...Fellow Wagon Lovers: Nice to be here among those who appreciate the long-roofed beauties that are increasingly rare these days. After about a 10-year search, I think I found JUST the right car in this 1968 Impala wagon. My twin brother had been co-searching with me for years and said “I found the perfect car. If you don’t buy this, I’m not looking anymore.” He was right. originally from Colorado, it has just 44,000 original miles and aside from a driver’s car repaint it received 20 years ago, it’s all original and incredibly clean. I love the “stock” look and plan to retain that as much as possible, but have a few planned upgrades. It currently has the original 307 with a 2-speed automatic (which runs surprisingly well given how long the car was sitting). Within I think a week of my purchase my dad called and said “I built a 427 big block for you!” Between him and my brothers, there’s plenty of excitement to go around given that I’m way behind the eight ball in this family in buying a 60s muscle car. In addition to the big block, I plan to convert it to a manual because 1) I get really bored with automatics and 2) a wagon with stick is that much more beautiful. But first, I need to get the front end rebuilt (bad ball bearings), which is the first project lined up in spring (along with giving it some disc brakes to balance all that additional forward momentum supplied by the big block). I’m sure a thousand other small things will come up along the way, but I’m excited to get started. If only I had a heated garage with a lift. One can dream.
Welcome. Glad you found what you wanted. It can be difficult to hold out and want to settle for something less, but in the end you'll always be happier you did. My dad and I have a '67 Biscayne two door that we restored about 25 years ago so I am pretty familiar with these cars. Ours has a 383 built to look like a 327 from a '67 Corvette. It has a three speed column shift with a HD Muncie three speed. We've also added a bunch of factory options the car never came with. We wound up finding a 621 bellhousing for our car (this was years ago before they were reproduced) since some of the later bellhousings we tried did not have the right pivot point location for the Z-bar. You should already have the heavy duty rear suspension with four control arms (two upper, two lower) since you have a wagon (most cars just got two lowers and one upper unless it was a wagon or had the F40 or F41 suspension). Does it have the auto level rear suspension? I recall seeing that on a '67 wagon in a junkyard many moons ago. Post some pics when you have a chance.
Welcome Colossal68! Like Kevin says, post pictures when you can. We all LOVE pictures, it makes us drool.
Welcome Colosal68. I am so jealous. Love the ash gold color. We had a 396 ‘68 Wagon growing up. Ours was seafrost green. I currently have a ‘68 Impala convertible in Matador red. Love ‘68’s
Thanks 60Mercman. Your convertible is a beauty. What motor do you have in it? Like you, I grew up riding around in old wagons - I think that’s what gave me an appreciation to start with. Did your 68 wagon growing up have a third seat? That’s the one option I wish mine had.
I have the 327 higher output with the 3 d1 d2 auto transmission. Yes. Ours had the 3rd seat. Black interior. I really loved that car. We had a ‘66 artesian turquoise wagon before that. Then in ‘70 my dad bought a Country Squire.
Welcome Clossal68! Sounds like some cool upgrades you have in mind! If you get an opportunity to post some pictures, that would be great! WE LOVE PICTURES AROUND HERE! Hope you enjoy your stay on the forums!....Longroofs Rule! P.S. thanks for the likes in the media
Thanks for the interest everyone. BI posted a few pix in a new media gallery folder: Hopefully I’m sharing this link correctly. http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/media/albums/68-impala-wagon.861/
Thanks. Yeah. My folks had Three kids and they tailgated at a lot of USC football games probably even before that was popular. Came home from the hospital in a ‘60 white over turquoise Impala Nomad wagon. That’s what I’d love to find ultimately. My dad had a ‘77 Colony Park that I learned to drive on. Was fortunate to find one of those in the same color. The only difference was ours had the cream and gold interior vs the brown. I have
Welcome to the group. I've been slipping up lately and missed a lot of new members. Sometimes life is a big waiting game. But I discovered amazing things can happen if you just watch, look, and wait.