The CC Effect™ is working at the Cohort. After finding the ’66 Galaxie there and posting it as an alter-COAL for Jim Cavanaugh’s Fury, I was hoping for a Chevy too. Sure enough, a ’66 Impala showed up at the Cohort (also shot by William Garrett) a bit later, making our trifecta of the ’66 low-price big cars complete. Now we can wallow in some good old 1966 nostalgia, and get our Mopar-Ford-Chevy guns a’blazing. Although Jim did own—and love—his ’63 Cadillac 60 Special, he’s generally not been a big fan of the General. In this Fury COAL—and in many previous posts and comments—Jim has made it clear that he’s “not a Chevy guy”. So what would it take to change his mind?
A 396-THM equipped big Chevy had a drive train that was as good as it got. Best in class, according to Popular Science’s comparison of the three. And the Chevy acquitted itself pretty decently in the ride and handling department. And there’s those curvaceous hips and vaunted GM styling. Nah; that’s not going to sway Jim…we need to find something even more compelling to get him into this Impala.
The badges have been removed from this one, most likely because it did have the rather gutless 283/PG drive train, which of course has long been ditched for something a bit more gutsy. Who knows what lurks under the hood of a Chevy these days, except that we can be pretty certain it’s a Chevy. Who ever swapped a different brand engine into a classic Chevy? Oh, I remember now; I found one one and wrote it up here, a ’68 Impala with an Olds 455 swapped in. That was a very rare exception. Might there be others?
Now how about if this Chevy had a Studebaker V8? A 290 hp R2 Supercharged 289? Hmm; nice, and maybe tempting, but just to make this irresistible, let’s step it up some more,with an ultra-rare supercharged R3 335 hp, and gobs of torque. 400 hp, with a different supercharger drive pulley. Is that enough to entice Jim into this Chevy?
Can you imagine the puzzled looks it would get at a car show? And Jim’s beaming smile when he stood there next to the open hood?
Saw a ’69 Camaro on the drag race show Pinks with a 514 cube big block Ford, and he was cleaning everybodys clocks.
In my defense, I made a fairly long drive to check out a 66 Impala back then. If it had been in nicer condition I might have pulled the trigger. I always liked the looks of and the dash design of the 66, and enough time had passed from my GM-centered childhood that I could have gotten behind one of these. Parts/service would be a snap and it would be an easy sale when I was done with it.
I don’t even remember the powertrain on the one I looked at – it was probably a 283/glide, but for a nice enough car, it would have made a serviceable daily driver. I do remember that it was a white car with blue interior.
Who knows – today it might even be my first pick, if only because it is the one of the Big 3 that I never got firsthand ownership experience with. Being a stickler for originality, I would stick with factory powertrains. A 327 would make it go down easier, though. 🙂
Even though Jim is understandably a fan of originality, I could see him being intrigued if this Chevrolet had a 383/Torqueflite under the hood – and factory wheel covers.
“Who ever swapped a different brand engine into a classic Chevy?”
This might depend upon how broad the definition of “classic” is. Last night I watched a video on YouTube of a guy in Tennessee who is replacing the 250 straight six (it was pumping coolant into the cylinders) from an ’82 Chevrolet half-ton and replacing it with a 5.7 liter Hemi from a 2009 Charger.
That is what inspired my 383 statement.
It’s surprising that *anything* other than an LS would be swapped into a classic Chevy at this point.
Personally, I think the whole “let’s drop an LS in it” statement has already gotten stale man
I imagine you’re talking about Derek at Vice Grip Garage. He’s an entertaining character and I enjoy his work.
I see that Paul did some mushroom picking on his daily walk yesterday. A Chevy with an R3 transplant? Bring it on, as with great mushrooms comes great responsibility. I expect that Jim would clean up in the betting pool prior to opening the hood. Heck, he could probably finance the entire thing with his winnings!
Perhaps Gladys Kravitz could persuade him:
ABNER!!
I loved commercial tie-ins like that.
I love almost everything about this except the wheels and the motor ideas. IMO it would do well to follow the Galaxie wheel aesthetic in the prior post. In terms of the motor, since we’re considering something heretical, how bout something light over the front wheels like a modern 2 liter turbo…though I don’t know weight versus a small block?
Ok, maybe god wouldn’t approve, but it has roughly as much hp as a 396 (250ish at the rear wheels) and more torque down low. Plus, with all the COVID car wrecking going on, there must be thousands of them with low miles sitting in junk yards, no? Throw on some disc brakes, dog dish caps and a sway bar…I’m feeling like you could really throw this 4 door post around with some confidence as well as competely throw off the usual crowd.
Someone else written up here at Curbside has already thought of your idea…
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1959-edsel-eco-boost/
…and yes, in this case, the engine swapped in was lighter, requiring an adjustment to the front springs.
Great idea though, and one that crossed mine this morning when I saw one of the last Impalas (I actually spotted two of them on my commute today; one black and one white). It crossed my mind that this 10th generation (2014-2020) Impala came standard with an inline 4, although a 3.6L V6 was available too.
This Chevy looks really strange with so much of the body’s chrome trim removed, especially from around the windshields. Was the Biscayne this plain?
This was my thought too. It actually has less chrome than a Biscayne. Biscaynes at least had a chrome strip on the top ridge of the quarter panel. The color was very common then.
And for engine swaps, the weirdest one I ever saw was at a car show in Iola Wisconsin. It was an early ’70’s Corvette that had a ’50’s or so flathead Studebaker 6 under it’s hood! A big lumpy gold engine in a gorgeous Le mans Blue ‘Vette. I talked to the owner and curiously asked why? He said it was different and controversial. Yes it was. He did say he made the swap with the intent that it could be restored back to original.
This is one sick ride with that R3 Supercharger combo. Looks like it has a custom intercooler between the engine and firewall. Quite the Sleeper if I may say so. This ride checks all the boxes for this kid.
That engine isn’t in the Chevy, it’s just an example. Note the front-hinged hood.
Good article Paul,
The second I saw the pillars I assumed it was a Bel-Air. Guess I’m just used to the good old Australian Chevrolet. Extremely strange to me to see what the blokes in Hot Dog land originally called all these behemoths before we got them in the land down under.
De-chromed Impala is interesting and I love the color, but those rims have to go. Wider stock-style steel rims with dog dishes would complete the look.