My dad owned a 1960 Impala Convertible back
in the 60’s, before he married my mom.
That is how the story begins ....
by Daran Rumbaugh
I have no pictures of the car, only memories shared between my dad and myself over the years. My dad is Barry Rumbaugh, 62 years young, from Avonmore, PA. I also grew up in Avonmore and (for now) live in Rahway, NJ where this car project has been going on under cover, and just far enough away from “home” that my dad has not known about it during the entire two year build. Over the years he told me stories of how he lost very few races that were challenged around neighboring towns when he drove his Impala as a daily driver. He also told me how it was just another car back then, and that he would throw tools in the back and haul his buddies around when he worked construction.
The car was born from the factory with the 348 4bbl and automatic transmission. In short order, probably after one too many neutral drops, the auto had to go and he dropped in a standard transmission with floor shifter. Among other options the car was red with a white top, red / white interior, had the higher horsepower option 348 motor, dual exhaust, and spinner hubcaps. That is basically all that I know about the car, other than the fact that he loved it and has mentioned the car over the years during almost every one of our conversations about classics or hotrods, which has been very often to say the least.
In May of 2007 I was at a point where I wanted to start a new project. I was leaning toward starting a radical custom ’42 Ford Coupe project with a car that I have in storage. My parents had been in town for a visit at that time, and my dad and I had just finished a session of talking cars in my garage where he, once again, went into a story about his '60 Chevy.
For years I wanted to build one for him, but was never really serious enough or had the means to do it until now. On that day with my dad, who was still lost in the memory of one of his stories, is when it hit me. I thought to myself, "You've been building cars for yourself for years ... build your dad his car!" I smiled and took a peek over at my dad to see if he had noticed that I had been lost in my own thoughts. In two seconds I had made my decision to build the car for my dad. It was one of the best moves that I had ever made. I was now on a new mission to find and restore a 1960 Impala Convertible for my dad, the way his was, and give it to him to enjoy as a first priority.
The search began in May with several weeks of late night internet searches, phone calls to missed opportunities, and car after car that was either too perfect (I wanted to RESTORE a car for my dad, not BUY one that was already done) or too far gone to bring back from extreme basket case condition. I branched out my search to California and finally hit pay dirt. I found my dad’s Impala! Not THE car that he had, but the same to every degree. It was a red with white top car with all of the same options, same 348 motor, and a power glide automatic.ÊIn fact, the car was exactly the same as his in every way with the exception of this one had a power top and his was manual; an acceptable difference in anyone’s book.
I spoke to the owner over the phone on a Wednesday and hopped a flight to California on that Friday. Upon arrival I confirmed that the car was numbers-matching all the way up to the date-coded tag which was still on the carburetor!Ê The trim tag also confirmed that the car was born with the correct paint and trim codes to make it an exact copy of my dad’s Impala, making it all the more worth while to spend the time restoring to as-new condition. The car needed major metal work, all of which I was able to perform. All new floor pans, floor supports, inner rockers, trunk floor pans, and rear quarters were first on the list. Aside from the trim codes, what sold me on the car was that the frame was very solid and also the bottoms of the doors were mint, which through later investigation added to the proof that the car rusted away in areas that were conducive to the soft top being rotted away and the carpet on the floor holding moisture to the point where the floors took the biggest hit. It was going to be some major work, but since it was such a close match to my dad’s Impala and it had a lot of potential I bought the car on the spot and had it shipped home to NJ.
SR’s Big John gets a look at the well
hidden 1960 Chevy while Daran tells
a few secrets about the Impala.