My parents live on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and I live in Texas, so spending time with them was only on occasion. I flew out to visit them and upon my arrival, my father wanted to show me what he had in the garage. He had purchased a 1962 Biscayne.

He went on to tell me that he always wanted another 62 because he had an Ermine White 1962 Bel-Air Sport Coupe (Bubbletop) 409 4 speed back in 1962. He used to race it, both on the track and the street. The car that he had just purchased was a total basket case, but I saw his vision and told him I would help him get it together.

We went through it that weekend just to check everything out to see exactly how bad it was. Like I said before, it was a total basket case. It had rust everywhere, someone had swapped the interior out from a 62 Bel-Air 2dr and put a 305 engine in it that wouldn’t start. We finally got the engine started just before I had to leave to fly back home.

Over the next few months, I continued to fly out for a long weekend to help him rebuild this car. During Christmas of 2006, I asked my dad if he would mind if I bought another body that didn’t have so much rust in it and he agreed. I immediately went on eBay and found a 1962 Impala SS rolling body that was in primer and was told that all I had to do was block sand it one more time and it would be ready for paint, I bought it.

It was located just 3 hours south of me in Dallas. This was good so I could work on the body, get it painted and then bring it out to my fathers to transfer the body onto the frame at my dad’s. As soon as I got home from Christmas vacation, I picked up the Impala, but was very disappointed. It needed a lot more than just one more sanding! The seller wouldn’t give me my money back so I just brought it home and stared at it in disgust.

A week later, I went out to the garage and started to sand it down to bare metal. I was literally sanding through inches of Bondo and ripped out 2 foot sections of Fiberglass from the quarter panels. After stripping the exterior I found that I needed to replace the quarter panels, doors, hood, floor pans, trunk well and repair rust in the roof and fenders. Even though it was in worse condition than the Bel-Air body, at least it was at my house so I could work on it consistently. I ordered parts to repair it and continued to fly out to my parents every month.

In April of 2007 my father was diagnosed with Leukemia and was given 3 months to live. He had become very weak and couldn’t work on the car anymore, so I started to stay out there longer to work on the Biscayne to try and get it drivable for him to enjoy a ride. Unfortunately I was not able to accomplish this feat and my father passed on July 8, 2007.

I continued to work on the Impala and brought the Biscayne home and put it in storage. After repairing the rust in the Impala, I had decided that the roof was just too far gone and replaced it with a Bubbletop roof from a 1961 Pontiac.

I finally finished the 1962 Impala SS Bubbletop Conversion on 5/31/2008 and took a ride with my father in spirit.

On July 9, 2008 I was driving home from a friend’s house in my 62 and an 18 year old ran a red light while she was texting and I hit her broadside. My car went into the passenger side of her car and it bent the front end of my car to the passenger side almost 2 feet. The car was totaled only 6 weeks after finishing it! Unfortunately she did not have insurance but I did have stated value insurance. I repaired it again and had it back on the road by 05/23/2009.

My father’s spirit lives because of this car. My new found hobby keeps him close.

1962 Impala SS Bubbletop Conversion
1962 409 engine stroked to 482 c.i. (Edelbrock heads, Isky .660 lift .267 @.050 duration cam, Eagle 4” Stroke Crank, Eagle H-Beam Rods, JE 11:1 Pistons, Edelbrock Endurashine Water Pump, Intake and 500 cfm carbs, custom made valve covers, Stef’s Oil Pan)
Zoops Alt and A/C brackets, pulleys and remote reservoir Type 2 power steering pump
700r4 Transmission with full manual valve body
14” Wilwood front Disc Brakes with 6 piston Calipers
Moser M9 Fabricated rear-end with 3.89 gears, 35 spline axles, Detroit Locker and Wilwood Disc Brakes
Air Ride Technologies Street Challenge air ride kit with Level-Pro
Hotchkis rear upper and lower control arms and panhard bar.
Global West front upper control arms
Classic Performance CPP 500 Power Steering Box w/ collapsible steering shaft
House of Kolor Galaxy Grey and Orion Silver paint