Looks great!

I love this car!!

Looks great!!!

Those tires look great.

Finally got to take Dad for a ride with the new tires on Sunday. Definitely a different feel than the radials - but we love the look.

The ol niner ran great!!!

Yep, THAT is a handsome steed!!! :biggthumpup::3gears::biggthumpup::3gears:

Much better look IMO

An old friend of mine once told me........

"radial tires are like sex with a rubber........the experience just ain't the same!"

Spent some time behind the wheel of the 409 on Saturday and took some better shots of the car with the new tires. Great day.

Finally got a chance to teach my son how a clutch works..........if he can get comfortable with this he'll be able to drive anything.

Super cool! I wish i could of been there with the 3 Jakes!!

Awesome!!:biggthumpup:

We had the ol “Niner” out this weekend and it was definitely a family affair! As usual good times were had by all.:3gears:
As you may note, my daughter has a heavy right foot. Wonder where she gets that from?:dunno:

My brother Jake drove his Chevelle down to our folks house.
He has it all sorted and it looks/sounds killer!
Hope everyone had a great Fathers Day weekend.

----It appears you all had a great time. Say Hi to Jake No.1 for me please. Stretch says he is doing better....Bill S

Awesome, thanks for sharing all of the great pics!:cool2::3gears:

Spent the day yesterday doing some fluid maintenance on the 409. Our son surprised us with a last minute weekend home from the Big City and he helped with the tasks. My wife and mom had to go to a baby shower in the suburbs so we spent the day working in Dad's garage doing routine stuff. Anti-freeze drain and fill, oil and filter change (taught him about canister type filters), suction out and refill the brake fluid in the master cylinder, drain and fill the trans and diff too which had not been done since the new engine install 3 years ago. Adjusted the parking brake a bit and removed an aftermarket sway bar installed a few years back. Also installed a new fan clutch in an attempt to help hot weather engine temperature management.

We were able to run the car over for a visit with Dad and brought him out to see it as well. For those that may not know - earlier this year we had to admit him to a nursing facility as his health continues to decline - a tough but necessary decision. Enjoy every minute with your loved ones while you can.

Here are some random under car pictures - the car was body off restored back in the 2000-ish time frame and has held up pretty well.

----Great car, great grandson, and a great man!!! Please say hi when you are with him next....Bill S

Ditto...please give him a hug from all of us. :beers:

Our best to all of your family Jake!

‘

Great postings also Amen to all above!:worship:
Family first, love everyone while you can also hang on tight for what’s to come.:biggthumpup:
:beers:
~ Pete

.

Interesting photo surfaced last week in this cars history.........if you read back to the beginning of this thread and recall the original owner "Cousin Eddie". His son John reached out to our Mom and forwarded this picture. It is a picture of Eddie after being pulled over by a Chicago Police Officer for driving on the sidewalk along North Avenue Beach (one of the many stories we remember Dad telling about Eddie's exploits back in the day). John found this photo in some sort of online archive for Chicago history. Not sure why they are looking under the hood - maybe the officer was curious what was making all the noise? The chain remained after several years for security reasons.

Took advantage of a cold winter day and headed down to Mom's place for a work day today on the 409 to correct a few things -

First up was replacing the generic starter that was on the car. I was able to source a correctly dated and rebuilt unit and made the swap. After spending some some time investigating I decided it was easier to tackle this by removing the RH exhaust manifold rather than fight the wiring blindly and wrestle the starter out - was much easier this way. No rust issues to contend with so removing the 7 bolts and sliding the manifold out of the way didn't take too long. Found a loose lower control arm cross shaft bolt while looking around so took care of that too.

Second on the list was removing an old electric fuel pump that was installed when the car was restored for the 2nd time and a monster W motor was in between the frame rails. Since the electric pump is no longer necessary and had been bypassed since we got the car back a long time ago, I wanted to clean things up a bit and removed it.

Lastly - when I bought the correct starter for it I also bought a correctly (or more correctly) dated water pump. We've been having issues with rusty anti-freeze/water mix even after draining and refilling the radiator 2x yearly since we installed the new motor 4 years ago. While I had the radiator drained to install the new water pump I thought it a good time to replace the thermostat (I should have known that Dad had a spare AC Delco one in his stash) and drain the block (easy to do on the starter side when the exhaust manifold and starter are removed - not so much on the driver's side) to try and get most of the rusty stuff out of the system. Last summer I also installed a new fan clutch on a correct fan sourced from Verne Frantz a few years back (I miss Verne). Ran out of time this afternoon and didn't get the belts adjusted or the system re-filled or tested today but will get to that in couple weeks - all the hard stuff is done.

