Jake Dykstra's 1962 409/409 Impala!

[olredalert]

Originally Posted by Bill Pritchard

Doin' your dad and Cousin Eddy proud

----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

[RPOLS3]

Originally Posted by olredalert

----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 ) 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.

[RPOLS3]

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.

[RPOLS3]

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

[olredalert]

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

[Mr70]

Nice Jake!

[Postsedan]

Well done my friend

Dan

[BJCHEV396]

Very nice Jake...job well done!

[RPOLS3]

---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.

[olredalert]

----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