Very nice car Al T , they look good in white, I had one too !!! Funny you mention the silver with white top , that is exactly what mine was when I bought it in 1975 and I painted it red with the white top . I felt the silver was abit too dull a color and grey is not a good color to last a long time , so I splashed it red. I might have an old 110 mm pic but would have to look. Your interior is super nice, the guy did a very nice job. Is the rear center arm rest there ?, can't tell in the pic. I see the rear speaker control is missing, I think they make a repop of it now. The garnish moldings have been chromed, nice touch. Backup light changed to red tail light, and a different door mirror. I see no aerial ? Top front fender ornaments are gone too. This is a Canadian built car. Not seeing the engine number on the door tag , I'd have to say this was originally a 283 V8 car , why ? , cause it has a 283 fan shroud . Someone later put a 348 in it . Look at the door tag , if engine number say 9V it's a 283 , if 9D it was a 348 , if just numbers and no letters then it was a 6 banger. Now I'm wanting another white Impala , geese , I like these cars.......:p
 
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You sure like your 58's Michael. Shame you didn't know a bit more about them.... hahaha.... Seriously... This thread just blows me away.... Books aren't written with the detail you have laid on us. Don't stop... Great thread and thanks to both Murray as the OP and yourself for some very interesting reads and pictures.
 
Michael,

I’ve got the report from GM Historical. It was originally a 283 car. Great eyes...... and knowledge!!

The rear armrest is there but does not have the skirt.
When I bought the car, there was no antennae installed. I had a stock AM radio converted to AM-FM with Aux plug and am currently using a hidden antennae under the dash. At some point I’ll likely install an exterior antennae again. I thought the top of fender ornaments were an option?

6141E9F6-AE01-4E51-AF0A-B03514AD31BA.jpeg
 
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You sure like your 58's Michael. Shame you didn't know a bit more about them.... hahaha.... Seriously... This thread just blows me away.... Books aren't written with the detail you have laid on us. Don't stop... Great thread and thanks to both Murray as the OP and yourself for some very interesting reads and pictures.
.
..........Thanks Rruuff , I don't know where Murray keeps digging up these pics from but as long as he finds them I will keep telling what I see . It is easy fun for me , I don't know how many actually read here or are interested in this stuff but it does give the members something to look at when the Vette side is quiet.
 
Michael,

I’ve got the report from GM Historical. It was originally a 283 car. Great eyes...... and knowledge!!

The rear armrest is there but does not have the skirt.
When I bought the car, there was no antennae installed. I had a stock AM radio converted to AM-FM with Aux plug and am currently using a hidden antennae under the dash. At some point I’ll likely install an exterior antennae again. I thought the top of fender ornaments were an option?

View attachment 26650

......Ahh , I was right about it being a 283 car . You can cut down that fan shroud to look like the 348 one. Right now it is almost touching the belt, and you can't stick your hands in there to take off the fan blade if had to . A common mistake made by those who did the swap to a 348 but did not know the difference.
Yes, the top fender ornaments are stock on the Bel Air and Impala only , all other models they were optional.

...Mom and I struggled on her old Singer pedal sewing machine to do my seats back in 1976 , no where the job yours are done but they still look the same now as back then.

....Al T , you may find this thread a place to kill some time also ;



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I honestly don't know about the crayon marks . The 145 horse blue flame six in a silver blue Impala sport coupe. Underhood insulation pad fairly rare to see . It has windshield washers, you can see the top of the glass jar by the man's hand. My guess he's looking at the fan belt as the generator is on that side. Oil change stickers stuck to the top of the rad support.
 
Crayon marks were either from an inspector, or it's a sequence number, so the engine finds it's home in the proper chassis.
Many folks know about the build sheets being found under rear seats. Many survived because the assembler who installed the seat couldn't be bothered to remove it (which was part of his job).
There were numerous build sheets for each car.
Cushion room built seats.....they stuff the build sheet in the springs......seat finds it's way to the assembly line and gets into proper chassis because the build sheet usually didn't fall off.
Taping a build sheet to an engine wasn't as safe, since it could fly off (or be lost several ways while in transit to the line) so with a grease pencil (sometimes chalk) the sequence number wouldn't get mixed up as often, and shut the line down. They hate it when the line stops for any reason.
 
PS PB......maybe a heads up for the "boys" farther down the line?
There were literally hundreds of in plant codes, that mean very little to anyone outside the plant.
We had a guy put signs on the roofs of units that were california bound. Saved the assembler looking at the teletype (build sheet), because many parts were / are cali specific.
Same with employee ordered units. They got preferential treatment. There's no doubt some of those markings will never get figured out because there were so few.
Cop units....but more apparent on the streets.
etc, etc.
 
the air cleaner is blocking view to show if it has a power brake booster either of which would of been a Tredelvac or Morraine . The ps pump was mounted on the back of the generator which is not in view either so I can't confirm the car has PS or PB to coincide with the valve cover markings.
 
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Buddy Holly's first car : I remember seeing a picture of it years ago wrecked very poor shape, but it since has been restored as seen. I have a Buddy Holly 45 rpm record autograghed by Peggy Sue .





Buddy Holly's 1958 Chevrolet Impala

Buddy Holly's 1958 Chevrolet Impala
LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - What if you could own the first car Buddy Holly ever purchased? One local collector claims to have the original car that Holly purchased in 1957.
Lubbock Chevy collector Bill Clements says he bought the car 25 years ago for $1,000, and he says it was originally purchased in 1957 by Holly for his parents.
Today it's owned by Peggy Sue Gerron—yes, that Peggy Sue. The 1958 Chevy Impala is up for sale on eBay, currently with bids exceeding $100,000.
Clements says Norman Petty, Holly's manager, bought the car initially with the Holly and the Crickets account. The Holly family had the car for about seven years before it was all but totaled, he said.
Clements has a trunk full of documentation proving the car is authentic, but he has run into some issues selling it.
"It's a resurrection," Clements said. "We used parts of other cars, and there are people that say, 'That ain't right. You're taking parts off of that original car. But, hey, it didn't have a front seat in it.'"
They were hoping to sell the brilliantly restored 1958 Chevrolet Impala at the 39th Annual Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Collector Car Auction in Arizona, on January 18-24 but it was pulled from the auction. "Maria Elena Holly, Buddy's widow, called the auction house and questioned the authenticity as well as our ability to use the Buddy Holly name without paying her," Peggy Sue Gerren said.

So with a tough economy and the need for funding their independent radio station - they decided to sell the car on Ebay. Hoping to sell the car and put the profits toward the independent KDAY radio station.
The story:
According to Clements and Peggy Sue - Holly took a liking to the Impala after his father and brother fell in love with the new design. When his record sales provided enough cash, Holly purchased his first car from Meadors-Stewart Co. in Clovis, New Mexico, at the age of 20.
"Buddy asked his producer and close friend, Norman Petty, to arrange the purchase," said Bill Clement, current owner of the Buddy Holly Impala. "One bit of genius on Petty's part was recommending the 50th anniversary coral color scheme being offered on GM vehicles in 1958."
It would be less than a year later, Holly died in a plane crash that also took the lives of Richie Valens and the Big Bopper.
More than a decade later, Clement, a Lubbock native, Chevy collector and owner of the well-known Chevy Craft shop, purchased the Impala after researching the car and confirming it had indeed belonged to Holly.
Related Link:
eBay Listing: 1958 Chevrolet Impala Buddy Holly's
 
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