Replicating My First Car In Diecast 1:24th Scale. 1964 Chevy Impala

April 27, 2020

#380

Gentle reader,

That is not my first car, but is amazingly similar. This car I found on line for sale in Washington state:

1964 Chevrolet Impala 2-Door Hardtop - Unrestored, NO RESERVE!! - Classic Chevrolet Impala 1964 for sale  

Mine was the same body style: two-door hardtop. Mine was closer to beige in color and had a brown interior while this one has red. It has the same engine mine came with the smallest V8 283 cubic inches. Same two-speed automatic, which GM called: "Powerglide". You will see more photos of it at the end of the article.

For the uninitiated, "hardtop" used to mean: No frames around the windows, thus when all are rolled down, there are no posts or pillars within the opening. 
They have not existed for a very long time. Door pillars add strength and protection especially in a side impact, seen below:

A 1964 Impala four door sedan. See the window frames and posts? See the car below, nothing showing when the windows are down.

First here is a photo of a red 1:24th scale just like my model which is beige.

These are the cheapest 1:24th scale '64 Impala diecast cars made. They are "SS" for Super Sport. The chrome on the sides is not that large on real cars. Plus they (and all diecast I have seen) house the then-top-of-the-line, big-block 409 cubic inch engine.

I bought my first car, which was nine years old, at my Dad's insistence, on a Monday morning in September, 1973, during my senior year in high school for $300. That equates to $1,700 in today's dollars. He wrote me a note for being late to school. The principal wanted more information, so I told him I bought a car. He was cool with that, to my relief.

I was earning minimum wage which was $1.65 an hour then working at my first job at a Mobil Station part time. I worked full time in the summers.

The engine burned oil and smoked like a locomotive, if locomotives belched blue smoke. But I LOVED it! Whenever I hear Elton John's Benny and the Jets on the radio I am transported back to driving my first car and feeling like king of the world. To a car guy, one's car is very important.

In the spring, I bought a second car for it's engine. If I'd been smarter, I would have fixed it up instead of taking the engine out. It was also a '64 Chevy, but the first-year Chevelle Malibu SS convertible. It had a 300 horsepower 327 cubic inch engine which had a four barrel carburetor and dual exhaust, a four speed manual transmission and limited slip rear end. Here is what it looked like. Except mine was many colors and the top's rear window was missing. It had other things wrong with it too. 

This image is from bring-a-trailer.com, and was also for sale. This one has the 283 V8 and probably a powerglide. I can't quite tell if it is a Super Sport.

I gathered many photos from the Internet, mostly from eBay auctions, to show you the differences in detail and accuracy of various diecast and plastic models.

After swapping out the smoky 283 engine with the much more powerful 327, I had an exhaust shop install dual exhausts with "glasspack" mufflers. Which were a lot louder than regular mufflers. They exited the body right in front of the rear wheels and had chrome tips.

NASCAR racers was called "Grand National" then and that's the style of exhaust was called. 

I also bought and installed some used American Racing mag wheels, seen here in a photo from an eBay auction:

The centers were darker on mine and there were no center caps. When looking for wheels/tires to do this, my wife pointed out a set of wheels for a Pinewood Derby car. They were perfect! I wanted to paint them to match the real ones, but feared I would make a mistake doing so. So I left them all black. They also do not roll since I had to glue them on.

Here is the first image of my modified car. I did not try and make the exhaust come out the way my real car did. It's molded into the chassis.

This blue car is a dealer promotional car from 1963 introducing the 1964 model. It's on eBay as of this writing. Note the chrome strip is more accurate to reality. As is just about everything.

It's easier to compare the two with these images. Note how thick the chrome is around the headlights above verses below.

This is the front end of mine compared to the most expensive West Coast Precision models which sell for hundreds.

Promo models never have opening doors, etc.

Oddly, with these wheels the rear end sits higher as mine did  due to "Hijackers" rear air shock absorbers.

I'd love to have that promo, but it's too expensive.

Look how much higher the red one sits.

Comparing these two photos shows how massive the side chrome was done on mine.

