct the burnt gases forward where the turbo’s will be located. Then the exhaust will be routed to the rear of the car where the four tail pipes will come out the center of the rear. Edited January 16, 2011 by Peter Lombardo
Peter Lombardo Posted January 16, 2011 Author Posted January 16, 2011 I have to tell you….if I had the cash; this is a car I would really want to own in real life. I could see this “cruising the boulevard†on a warm summer night with the neon lights dancing on the shinny upper surfaces of the silver pearl paint……yeah, I really like this one. I love the idea of classic style with modern running gear. The only thing standing between me and a real car like this is a winning Lottery ticket…..so I will keep buying ‘em.
Custom Mike Posted January 16, 2011 Posted January 16, 2011 Another killer build Peter, and my favorite car also. I had a 1:1 '62 Impala, but had to give it up. I couldn't afford to restore it, so I sold it to a guy who could. I'm dying to see the paint on this one!
Tumbler75 Posted January 16, 2011 Posted January 16, 2011 Um, Holy Cow! That's stunning! I love the work on blending everything together to make it sing in harmony. Great job! I can't wait to see more on this killer build. Colour combo sounds awesome. Can't wait to see it.
Janne Herajärvi Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Very interesting project. Im huge fan of `62 bubletop Chevy`s.
mikemodeler Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Nice subject and I like where you have taken this build. Can't wait to see the finished build, the plans sound interesting.
jeff ewaskey Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Man, love where this build is going!!!!! Will continue to follow it. You should check out the 1:1 1965 that Foose Design is currently constructing. Shortened the body over a C6 Vette chassis with all the Vette gear.
curt raitz Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Love it... what are you and Raul gonna do when they stop making Corvette "donor kits"?
Guest JamesDE Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 OH MAN!!!! This is lookin killer.... Great concept and I like how everything seems to flow together... You make it look so easy
LAone Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 hey bud, great work on your restomod 6-duece. love where its going and that LS looks right at home.
John Teresi Posted January 19, 2011 Posted January 19, 2011 Peter.....coming along great......can`t wait to see what you do with this......look`s GREAT.
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