I needed to heat it up a bit with a hair dryer and then use the hair dryer again to flatten it back out on the re-install on the other side. Was happy I was able to re-use it.

Finished cleaning up and re-installing the tail lights this morning. All the lights including the back up lights work. Not much adjustment in the trim pieces so glad everything lined up pretty well out of the box.

Now waiting on the exterior side trim to come back. The guy working on the trim fubar'd the right rear quarter molding and is sourcing another one so that will push things out a bit.

Love the license plate....

Big Jake...
 

Great name !!

His nickname most of his adult life...........in addition to being a pretty imposing guy physically (6'-7" and about 285 on a diet) that name was also used to differentiate him and I (Big/Little) when I was much younger. Going to keep that plate registered to the car.

So my buddy that I grew up with made this placard as a remembrance of our Dad. Evidently our Dad was a tremendous influence on many of our friends growing up.
I have it hanging in the garage appropriately under my Dads high school car club plate.
Funny thing is my buddy that made this is a Ford guy!!

Probably more than we realize...........

Wow, that had to have been touching. Obviously you had a good Dad AND friends...:flag:

Wow that's really cool! You're a lucky man to have had such a great,respected father.

----I don't have to tell you two that I am presently misty to the extreme. During my years in Illinois when ever I needed a jump start Big Jake was there, and there were many, many of those times. Too many to possibly count. Big Jake was such a positive influence on me during that period and beyond. Thanks, Dave, for posting that pic and letting me bring up so many good memories.....Bill S

Cool, Too darn!

There’s just something inherently cool about 409’s. I have many “off-brand” friends and when they introduce me to their like-minded friends it goes like this: “This is Mark and he’s a Chevrolet guy . . . . but he’s a 409 guy!”. The initial groans quickly turn into the slow nod of approval and I’m immediately accepted! Everybody loves 409’s! Giddy Yup!!

Great meeting you at MCACN Mark!!

Not much progress to report lately due to busy schedules and holiday gatherings....but some good news - the 6 exterior side trim pieces are done which were the last parts I was waiting on. I will run into the suburbs tomorrow morning and pick them up. I will need to paint the inserts silver (and the hubcaps too) so that will be the next step prior to installation. Lots of masking work on the hubcaps.

Simply Epic....the car, the family, the legacy. Good on you men!!!!:beers::beers::beers::beers::beers::beers:: beers::beers::beers::beers::beers::beers::beers::b eers::beers::beers::beers::beers:

Looking forward to seeing yous guys next year!

Cheers
Dave

Took some time off working on the car during December as our holiday schedule was a bit hectic (in a good way). As mentioned previously I picked up the restored side trim mid-December (that ended up being quite the debacle that I won't go into here).

Last night I spent some time masking things getting ready to paint. Got all of the side trim and one hubcap masked off. The hubcaps obviously take some time. I was able to find some 1/4" wide masking tape on Amazon that was a perfect fit for the center ridges and will save some time.

The side trim inserts are silver on a blue car and the depressed areas of the hubcap are silver as well for all cars. Through my contact over at the 348-409 site I was able to get the original silver paint formula and then took that to a paint jobber and mixed up in a rattle can to use. I am assuming the hubcaps are the same color as the trim. Hope to get the other 3 hubcaps done yet this week so I can paint everything before the weekend and begin the removal/install process on Saturday or Sunday.

Good news is that over the holidays I was able to sell most of the big parts (bucket seats/carpet/mats/rear panel trims) so in addition to recouping a small bit of money I got them out of the way.

Little by little.........making progress.

Lotsa patience and a keen eye....great job on the masking!

Did some painting last night......

Hubcaps were a disaster. I didn't do the correct prep work and zero adhesion was the result. The paint actually appeared to be "beading" on top of the metal like water does on a well waxed car. The good news is that it was the wrong color anyways for the hubcaps (different silver than the trim I found out). I was able to quickly get everything wiped back down with thinner and will start over once I source the correct silver.

The trim pieces I think will work out. No prep issues there. The color is very translucent and I put on 3 coats to finally be able to see some results. The trim pieces do not photograph well due to the color having a lot of blue in it (more than I realized) and the blue tape. I haven't decided if I am going to mist another coat on them yet or not.

Two steps forward and one step back......

Made some progress today.........didn't get started until after lunch but was able to get both fender and door trims swapped out - so I'm 2/3 done as I just have the rear quarters left to do. Also swapped out the door handles as the old ones were starting to pit a little so since I knew I had to take them off to get the trim pieces off, I ordered new ones a while back and had them ready (scope creep....but glad i did). I decided not to put any more paint on the insert trim as it looked pretty good compared to the references I had based on my internet research. I'm happy with the results of the color and finish - but I'm definitely not quitting my day job as I'm no painter.......Took about 4 hours to get this much accomplished today but feel like I have some momentum now.

The rear quarters will be next week/weekend as we have a visitation to attend tomorrow that will take most of the day. Will stop by the auto paint store next week to see about getting the correct silver for the hubcaps. Getting closer to having all the cosmetic stuff mostly complete - then I need to decide if I'm going to try and tackle the drum brake swap once this is done.