I do not know who made this diecast model, it is more accurate as far as the roof than the West Coast models are. Hard to tell by the emblem, but it might have a 327 small block instead of the 409 big block engine in it.

The rear end of the West Coast verses the cheap one I have.

West Coast made the roof a separate piece and if you visit the site linked below and look at the photos, you'll see what I mean. But that is my only fault with the otherwise incredible job they did making the cars.
Here is a link to a fellow blogger's site where I got the images of the West Coast red car. They may be attached to West Coast Precision models: DenXgarage

I took my car apart to make the modifications. First, I spray painted the off-white interior brown to match what mine had. I painted the brake and gas pedals black.

I carefully painted the small parts silver. Were I more skillful, I could have painted more to match the real car's details.

Also silver, the rear speaker grille above and console button below.

The shifter is huge compared to reality.

The all chrome lump that is supposed to be a 409 V8 engine.

I found on eBay, a Revell 1:25th scale 1957 Chevy high output 283 engine kit. It was all chrome plated which meant painting. 

It has been a LOT of years since I built any models, so my skills have waned considerably. 

The new small block engine sits too far back in the chassis, but, as you will see, I placed it where the chassis required it to be. And yes, I see that the air cleaners are crooked. I used a black wire to make the upper radiator hose.

Below is the same 409 engine in MotorMax's version of the car. They painted it Chevrolet orange and added a belt and alternator. The engine bay is more realistic as is most of the car.

But not nearly as realistic as West Coast Precision's entire car is. It looks ready to run. It even has real springs on the hood hinges.

This is a wheel and tire that came on the car compared to the all plastic wheels I put on. You can see the resemblance to American Racing mags.

Pinewood Derby is downhill racing wooden cars for Cub Scouts. The gold on the old tire is paint from the shelves where the cars are displayed. It's been dry for decades but sticks to rubber tires.

My car's chassis, verses MotorMax's below.

1958 to 1964 GM full-sized cars had "X" shaped chassis. Not very safe in a side impact. But then, car makers were not concerned with safety as Ralph Nader pointed out in his book.

Promotional chassis from 1963 compared to West Coast Precision below. Man I'd love to have one of them!

The engine is a tiny bit smaller being 1:25th to the 1:24th car. But even so, it is placed right where it should be, albeit a little crooked. Oh well.

This shelf which has a Lexan cover houses the smaller than 1:18th scale, but larger than 1:64th scale cars.

Cars I have owned in miniature: 1974 Chevy Vega (ours was a Kammback wagon) and 1975 Chevy V8 Monza. Both are promotional models. 
That is a Porsche 924 Turbo, ours was a 1987 924S in black. What my 1941 Plymouth coupe might have looked like had I finished it, and my newly modded 1964 Impala.

That is a 1993 Chevy Camaro Z28 promo model. Ours was a '96 in white with 6-speed manual trans. 
We had a 1996 black/grey Chrysler Sebring JXi convertible which my wife drove. And we had a 2000 Audi TT quattro in denim blue/blue interior.

A 1:43rd scale Volvo V50 in the center replicates our 2005 T5 with M66 manual transmission.

As promised, more photos of the time capsule unrestored car for sale in Washington.

 Most of the chrome on the car is actually aluminum.

One taillight bulb is in wrong, that is the brake light side of the two-element bulb. Hard to get them in wrong. Center lights are back-up lights.

I've always loved red interiors. I've had one car with red. I can't get over how excellently this car has been preserved.

Non-SS models had bench front seats and column shifter unless it had a four speed manual, which had a floor shifter.

These photos take me back in time.

This is not the stock air cleaner, carburetor or intake manifold. The car also has dual exhaust which it did not originally.

The exhaust manifolds are called "rams horns" because of their shape. Power steering, but manual brakes, just like mine had. I SO want to own this car. But I know it would disappoint compared to modern cars. Plus, this needs to be garaged, which I do not have. Not to mention the price. Yikes!

Thank you SO much for reading my humble blog. It is a passion of mine and your kind words are so welcome.

Scott
April 27, 2020
#390