Roy Robinson Chev - Marysville, Washington

[SeattleCarGuy]

I have a 1963 Impala SS 409 convertible that came from Roy Robinson Chevrolet. I bought it via a friend's dad who worked with the owner of the car. When I went to see the car for the first time, it was in the original owner's garage with the top down and the car piled high with junk. The owner's cat had used the driver's side footwell as his litter box, but at least it was indoors and dry.

Anyway, the story goes that the guy I bought it from saw the car in the 1963 Seafair Parade in downtown Seattle with Roy Robinson driving. He was so impressed with the looks of the Ermine White Super Sport convertible that he went to Roy Robinson Chevrolet the following week to buy the car. He met with Roy and Roy told him that he was driving the car for the rest of the summer as his personal car and would call him when he was ready to sell it. (Interesting that he didn't just sell it right away, since a bird in hand to a car salesman is as they say, worth more than a maybe later). Anyway, a month or so later (Sept 1963), Roy calls and says he's ready to sell the car, so the guy goes and buys it. He worked for the Mac Trucks dealership in Seattle with my friend's dad in the 1960's and he drove the car as his daily driver all those years, finally blowing a head gasket in around 1981 or so. He then parked it in his garage, intending to fix it. He never did and by 2003 when I mentioned to my friend that I was looking for another car project, my friend's dad relayed the story to me about a friend of his still having his 1963 Impala SS 'vert he'd bought after seeing it in the big parade. He contacted the guy who mentioned he would sell it and so I went and made the deal. Brought it home in late '03, started a frame off and got about half way when I stalled out with a new baby and other demands on my time. Finally decided in mid-2012 to start again and finished it in summer 2013. Anyway, I called Roy Robinson Chevrolet in Marysville several years ago and asked for any paperwork, etc. I was told that in 1963 the dealership was located elsewhere and that all the old records were purged years ago. The granddaughter of Roy was apparently still involved in the business and she relayed that she thought it was a nice story, but couldn't otherwise help me.

The guy it bought it from had lost all the original selling paperwork as well, but the parade story is pretty cool and confirmed by my friend's father who says he first heard the story when the guy came to work after the parade talking about the car he wanted to buy and then later having bought it.

Good luck with your search.