Also - yesterday I spent some time on the phone with Jody Anderson - a tremendous resource for all things 58-64 Impala. I still need to sort out the mounting bracket issue my interior guy had for the bench seat side trim. Jody is sending me some original brackets to see if the reproduction ones I have are the issue (he didn't think so).

Side note - I ordered a set of the Eastwood tire dolly jacks last fall knowing I'd need to jockey the car around at some point to get more room to work on it - used them for the first time today and they worked great. Glad I had them.

Last two pics - Dad was talking to me today. When I removed the door panels I found some of his notes from the last time he was in there.........gave Dave and I the chills. Just confirms why I am doing this :wink:

Super-cool!

I was able to finish of the rear quarter trim this evening. Acting on a tip from a conversation I had with a local body and paint guy he suggested that the trim clips behind the rear door panels might be the push in type. When I got home I rolled down the rear window and with a flashlight was able to see in fact they were the push in type - which meant I did not have to take the rear seat and door panels off. Big time saver. Instead of waiting for the weekend I dove right in after dinner. Less than an hour later and both sides were done. Big relief to have this phase done. Now on to the hubcaps. The (hopefully) correct silver paint will be delivered tomorrow so that will become my weekend project now that I have some more time.

Turned out killer Jake!

Your patience and eye for detail is really paying dividends Jake:biggthumpup:

Thank you very much. This has been quite the learning experience so far and we still have more to go.

I have to say, I don't ever recall seeing a '62 Impala with anything but White in the trim and the Blue is really cool.

Doin' your dad and Cousin Eddy proud :biggthumpup:

Beautiful!! I don't think you could squeeze a piece of paper between bumper and garage door!

Most excellent,keep up the great work!!

Faaaantastic, Jake! Man I love this car!:3gears::3gears::3gears:

Cheers
Dave

Over 243,000 views of this thread:biggthumpup:

----Even knowing the whole Dykstra family since 1976, I never did meet Eddy, but I feel like he's almost a cousin of mine too as I have heard so many stories about him....Bill S

I only met him once that I remember. Dave may recall better than I.

When Dad finished the 409 the first time he owned it around 1980 - after Eddie sold it to our Dad (see attached bill of sale :laugh:) my parents invited him out to look at it and have lunch. Bill - this was the same time you and Dad owned the Gold L78 Nova together. Dad had both cars stored in a neighbors garage. Eddie drove the 409 and then they took out the L78 Nova. Eddie REALLY liked the Nova....Dave and I weren't allowed along on that drive.

Shortly after that both cars were sold to buy Mom a new 1981 Corvette and the next time we heard about Eddie was when he was convicted as part of the infamous "Operation Greylord" City of Chicago corruption trial several years later. (Google Edward Nydam Operation Greylord to see what that was all about.......)

Eddie's son John found and reached out to Dad on this site many years ago and they communicated about trying to meet up at the 2015 MCACN show when the 409 was last there but they never were able to get together.

While the $10 sale price back in 1979 was certainly not a bad deal - remember that this was a relatively beat up old used car that sat in Eddie's Dad's garage for 10 years before they decided to get rid of it. It needed a fair amount of work as it had a smoked 283 in it and needed most of the front end sheet metal. I remember going with Dad to Bolingbrook to pick up a donor 62 Impala 4 door that was also Nassau Blue. Lots of parts were harvested from that car. We towed it back to our house with a bumper bar behind our brand new 1979 Impala.

Back to the work at hand..........

Got the hubcaps painted today. Still need to do some strategic wiping/detailing to get the masked edges a little better - but overall I'm happy. The color (Seymour Dull Aluminum) appears to be right on the money against the well worn unrestored set we have on the car now. The blue plastic center inserts are new reproductions. Afraid to put them on the car now for fear of damaging them :frown::confused2:

----Wow,,,frosting on that cake!....Bill S

Nice Jake!

Well done my friend :)

Dan

Very nice Jake...job well done!

---EDIT---- (solved the pushrod issue....)

I decided to start taking things apart to begin the drum bake conversion part of the project. Before I started blowing the lines apart and rendering the car undriveable (rather than just bolting the booster back on) I wanted to make sure the new master cylinder would bolt on. I wasn't sure what I would find with the aftermarket conversion with the power booster and the dual circuit master cylinder. I was able to un-bolt the master cylinder without cracking any of the brake lines and move it forward enough to remove the power booster to mock up the new master cylinder. Good news is that it fits. I was worried about the second set of studs coming through the firewall but in referencing some under hood shots of survivor 62 409 cars from MCACN, that is the way it is suppose to be.

I realized that the power disc conversion eliminated the passenger side line that runs front to rear and replaced it with a front to rear line on the drivers side. Hoping that is an easy fix with just ordering the correct lines and they can be installed with the body on the car. Seeing the correct master cylinder bolted to the firewall gives me some motivation.

----Wish there was a way to keep that front to back line from being coiled up for shipping. If I can be of any help with Inline Tube (if that's the direction you are going) I'm happy to help. They are only about 25 minutes from my house....Bill S