----How is Mom doing, Jake?....Bill S

Real good Bill - thanks for asking. She is getting used to her new routine.

Yesterday I was able to finish things up and take it for an 8 mile test drive - happy to report that all is good and no issues. Successful project completed - on to the next.....

I spent some time earlier this week down at Mom's to assist with driving to routine medical appointments. It also allowed me to tackle some tasks on the 409.

First up was to clean up and organize all of the misc. information and paperwork Dad had collected over the years and piled up in the trunk. Many of it was duplicate information and got tossed but the rest was organized in a couple of 3 ring binders we started when we re-acquired the car in 2009. Dad had spares for lots of things, more cleaning supplies than we will ever need for car shows, and tools for dealing with almost any roadside emergency.

Next up was to remove the Gabriel Hi Jacker air shocks he installed and re-install the shocks he took off - I know they are not correct/accurate - but they are much better than the air shocks and will do just fine for now.

Lastly I touched up the engine paint on the water pump bolts and gaskets from the water pump install a few weeks ago and installed a new rubber fuel line and more correct clamps from when we removed the electric pump. No pics of those things.

Once that was all done I scrubbed the whitewalls and took it for another test run and to get some fresh gas in it. Enjoyed the 20 mile drive - radio works, clock works, heater/defroster works. Slowly getting it even more sorted out than it was. Next project is to tackle the windshield washer pump. The wipers work but not the pump. Since the car is never driven in the rain it's not really a big deal - but want it right, just like Dad would of. :3gears::3gears::3gears:

All of the little tasks and victories are oh so satisfying. Looks great Jake!

Jake, I can only imagine the feelings of working on and driving your Dad's prized automobile. We all should be so lucky to have a younger generation to carry on.
Kudos to you and Dave!! :youguysrock:

----Jake and Dave are the best care takers a guy could find. They were trained by the best,,,Jake senior!!!....Bill S

The victories keep you motivated.....

Thanks Bill - we spent a lot of time together on this car over the years so there are a ton of great memories. We are truly fortunate to keep the car(s) in the family and are blessed to be able to keep improving them as caretakers.

Thanks Bill W. That means a lot coming from a guy like you!:beers:

Thanks a lot Bill S. That means a lot coming from a guy like you too!:beers:

We have had this car back in our possession going on 15 years now. When it was previously restored by another owner he made the decision to restore it as a Super Sport - it came from the factory as a standard Impala. The original trim tag is still in place confirming the bench seat interior (non Super Sport). Personal preference by the previous Owner - just not mine. I have been going back and forth since we got it on the effort involved in unconverting the car back to how it was delivered. It was never a big deal to Dad - he was just happy to have it back. I always thought the car deserved to be put back. I have been casually trying to come up with some sort of list and chasing down parts over the last year. There are lots of pieces to this conversion. In the last couple of weeks I was able to pull together a large scope of the correct parts to begin the process from single source I found over at the 348-409 site. Today we met and I picked them up. In addition to the SS to Standard Impala conversion, a different previous owner (the guy we bought it from) installed a retro power front disc brake setup on the car. While it stops great - it ain't right. Unfortunately he did not keep any of the original parts. Part of the load I picked up today was a set of front spindles and drums to correct that as well. Everything I picked up today with a few small exceptions needs to be restored (bench seat, spindles, brakes, stainless trim, etc.) so that will keep me occupied for the next several months. In addition I have several smalls to acquire (brake lines, hoses, fasteners, etc.) I met with my upholstery guy yesterday to get the ball rolling on new front and back seat covers (part of the conversion) and while it is there I will have him put in a new headliner and do the carpet (again). Will drop off the hard parts for blasting as well and search for stainless trim people to send that out. My hope is to have all of the sub-assemblies restored/ready to go to be able to install over the winter and maybe get the interior stuff done this summer/fall. I have a few more significant things to source like a proper/correct master cylinder - but my guy from today is working on rounding them up in the coming weeks/months. If all goes well this time next year it might be done- but if it's not then that's OK too. Will provide updates as I go along. I'm sure this will be another learning experience but I know Dad will be watching.

Yeah buddy!!!!

With so much personal/family history associated with this car, it certainly makes sense to return it closer to as-delivered condition IMO. Kudos to you for taking on the project!