VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1961-1964 Before/After... Ex-Lambrecht Impala. 11 miles!

After a little elbow grease...

http://www.oldcarsweekly.com/blogs/under-the-hood/ex-lambrecht-1963-impala

WOW. A fifty year old "new" car! A little out of my price range.
Thanks for sharing.

Now owned by a GM dealer in Wisconsin. I wonder what the chances are of getting him to display it in Lake Tahoe in 2016?

Weird that the dealer ordered a fairly top level car with a manual radio.
Last summer a VCCA member and 1959 T.A. had a 1959 Bel Air 4 door hardtiop that he purchased at the auction on display at the Iola Car Show. Unfortunatly is was not lucky enough to spend its entire life in a building. It was still nice to see and was in pretty good shape considering.

The '59 Belair is now undergoing a full restoration.

Verne

Gene….I think it's called "small bank account"! I was 19 years old when I bought my 64 SS….scraped and scrounged to get money.. selling metal and newspapers at a local junkyard to carhopping at one of the first Stewart's Root Beer and working in my Uncle's body shop….bought a brand new 64 SS Impala, delivered in Oct. 63, but only had about $3K….so I bought an SS with no air, no power steering, no power windows, no power brakes…$3165 cash!….black with silver buckets; 327 cu. in., 4-speed…top of the line with no real accessories…all I could afford…has tinted windows, 2 speed washer/wiper and AM radio…car still sits in my garage…but it certainly doesn't look like the 63 from Nebraska!!! Billu38

I didn't see power steering listed on the window sticker. I once owned a 1963 Impala with a 283 and no power steering. It was not fun to drive. I was young and dumber than I am now so I sold it after only a few months. I never thought about adding power steering to the car.

A few years ago I bought a 1961 Impala with a 283 and no power steering, but added power steering when I found a complete set-up at Hershey. It was a pleasure to drive with the power steering.

I spoke with Myron at Hershey this past year and he was telling me all about the 59. A Belair four door flat top is a real rare car, I think I only had seen one my life in a PA junkyard and that was 25 years ago.
For the most part in my opinion, I think those cars and trucks sold for way too much money. In the situation of the 63 it is a conversation piece that get's people in the showroom, and is write-off for them anyway. Maybe the plan is to rent it out to other dealerships as time goes on.

A few weeks after the auction, I had spoken with Past VCCA President Mike McNeil at Hershey who had attended the auction, he said he could not believe what people were willing to pay for what they were getting, and most of the cars were rotted out from his observation.

That 63 did clean up better then I thought it would, but is it driveable? or just a static display. Any of the rubber seals have to be crunchy. It just seems to me that to pay near 6 figures for a car that will require another 15K to operate is kind of crazy, and if it is driven now it takes away from that status of an 11 mile car. I wonder how the DMV vehicle registration process worked? I don't think it can be issued as a "new car" and it is not a problem that any DMV's have come across, so we can imagine the nightmare that could be. There had to be at least 2 other people that day who does not agree with my thoughts and feelings. I know "it's only original once" saying, but,,,,. There was a Vega there that sold for over 10K, and it was not even a Cosworth or any thing of a limited production. The new owner did get it running, but at he end of the day what does he really have. ( As a current Cosworth Vega owner I don't get it, you can buy the best one of them in the country for under 20K!)

REMEMBER.... THE WINNER OF AN AUCTION IS THE PERSON WHO DID PAY AND WAS WILLING TO PAY MORE THEN ANYONE ELSE THE ROOM THAT DAY! The only time there is a good deal at an auction is when nobody else shows up.

I think VanDerbrink Auctions were very smart by starting the auction off with the better cars and trucks, sort set the tone and created some sort of "bidding frenzy" making bidders feel that they did not want to go home empty handed.

John,
From what I know of the car, it is now capable of being driven, having the brakes gone through, radiator re-cored, carb rebuilt, and has been briefly tested, but the owner refuses to drive it anywhere. Once unloaded from the trailer, all 4 wheels are placed on jackable floor casters and it is rolled wherever it needs to go. I think when he bought it, it showed 11.4mi and now it shows 11.8mi.
I saw the car up close for the second time last weekend Nov 21-23 at the MCACN show in Chicago.

Verne

It would be interesting to see how the "Money Crowd" would treat this at Barrett-Jackson now...

Power steering was still a iffy thing in 1963. I had two 1963 demonstators and neither had P.S.
The first 1964 Demo. I had came with no P.S. and a dealer installed P.S. kit was installed. It had the slower non P.S. steering box and took a lot of winding to go from lock to lock.
We stocked the P.S. installation kits so it could be added to a car. That way a car in stock could be converted. Also removed th P.S. from a few cars because the buyer thought it was ???.
Out in the middle of Nebraska I doubt if P.S. was much in demand.
The BelAir 4 door hardtops were more common in this area. Probably was up to what the dealers thought was saleable.
For a little more than $100 you could get an Impala with more trim inside inside and out.

The power steering that was added to that car wasn't from a dealer kit. It was taken off a used car. The box was also changed to the P/S box.
Verne

The car sure looks nice.

As far as Power Steering goes, call me different if you would like to, but I love Manual Steering. My '62 had Manual Steering and Manual Brakes and that's the way I prefer them. Even my '72 C-10 has Manual Steering and Brakes as well as my old '64 C-30.

In case no one picked up on it, my '72 C-10 has Manual Discs, lol. Supposed to be a pretty rare combo.

I do like Push Button Radios though, lol.

Bill

Here's an interesting question… How would this do in VCCA judging? Certainly all of the parts are factory correct… even some of the fluids are as well!! There is quite a bit of surface rust on the underside, but how would that stack up vs a car that has been restored with new paint, chrome, and body work? If this car is in a class with restored cars, do the other cars automatically lose points for repaint, and a non-factory oil filter and oil??

The owner would have several options in entering the car in a VCCA meet. If he wants to compete against restored vehicles then the criteria is how close does it adhere to the "as delivered" condition. In that case the rust and deterioration would result in point deductions.

Another option is to enter HPOCF (historical preservation of original Chevrolet features). It would certify as long as at least two of the four areas were evaluated as being 75% or more original appearing.

Third is driver participation class. No judging or evaluation.

Verne the 1959 or the 63? If you don't change the box it is a pretty scarey drive!

I just took out the power steering I added to my 1960 15 years ago, I don't really use it like I did, and I like it much better with out it. I just placed the one year only 1960 pump on ebay a few days ago

If you had a new 1963 Chevrolet in the condition it came off of the carrier judged it would get docked for at least 25 points for various things like;
Overspray trunk finishings on lid hinges, edges in the trunk and under hood, especailly on the engine. The engine was not painted to be a show piece.
Poor paint finish in some areas.
Poor door and hood fits. The dealer often had to send the car to the body shop to have areas refinished and sheet metal aligned. The areas where sound deadning was appliesd had material sprayed carelessly.
Large painted under body and frame areas full of runs and dirt in paint.
By 1963 the new cars were actully getting better, the low point was from 1957-1960.

Today when a new car comes off the truck all it generally needs is a wash job and can be delivered.

That is funny. Maybe many cars are over restored and there should be point deductions for that! Just kidding as I guess the judges have to have a way to determine the best of the best.

Believe me, no `1963 cars would have got a best of show in the "as delivered" condition.

To get a best of show award at a VCCA meet an original car needs to be better than when it was new?

I don't know about that. I replicated those areas of overspray on my 62 and never lost more then 8 points total, even got a BOTB in 2006. There might not be enough surface rust on my manifolds for everyone's standards, oh well.

Oh I do believe you Chevgene. I was at a Chevy dealership at about that time period, a 2 dr hardtop came in and the drivers window fit to loose against the weather strip. He put his knee on the door below the window and grabbed the top of the window with his hands and gave a couple big jerks to bend it in. It struck me funny that was how you adjusted a brand new car! lol

John,
It was the '63 Lambrecht car that had P/S added from a used car. I don't know when.

As for judging, no unrestored car should ever be judged among restored cars. That was the case 20 years ago when car shows had two classes, Stock and Modified. Also, unrestored cars should never be judged against each other for an award. They should be judged against criteria that grades them by percentage of original components with some minor point value to condition, then presented with a certificate that verifies the level of originality each car is confirmed to be. If they are judged against each other for a First, Second or Third place award, the tendency to "fluff" them is too great to get an award. Then the originality is lost forever. History is lost for the sake of a $10. trophy.

Verne

That really does not make any sense, on a car with 11 miles and never titled, why would it have a used power steering set-up in it?

In the VCCA unrestored vehicles are not competitive classes. There are some owners of unrestored vehicles that have and do compete in class judging and have done well

John,

I don't know the reason why, but Mr Lambrecht did some crazy things. As someone pointed out, the P/S doesn't show up on the window sticker.
Does this look like 11mi linkage?


Verne